Tech Critiques Tech Reviews
Doug and Charles podcasts
genre: Science & Technology/Technology
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Episodes
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Internet IPO
12/2/2011
DownloadDuration: 59:26
Tech Critiques Episode 212This week in the news we discuss all the latest IPO announcements from internet based companies like Zynga and Facebook. First off Zynga is said to be planning an IPO with a $10 billion valuation. Zynga is expected to sell 10 percent or fewer of its outstanding shares. Which are scheduled to be priced on Dec, 15. Facebook is said to be planning an IPO with a $100 billion valuation and they may file for the IPO before the end of the year. The offering would raise more money than any other technology IPO. The Salvation Army is looking to change the way people make donations at Christmas time. By allowing people to donate with their debit and credit cards. The new donation system will be using the Square mobile payment system. CBS turned down an ad based AppleTV deal. CBS CEO Les Moonves let it slip in a corporate earnings call that CBS had decided against joining an AppleTV service because it was based on an ad split. If this deal had worked out it would have been a major game changer for IPTV.Hotels.com HDHotels.com app is optimized to provide you the best interactive hotel booking experience using all the great tablet features. You can find and securely book your choice of more than 20,000 last minute deals from their selection of 140,000+ hotels in 200 countries. A great app for the frequent traveler or road warrior who wants to find a good hotel at a great price quickly and easily. Review Grade = A Sponsor: Try GotoMeeting with HD Faces 30 days for Free!Yammer.comYammer is the free private social network for your company. This new way of working drives business alignment and agility, reduces cycle times, increases employee engagement and improves relationships with customers and partners.Review Grade = AFor Godaddy General 10 percent off use code blu33For Godaddy Web hosting 10 percent off use code pod33Check out the Tech Critiques ArchivesContact Us
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Free iOS 5 Classes
11/18/2011
DownloadDuration: 45:21
Tech Critiques Episode 211This week in the news we discuss the new free iOS 5 programming classes from Stanford University. The classes are available on iTunes U, a section of iTunes that has thousands of different classes being shared from the iTunes store for free. So if you have interest in being a iOS app developer open up your iTunes and start learning. DreamWorks is working on a new animation studio software that could speed up render times by 50X. The ideal situation for rendering CG animation is to be able to see it in real time. And not have to wait for it to render out then decide if you keep it or have to do it all over again. The new Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 is expected to break sales records this year, for most sales in the first week of release. Last years Call of Duty Black Ops had a first week sales total of $650 million. The Call of Duty series is a very good game and I expect this one to be just as exciting as the las two were. Android apps could be coming to your iPad some time soon if the Alien Dalvik developers have there way. Of course you will have to jailbreak your iPad to enjoy the Android apps on your iPad. But I have yet to see anything on Android that would make me want to do install this.ReviewsGateGuruGateGuru is a new tool to transform the chaotic and unfamiliar airport environment into a more satisfying experience before and after flights, and during layovers. This app made my flights with lay overs more enjoyable. Because I was easily able to find something to eat and find my way around the airport using the built-in terminal maps. A must have for any frequent airport traveler. Review Grade = A Sponsor: Try GotoMeeting with HD Faces 30 days for Free!Vital Signs Camera The Vital Signs Camera App of Philips measures your heart rate and breathing rate using advanced software and the camera of your iPad 2. This breakthrough technology allows you to measure your vital signs in an easy and unobtrusive way at home.Review Grade = AFor Godaddy General 10 percent off use code blu33For Godaddy Web hosting 10 percent off use code pod33Check out the Tech Critiques ArchivesContact Us
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No More Flash
11/11/2011
DownloadDuration: 54:50
Tech Critiques Episode 210This week in the news we discuss Google's new iOS Gmail app. This new Google app was highly anticipated by fans of the Gmail service but do to bugs in the app it was quickly pulled out of the Apple App store. I was not even able to download it to get a copy for review in this weeks episode. Hopefully Google will get the bugs fixed and re-release it some time soon. This halloween I saw some pretty cool costumes but this has to be the most expensive halloween costume ever. As a man has used 2 iPads to make a costume that has the appearance of a whole in his body. Pretty cool use of the iPad for halloween. Redbox has decided to raise it's prices from .99 cents per rental to $1.20 per rental. Some analysts wonder if this move will hurt Redbox as much as the price increase at Netflix hurt it's self when they decided to raise their prices. Some how I don't think .20 cents is going to matter that much. And the Redbox changes are not as extreme as the changes that Netflix tried to do. Toyota is showing off a new technology called the Touch Life smartphone mirroring system. This new car infotainment system will duplicate what's on your smartphone screen on the built-in car screen. This is a pretty cool concept considering that most smartphones today are more advanced than the systems built into cars.Star Wars Blu-ray iPad AppThe Star Wars Blu-ray: Early Access highlights a varied sampling of bonus materials featured in the collection, including never-before-seen content sourced from the Lucasfilm Archives! Overall this is a pretty good add on for movie fans. I would like to see more content in this app but they probably are saving that for people who buy the Blu-ray movies.Review Grade = A- Sponsor: Try GotoMeeting with HD Faces 30 days for Free!Dolphin HDDolphin brings you the world's first gesture browser. Fast and playful, you can train your Dolphin to adapt to the way you want to browse. Open your favorite web pages with just a touch of your finger tip, create a signature Gesture, or even browse web content in a polished magazine style format.Review Grade = AFor Godaddy General 10 percent off use code blu33For Godaddy Web hosting 10 percent off use code pod33Check out the Tech Critiques ArchivesContact Us
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Groupon IPO
10/29/2011
DownloadDuration: 59:29
Tech Critiques Episode 209This week in the news we discuss the Groupon IPO that is scheduled to happen early next week. And the controversy about the super voting shares that company founders will have. Traditionally it has been one vote per share of voting stock that you owned. Regardless of the number of votes you get per share the Groupon IPO is bound to be a multi-million dollar IPO come next week. Before Apple announced iCloud they made a large offer to buy Dropbox. But the founders of Dropbox refused the offer. It is rumored that the buyout offer for Dropbox was 9 digits. The iPhone 4S is selling well in China even though it has not been released there yet. The iPhone 4S is said to be selling on the gray market in China for $2000. Netflix has changed it's mind about separating DVD's and video streams. Netflix is going back to the old plans it had before where you could get DVD's and streaming for one low price. MotionX GPS DriveMotionX-GPS Drive turns your iPhone into the next-generation car and pedestrian navigation solution with new features not yet seen on mobile devices. This app is great and very easy to use. I was able to literally download the app at the last second in the airport parking lot, having forgoten to bring my portable GPS. I started driving to my destination while following the voice and map directions of MotonX GPS Drive having never used it before. If you are in a pinch and need to figure out how to get to some where, MotionX GPS Drive will get you there.Review Grade = ASponsor: Try GotoMeeting with HD Faces 30 days for Free!Adobe After Effects CS5.5Adobe® After Effects® CS5.5 software is the industry-leading solution for creating sophisticated motion graphics and cinematic visual effects. Transform moving images for delivery to theaters, living rooms, personal computers, and mobile devices.Review Grade = AFor Godaddy General 10 percent off use code blu33For Godaddy Web hosting 10 percent off use code pod33Check out the Tech Critiques ArchivesContact Us
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BlackBerry Outage 2011
10/14/2011
DownloadDuration: 58:48
Tech Critiques Episode 208This week in the news BlackBerry has suffered a major service outage that has left millions of its customers without messaging service for 4 days straight. BlackBerry executives have made public apologies for the service outage which started this week on Monday. This problem for BlackBerry could not have come at a worse time as many corporations are looking at alternatives to BlackBerry like Apple's iPhone and Google's Android phones. If you are still on the fence thinking about getting an iPhone 4S. Apple has given an incentive to people with the iPhone 4 to get the iPhone 4S. Apple will now accept your used iPhone 4 in exchange for up to $200. Not a bad resale value, for a gadget device that was just released last year and has already been outdated by the new one. I was surprised to get $172 for my 2 year old iPhone 3GS. Apple has won a preliminary injunction against the Samsung Galaxy products in Australia. There is a lot of proof that Samsung is copying not only the Apple product design but also the Apple product packaging. Steve Jobs was thinking about iCloud and cloud computing way back in 1997, during a WWDC session with developers. This truly shows the mans vision was way ahead of everyone else. Because in 1997 most people didn't even have broadband internet access. iCloudiCloud stores your music, photos, documents, and more and wirelessly pushes them to all your devices. Automatic, effortless, and seamless. True cloud computing has finally arrived with Apple's iCloud service. In only a matter of minutes after you turn iCloud on you almost forget it's there. Because it seamlessly backs up your data without you having to do anything at all.Review Grade = A Sponsor: Try GotoMeeting with HD Faces 30 days for Free!Apple Trailers AppiTunes Movie Trailers puts the newest and most exclusive movie previews in HD in your hands. Browse trailers and clips, for the biggest Hollywood blockbusters and independent cinema; view stunning HD photos; explore a year-long calendar of movie releases; find showtimes near you and get ticket info directly from your iPad or iPhone.Review Grade = AFor Godaddy General 10 percent off use code blu33For Godaddy Web hosting 10 percent off use code pod33Check out the Tech Critiques ArchivesContact Us
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Steve Jobs 1955-2011
10/7/2011
DownloadDuration: 54:58
Tech Critiques Episode 207 This week in the news a pioneer in the technology and computer industry has passed away. Steve Jobs co-founder and CEO of Apple Computer has died at the age of 56. Steve Jobs 1955-2011. Here are just a few quotes from around the web that people are saying about Steve Jobs.President Barack Obama"The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented. Michelle and I send our thoughts and prayers to Steve’s wife Laurene, his family, and all those who loved him."Tim CookApple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple. We are planning a celebration of Steve’s extraordinary life for Apple employees that will take place soon. If you would like to share your thoughts, memories and condolences in the interim, you can simply email rememberingsteve@apple.com. Sponsor: Try GotoMeeting with HD Faces 30 days for Free!We also go over the announcements at this weeks Apple Press conference. Where they revealed the iPhone 4S. We give our opinions on the iPhone 4S and if you should up grade to it or not.For Godaddy General 10 percent off use code blu33For Godaddy Web hosting 10 percent off use code pod33Check out the Tech Critiques ArchivesContact Us
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Kindle Fire
9/30/2011
DownloadDuration: 01:00:17
Tech Critiques Episode 206 This week in the news we talk about the newly announced Amazon Kindle Fire, a color touch screen tablet for $200. And how it will effect the tablet market. Some say the Kindle Fire is a iPad killer and others say it targets an entirely different market. Amazon also slashes the prices on it traditional e-ink screen Kindle e-readers with prices ranging from $79-$149. Amazon also announced this week their new web browser for the Kindle Fire called Amazon Silk. This new Silk web browser speeds up your web browsing experience by optimizing pages on the Amazon back end before it gets to your mobile device. Very similar to the way the Opera Mobile browser works. The L.E. Philips Memorial Library in Wisconsin has started an iPad loaner program. Library card holders are able to get an iPad for 1 week. The iPad comes pre-loaded with 1000 classic ebooks, 10 audio books and dozens of free apps. I wonder how long it will be before you can check out books from the local library on your personal iPad. Product trade-in services like Gazelle are seeing a boost in usage before the release of the new iPhone 5. I myself have been trading in gadget devices on Ebay for years. I think a lot more people are getting hip to the gadget trade in game because of the new trade in services that are being offered by main stream stores like Best Buy, Radio Shack and Toy's R US. Screen Capture by GoogleIt's easy to use this extension to capture visible content of a tab, a region of a web page, or the whole page as a PNG image. You can also edit your captured image before saving it as a PNG image. Highlighting, redacting and adding text are supported. For the full review please listen to this episode of the podcast.Review Grade = ASponsor: Tech Assitance in a Flash try secure and reliable Goto Assist Express Today!EmpireAvenue.comEmpire Avenue is the Social Stock Market, where you can Grow your Social Capital online. Here's how it works, you get to discover valuable, interesting, cool, fun people online and then based scores or share price, invest virtual currency in their profiles by buying shares in our Social Stock Market. For the full review please listen to this episode of the podcast.Review Grade = BFor Godaddy General 10 percent off use code blu33For Godaddy Web hosting 10 percent off use code pod33Check out the Tech Critiques ArchivesContact Us
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Netflix Splits
9/23/2011
DownloadDuration: 01:09:21
Tech Critiques Episode 205 This week in the news we talk about the great Netflix company split. As Netflix CEO Reed Hastings decides to split Netflix into two companies. A video streaming company and a DVD by mail company. The new DVD by mail company will be called Qwikster. This helps to explain the Netflix pricing change they made about a month ago. At this weeks Facebook developers conference F8. Facebook revealed plans to incorporate tools for sharing music. The service will let users see the history of songs played and listen together. It looks like Google+ is no longer a invite only service and is now open to everyone. Also Google+ is rolling out new video chat features and search tools. Social reading app Flipboard is getting more competition. As it is rumored that Google will be rolling out soon their competing service called Google Propellor. Google Propellor will be for both iOS and Android. There is no reported release date yet for Google Propellor. Google Chrome 14Google's own fast and stable web browser. That also includes the chrome web store, an online market place where you can discover thousands of apps, extensions and themes for Google Chrome. For the full review please listen to this episode of the podcast.Review Grade = ASponsor: Tech Assitance in a Flash try secure and reliable Goto Assist Express Today!Google FlightsChoose your flight from a simple list of results, explore destinations on a map, and find travel dates with the lowest fare on Google Flight Search. For the full review please listen to this episode of the podcast.Review Grade = AFor Godaddy General 10 percent off use code blu33For Godaddy Web hosting 10 percent off use code pod33Check out the Tech Critiques ArchivesContact Us
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Facebook IPO Delayed
9/16/2011
DownloadDuration: 52:54
Tech Critiques Episode 204 This week in the news we talk about the Facebook IPO being delayed until late 2012. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants to delay the IPO so that Facebook employees can focus on improving the Facebook products and not how much profit sharing they will be getting from the IPO. This could mean we will be seeing something new coming from Facebook perhaps a Facebook for iPad App (Please). DishNetwork had a major network outage this week on Tuesday, September 13. This satellite TV outage effected myself as I was without TV service for several hours and could not get through to their customer service. This TV outage only helps to push more people to finds ways to cut the cord. Bitcasa a TechCrunch Disrupt finalist wants to enter the world of cloud storage. By offering to you the entire cloud for only $10 per month with unlimited storage. An interesting idea but can they really make money at it with such a low price point. HP may consider reviving the HP TouchPad Tablet after discontinuing the product. Only being on the market for 6 weeks was probably not enough time to properly get the product up and going. Hopefully HP will decide to take another stab at the tablet market with an HP TouchPad 2 that could be better than or just as good as the iPad. A Android developer has come up with a way to give you real gaming controls on touch devices. By connecting a Sony PS3 controller up to certain Android phones. A really cool idea but currently it only works with rooted Android devices and certain models of Android hardware. Android fragmentation strikes again, because this would be nice to have on all Android devices. Griffin Reveal iPhone 4 CaseA really nice looking and functional iPhone 4 case that is only held back by the quality of the materials it is made with. After only two weeks of use the rubber edges of the case start to fray and show a lot of wear. Unacceptable for something that should last at least a year or longer. For the full review please listen to this episode of the podcast. Review Grade = C+Sponsor: Tech Assitance in a Flash try secure and reliable Goto Assist Express Today!Zite for iOSZite is a personalized magazine for your iPad that automatically learns what you like and gets smarter as you use it. Zite gives you personalized news, articles, blogs, videos and other content from a variety of both mainstream and niche publications and sites. For the full review please listen to this episode of the podcast. Review Grade = AFor Godaddy General 10 percent off use code blu33For Godaddy Web hosting 10 percent off use code pod33Check out the Tech Critiques ArchivesContact Us
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Adobe Carousel
9/9/2011
DownloadDuration: 59:38
Tech Critiques Episode 203 This week in the news we talk about the new Adobe cloud service called Carousel that will sync your photos to the cloud. It also allows you to view all your photos from multiple iOS devices and Macs. This new Adobe Carousel service sounds interesting but I wonder how it will compare to Apple's iCloud service which is supposed to provide a similar photo syncing service. iCloud has not been released yet but is supposed to be coming with iOS 5 and the iPhone 5 sometime in October. GameStop the video game retail store is going to start accepting iOS device trade-ins this fall. It is rumored that GameStop will also be reselling the used iOS devices. I don't think I know of any other gadgets that have such a high used re-sale value as Apple products do. Sony announces a Wifi less PSP model in hopes to reduce the price of the existing PSP. This budget priced Sony PSP has only been announced for Europe but the rumor is that it will soon be coming to the USA. The rumored lowered Sony PSP price could be $140, very close to what the Nintendo 3DS price is now. With Android and iPhone dominating the smart phone market. Blackberry is left out in No man's land especially after the Google deal to buy Motorola Mobility. RIM (Research In Motion) better watch out or they will be left behind by the rest of the smart phone competition. I see people all the time switching to Android or iPhone but not the other way around. The week of September 16, Star Wars The Complete Saga will be released on Blu-ray disc. But this blu-ray set comes with a little something extra in the form of an iOS App. Which will allow you to view a lot of the special features that would normally be included on the actual Blu-ray disc.Boxee for iPadBoxee for iPad takes the work out of finding, viewing, and sharing online video by bringing videos from your friends, your bookmarks, and your computer all into one easy to use app. Boxee for iPad has a nice user interface but is lacking in content when compared to it's desktop application counter part. For the full review please listen to this episode of the podcast.Review Grade = B Sponsor: Tech Assitance in a Flash try secure and reliable Goto Assist Express Today!TextPlusFree and unlimited texting from your iOS devices. Simple to use and setup. This is a must have app to add to your collection. For the full review please listen to this episode of the podcast.Review Grade = AFor Godaddy General 10 percent off use code blu33For Godaddy Web hosting 10 percent off use code pod33Check out the Tech Critiques ArchivesContact Us
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