Terrific Sound in a Tiny Package

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The Jambox Mini is available in nine colors and five perforation patterns of shiny aluminum.Credit

How will people remember 2013? As the year of the government shutdown? The year the N.S.A. revealed that the enemy is us? The year Miley Cyrus absolutely, positively stopped playing an adorable child actress?

In consumer tech, we may remember this as the year Bluetooth speakers finally outnumbered insects on the earth. Every company and its brother has been cranking out compact, colorful, battery-powered wireless speakers.

And no wonder: these things really are awesome. Every time some company offers a new tablet, laptop or phone, you can bet that it has a better, sharper, brighter screen — but what about the sound? It’s stuck in 2004: tinny and weak. A Bluetooth speaker neatly remedies that enormous quality difference between audio and visual.

The Jawbone Jambox was one of the earliest hits. It’s a sharp-edged rectangular box, $150, that comes in a choice of colors. It pumps out surprisingly loud, clear sound — for its size, which is 6 by 1.6 by 2.8 inches.

Then came the Big Jambox, a shoebox-size $300 version with big enough sound for a backyard.

And now comes the Jambox Mini, at $180.

I love this thing. It’s actually not all that mini; in fact, it’s about as long and tall as the original (6.1 by 2.3 inches) — but it looks like someone sliced the original in half with a saber. Read more…

T-Mobile Hands Consumers a Pleasant Shocker

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T-Mobile said that in the second quarter of 2013, it signed up 685,000 new customers — more than Verizon, AT&T and Sprint combined.Credit Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Back in March, T-Mobile burned every possible bridge it had with the other cellphone carriers. As I wrote then, it eliminated the two-year contract; you can now quit T-Mobile whenever you like.

It also became the first carrier to eliminate the infuriating 15-second recording of voicemail instructions every time you try to leave a message — a waste of your time and your callers’ airtime.

And T-Mobile also ended the Great Cellphone Subsidy Con. That’s where you buy a $600 phone (like the iPhone) for $200, with the understanding that you’ll pay the cellphone company the rest over your two-year contract — yet after you’ve repaid it, your monthly bill doesn’t drop!

T-Mobile was basically prancing around, demonstrating that Emperors Verizon, Sprint and AT&T have no clothes.

I was pleasantly surprised — shocked, really — since those con games have been baked into the American cellphone carriers’ business plans for years. And we, the American sheep, just assumed that we had to accept them.

Apparently, lots of other people were pleasantly surprised, too. The company says that in the second quarter of 2013, it signed up 685,000 new customers — more than Verizon, AT&T and Sprint combined.

Well, on Wednesday, T-Mobile did it again. It announced an even bigger shocker: Starting next month, it will eliminate the sky-high, nosebleed, ridiculous, usurious international roaming charges that have terrified and enraged overseas travelers for years. Read more…

A New Kindle Fire, Just in Time for the Holiday Season

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The "X" in the Kindle Fire HDX is a reference to the screen’s clarity. It packs in 323 tiny dots per inch, making it sharper than high definition. Credit

If it’s October, that must mean the holiday buying season has begun — and that means Amazon will offer a new color tablet.

It’s the Kindle Fire HDX. It costs $230, and it’s terrific. The battery goes for about 11 hours, or 17 in a power-saving, reading-only mode. The stereo speakers sound great. The plastic case weighs less than the prior version and has narrower margins around the screen. There’s a mediocre camera on the front for video chatting (not on the back on the 7-inch model). The one big misfire was putting the power and volume keys on the back; you’ll spend the first week hitting the Off button by mistake while trying to turn it up the sound.

The X in “HDX” is a reference to the screen’s clarity. It packs in 323 tiny dots per inch, making it sharper than high definition, and making the iPad Mini’s 163 dots per inch look coarse.

The HDX’s screen really is spectacular, if infuriatingly reflective. The trouble is, you can see the new sharpness only when you’re looking at source material with resolution that high. The type in books and magazines looks razor-sharp, but most of the 150,000 TV shows and videos in Amazon’s catalog don’t look any clearer. Movies are also the wrong shape for the screen; you see black bands above and below. Read more…

The iPhone 5s’s Fingerprint Scanner Was Hacked, but I’m Not Worried

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The fingerprint recognition feature on the new iPhone 5S.Credit Jason Lee/Reuters

Well, that didn’t take long. Only a couple of days after Apple’s iPhone 5s went on sale, somebody managed to fool its fingerprint sensor.

The headlines and blog comments were predictable and instantaneous: “Oooooh, Apple blew it! The star feature of its new phone is worthless!”

I’ll admit it: I love that darned sensor. You unlock your phone dozens of times a day. Each time is a few seconds of tedium and looking down at it, over and over and over, to enter your password. It’s a drag.

And then there are the 50 percent of iPhone users who don’t even bother with a password. If you’re among them, then your phone and your life are susceptible to snooping should you lose your phone, find it stolen or leave it on your desk while you get coffee.

On the iPhone 5s, you wake the phone by pressing the Home button — and then just leave your finger on it for half a second, and boom: it unlocks.

But should we be concerned, then, that the hacker’s exploits render the fingerprint reader useless?

Not at all. For three giant reasons. Read more…

Yes, There’s a New iPhone. But That’s Not the Big News.

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The new look of iOS 7 is sparse, almost plain in spots, without fake leather, fake woodgrain, fake green felt and fake yellow note paper.Credit

Updated to clarify how to access the Spotlight search screen.

The big Apple news this week might seem to be the new iPhones. But truth be told, the bigger news is iOS 7.

This is the free software update for iPhones (iPhone 4 and later), iPads (iPad 2 and later) and iPod Touches (fifth generation). It’s a radical, huge redesign. Its master architect was Jonathan Ive, the Apple designer who has brought us astonishing hardware designs for many years; now, for the first time, he’s been put in charge of a whole software universe.

The look of iOS 7 is sparse, white — almost plain in spots. No more fake leather, fake woodgrain, fake green felt, fake yellow note paper. It’s all blue Helvetica Neue against white.

The complete absence of graphic embellishments makes it especially utilitarian — in both senses of the word. That’s good, because whatever button or function you need is easier to find; it’s bad, because, well, it can look a little boring.

Then again, the new look is primarily visible at the Home screen, where a jarringly different color palette greets you on the Apple app icons, and on the options screen. The rest of the time, you’ll be using your regular apps, many of which will look no different than before.

The look of iOS 7 may grab you or not. But once the fuss about the visuals dies down, something even more important comes into focus: the work that’s been done on making iOS better. The longer you spend with the new OS, the more you’re grateful for the fixing and de-annoyifying on display. Read more…

The Many Mysteries of Air Travel

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For many travelers, airplanes and tech can be a constant source of conflict, passion — and questions.Credit Justin Guariglia for the International Herald Tribune

Technology and air travel have always gone hand in hand, and they’re only getting more intertwined. From security at the airport to the rules about using electronics in flight to the final resting place of the plane’s toilet contents, airplanes and tech are a constant source of conflict, passion — and questions.

If you’d like the answers, I highly recommend Patrick Smith’s new book, “Cockpit Confidential.” Mr. Smith is a pilot and blogger; much of the book’s format and contents are on display at his Web site, AskThePilot.com, or in the archives of the “Ask the Pilot” column he wrote for Salon.com for years.

But as a frequent flyer, I’d much rather have the book, which is a far more comprehensive book of questions and answers about airplanes, airports, airlines and the psychology of flying. Here are some excerpts — factoids that every flier should know: Read more…

Surprising Enhancements to Apple’s iPhone Line

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Philip W. Schiller, Apple's head of marketing, introducing the iPhone 5S.Credit Jim Wilson/The New York Times

Tuesday morning, Apple caught up to its own rumor mill. It took the wraps off the two new iPhones that everyone had already predicted: the iPhone 5C and the iPhone 5S, which will be available on Sept. 20.

The 5C is the budget model. It’s basically last year’s iPhone 5 but with a plastic body (lacquered for extra shininess!), available in five colors. It will be $100 with a two-year contract.

The more exciting new phone is the iPhone 5S. It looks almost identical to the iPhone 5, except that it’s available in black, white or a classy-looking coppery gold. It’s priced the same as last year’s model, too: $200, $300 and $400 for the models with 16, 32 and 64 gigabytes of storage.

Inside, though, there’s a new processor, which Apple says is twice as fast as before. It’s also the cellphone world’s first 64-bit processor, according to the company, which is an especially attractive feature for game makers; it can “load in” new scenes five times faster than the previous chip. Read more…

An App That Sorts Your E-Mail Shopping Offers

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PeeqPeeq's iPad app.Credit

Everybody loves to hate e-mail. It eats up too much time, it’s used improperly, it’s filled up with junk. Entire careers have been launched around the premise of getting your in-box to zero.

I don’t agree. E-mail is the hub of life. It’s correspondence, collaboration, ideas, news, warnings and congratulations. It’s a to-do list, Rolodex and record of past projects. Sure, I try to keep the roar of junk mail to a minimum (I use a program called SpamSieve, and I never, ever enter my primary e-mail address into a form on the Web). But otherwise, e-mail is a pretty great medium.

Maybe, instead of killing it off, the world should be working on making it more useful. A new, free app for iPad and iPhone, bizarrely called PeeqPeeq, is a good start. Read more…

The Microsoft-Nokia Deal: Risks and Messiness

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Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft's chief executive, with Stephen Elop, left, who will rejoin Microsoft after the deal with Nokia.Credit Brendan Hoffman/Reuters

By now, perhaps you’ve heard: Microsoft just bought Nokia’s cellphone division for $7.2 billion.

When I mentioned the news last night on Twitter (I’m @pogue), my followers were hilariously unimpressed:

It’s all snarky but true. What on earth was Steve Ballmer, the departing Microsoft chief, thinking? What is the point of this deal? Read more…

Use the Airline’s App, and Other Tips for Flying Efficiency

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A QR code serves as the writer's boarding pass in the iOS app of Delta Air Lines.Credit

When I’m filming a TV series, like the shows I host for PBS, I have to fly a lot. Over the last four years, I’ve honed the art of efficient air travel to a sparkling shine.

I could publish my accumulated wisdom in a small book and sell literally dozens of copies. But no: I selflessly offer them to you here, for free.

* Check in with the airline app. If you have your airline’s free app on your phone, you can check in ahead of time, even the night before, and save yourself the worry of getting to the airport an hour before the flight.

At that point, the app can also display the bar code representing your boarding pass. No paper. Just set your phone face down on the little T.S.A. scanner, and you’re through. Not all airlines have the bar code scanners, but the app will let you know ahead of time. Read more…

A Reader’s Question: How Do You Hang Up on Voice Command?

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To issue spoken commands on most Android devices, you have to tap the microphone icon on the Google search bar.Credit Sean Gallup/Getty Images

From today’s mailbag:

Dear Mr. Pogue:

Three years ago, my husband suffered an accident and is now a quadriplegic. He can never be alone without a reliable fully voice-activated phone.

As you pointed out in your column this week, with Android, you have to swipe the screen to reach the mike button, and with the first iteration of Siri, you also had to push the home button — all impossible for a quad to do. We bought a Blue Ant device a few years back, which worked nicely (sometimes) with his old HTC. When the phone was last updated, that was the end of a beautiful relationship. I spent hours with both Blue Ant and HTC, and both blamed the other and neither had a solution.

So what do you suggest?

While you’re at it: The command to terminate a call doesn’t exist yet. When your call goes into voice mail, you can’t hang up by a voice command; you must physically terminate the call. We have discussed this problem with multiple brain trusts and no one has the solution yet.

My reply:

Unfortunately, I’m afraid I haven’t done any research on this problem in particular. But the Moto X, as I mentioned in my review, is listening for voice commands all the time — you don’t have to touch it to start issuing commands.

Among the many Android apps, perhaps there’s one that lets you hang up with a voice command?

I’ll ask my blog readers. Maybe they know of some solutions!

How Ballmer Missed the Tidal Shifts in Tech

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Ballmer Through the Years

Moments of Steven A. Ballmer from conferences, commercials and interviews over the years that he was Microsoft’s chief executive.

Publish Date August 23, 2013. Photo by Michaela Kappeler/European Pressphoto Agency.

By now, you’ve probably heard: Steven A. Ballmer will soon be stepping down as chief executive of Microsoft.

It’s supposedly a voluntary retirement, but that holds about as much credibility as a public official’s leaving a job “to spend more time with family.” Microsoft has been flailing, and many prominent voices have been calling for Mr. Ballmer to step aside.

Many of the factors in his departure — stock price, internal politics, shareholder pressure, public relations — aren’t my area of expertise. I’m a tech critic, a reviewer of products. But even from my particular angle of examination, Mr. Ballmer’s time as the head of Microsoft has been baffling. Read more…

Problems With Your Gadgets? You Need a Consumer Advocate

I get lots and lots of e-mail. I reply to as much as I can — but certain categories, I’ll tell you right now, I can’t answer. “What should I buy?” questions, “Solve my technical problems” questions or “Endorse my book, app or product” requests. I hope it’s obvious that there’s no way I could answer all of those.

FDDPThe Times’s technology columnist, David Pogue, keeps you on top of the industry in his free, weekly e-mail newsletter. Sign up | See Sample

I’m increasingly convinced, however, that there should be a consumer technology complaint columnist. Many of my correspondents write to complain about problems they’re having with some product, company or service, and they’d like me to shame the perpetrators by writing about them.

Here are the sorts of things people write about:

Q.

I’ve been an enthusiastic user on my iPhone of CoPilot, a GPS navigation program. Recently I noticed that one of the modules for giving text directions would pop off, leaving me with just the map. I decided to re-download the app, now updated. I quickly found out that the new version would not work with my older iOS 5.1 operating system and required iOS 6.

I do not argue that they have a need to update their version in tandem with Apple. But to not support old-time users with the ability to re-install a previous version, is rude and a poor encouragement to brand loyalty.

A.

Alas, the rapid appearance of new versions is simply the cost of playing the software game. As I’m fond of saying, buying a software program is more like paying membership dues than buying a vase and owning it. Unfortunately, that seems to be the way the world works. Read more…

Glasses That Solve Colorblindness, for a Big Price Tag

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The EnChroma Cx frames, which look like high-end mirrored sunglasses.Credit

A few weeks back, I wrote about special lenses that were developed to give doctors “a clearer view of veins and vasculature, bruising, cyanosis, pallor, rashes, erythema, and other variations in blood O2 level, and concentration,” especially in bright light.

But these lenses turned out to have an unintended side effect: they “may cure red-green colorblindness.”

FDDPThe Times’s technology columnist, David Pogue, keeps you on top of the industry in his free, weekly e-mail newsletter. Sign up | See Sample

I’m severely red-green colorblind, so I was eager to try these $300 lenses. Turns out they didn’t help me; the company said that my colorblindness is too severe. They have helped many others, though (their Amazon reviews makes that clear).

After my column appeared, I heard from another company that makes color-enhancing glasses — this time, specifically for red-green colorblind folks. The company’s called EnChroma, and the EnChroma Cx sunglasses are a heartbeat-skipping $600 a pair.

“Our lenses are specifically designed to address color blindness,” the company wrote to me, “and utilize a 100+ layer dielectric coating we engineered for this precise purpose by keeping the physiology of the eyes of colorblind people in mind.”

I asked to try out a pair. (You can, too: there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee.) Read more…