JohnMarshall4

According to 9to5Mac, Apple is internally testing versions of iOS 7 that include AirDrop drag-and-drop file sharing capabilities. First…

I hope they bring AirDrop in iOS 7. It would help fix one use case they haven’t made very - taking photos and video with your iPhone, and then editing on the larger iPad screen. Sure iPhoto has beaming, but that doesn’t work for video or help with 3rd party apps. It would be nice to see this functionality baked into the OS.

One week ahead of the start of its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, Apple today launched a new WWDC iOS app to help attendees stay…

Every year it gets easier and easier to get at the WWDC session videos. This year there is even a dedicated app for it. - Still wish I could go in person though.

Microsoft launched Windows 8 on October 26th, with a volley of new hardware designed for the touch-based interface. Just 12 months after an early Windows 8 Release Preview, Microsoft is now keen to…

I’m certainly not a huge fan on Windows 8, but there are some notable improvements coming in Window 8.1.

• Start button is back - though it just brings up the start screen - at least it will be a bit more user friendly for mouse users
• Customizable backgrounds for the smart screen. 
• Boot to desktop mode
• New large and small smart tiles
• Apps no longer pin to the start screen by default
• Expanded snap views and multi-monitor support. 50/50, 60/40.
• Any app can have multiple windows - get websites side by side and extend them across multiple monitors.
• Application syncing across multiple PCs. - keeps your start screen in- sync.
• Sky Drive sync  built in - has smart caching to download files only as required. - Like Bitcasa. You can also pin folders and files so they’re available offline.
• IE tab syncing across PCs and soon Windows phones
• Built in Reading List

Of these I think the new snap view & multi-monitor support are the most interesting. I use two large monitors (30” & 27”) on my desktop and being able only use a single Metro app - and a small sliver of another are complete deal breakers for me today. 

The Sky Drive sync changes are also very interesting. As a user of Bitcasa i’m very familiar with the sync on demand model. It is great for devices with smaller storage. And unlike Bitcasa they are letting you pin files and folders for guaranteed offline access. - I wonder if they will bring that to their other clients?

Nice overview of scanning documents to Evernote with your iPhone.

I’m not sure what apple is going for with this model. Dropping the rear camera and lowering the memory. Maybe it is an experiment to see if the is an unserved market at the lower end.

Start button is coming back although the start menu is not. Also you’ll be able to boot straight into the desktop. These are small refinement changes but should help Windows 8.1 get broader adoption.

I really have no current interest in my next iPhone being any bigger that the current iPhone 5. And this is coming from someone who used to haul around a giant Pocket PC.

What I want most in the iPhone 5S is a finger print reader. That us why I held out and didn’t buy the iPhone 5.

I was actually surprised that 26% of that time was talking. A lot higher than I would have thought by watching people these days.

Also looking at the data proves once again that I am not the typical consumer.

I’d love to see Apple open up more APIs to third parties. Things like custom keyboards, deeper access to the networks and Bluetooth stacks for example would be great. Tim seemed very vague and evasive though. Using terms like “protecting the customer from the risk if bad experiences” are exactly the excuses Steve Jobs made to avoid opening up the phone to 3rd party apps in the first place. Similar phrases used to avoid allowing multitasking and so on.

I regularly use Evernote to Video Journal. I like to record entries of around 5 minutes with the front facing camera on the iPhone. The problem is that the iOS versions of Evernote do not allow you to import video directly. Also the iOS photo app won’t …