In this episode: Flappy Bird, Nintendo, T-Mobile’s latest moves, Amazon’s Fire TV, and the security bug that sent the Internet ablaze.
Thanks for listening!
Facebook Adds Virtual Reality as a Friend
Via @jasonforal
It’s easy to forget that Facebook has its roots in gaming. Remember how annoying it was to receive those notifications from your friends to play Farmville and Words With Friends? No, I don’t want to help you milk your cows or try to beat your high score. I just wanted to creep on my friends in peace, social gaming be damned.
PlaceboCast 13: Fresh Prince of Twitter
Android Wear is Google's first major step into extending its mobile OS to the emerging smartwatch arena. With industry giants like Samsung, LG, Motorola slated to release both updated and new smartwatches this year, it's going to be an exciting time ahead.
In other news, we discuss the motivation behind Amazon Prime's recent price hike. How will customers react? Also, how awesome would it be to have a drone deliver milk to your door?
Thanks for listening!
At $99, is Amazon Prime still worth it?
Photo by CNN Money
If you are a current Amazon Prime subscriber, you probably received an email this morning from Amazon informing you that the price of your subscription would be increasing by 20%.
When Updating Your Parents’ Browser Isn’t Enough
Photo by theilr
As the household IT/tech guy in my family, I’ve spent a fair amount of time educating my parents on good security practices like using strong passwords, ignoring requests for personal information via email or phone, and updating your software regularly. Believe it or not, I was able to convince my father to set up two-factor authentication for his Google account! You see, miracles are possible.
For the love of Jelly
For the nascent Internet user, Yahoo Answers was one of the first major Q&A website that was widely used. Unlike the impersonal experience of a Google search, Yahoo Answers was inherently social. Behind every question there was a face, an avatar, a person. It was enough to give the service the heartbeat it needed to thrive.
Dell Venue 8 Pro Review
The Dell Venue 8 Pro is a tablet I never thought I would like.
It is also the first tablet I (sort of) own; my dad picked it up when it was on sale during Christmas for $199. I’ve never needed a tablet before, but if I ever did buy one for myself I always figured it would be an iPad.
I spent $350 on apps in 2013
It was another fantastic year in apps. Both Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store hit the 1 million app mark. Apple's latest version of Mac OS X was released for free. Some of my favorite apps received major updates this year including 1Password 4, Alfred 2, and Evernote 5.
What were some of your favorites?
I wanted to take a deeper dive at the apps I purchased. After some proper accounting, I discovered that I spent around $350 on apps in 2013.