“Tech” collection
Stay informed on the rapidly evolving world of consumer electronics, high-performance hardware, and digital innovation. This central tech hub provides a deep dive into the physical components and software ecosystems that power your modern life.
HTD Tech Briefs
View all →October 14, 2013
Watch Out SnapChat Users! SnapHack App Can Now View & Save Photos & Videos Forever
SnapChat has always, in my opinion, been a controversial app. It has a very simple model, you can take pictures and photos and send them to friends and these multimedia files only are visible for a few seconds. Once the time passes, the videos or photos can no longer been seen. Teens and tweens view this app as a lot…
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October 7, 2013
Which Apple ID to use for iTunes App Store, iMessage, iCloud and Find My iPhone
Apple's iOS 7 introduced some confusion when it comes to Apple IDs. But the change was intentional because Apple's desire was to make iOS much more secure. As part of the upgrade process, iPhone and iPad users are required to set up an iCloud account and associate it with Find my iPhone. This process will (hopefully) cause the number of…
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October 4, 2013
Weighing in on the Withings Smart Body Analyzer WS-50
Recent advances in personal technology are allowing individuals and families to get better analysis of their health progress or lack there of. From wearable devices that track your movement to applications that help you set exercise goals, our society now has consumer tools that remove some of the mystery surrounding personal health. Withings is a company that has been leading…
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October 1, 2013
Is Storage Trendy? Or Just Following a Technology Trend? Top Storage Trends
Ok, I know. Talking about storage solutions or what the top storage trends are is not exactly the #1 topic on people's minds. In fact, I would say that we all take storage for granted...that is, until we RUN OUT of storage or a hard drive crashes or our storage solution is incredibly slow. And, many of us simply don't…
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September 27, 2013
Site Performance Optimization: MaxCDN, Nginx, CloudFlare and WordPress Caching
My blog has a problem. Or rather it had a problem but I'm making some big improvements to it to make it perform better. For many years, my site has suffered from slow performance. Much of that is my fault though. I tend to overload WordPress with lots of plugins. Plugins are bad, but they are in many ways, quite…
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September 19, 2013
Will You Pledge to Not Text and Drive? Do It Now! #ItCanWait
For the past couple of months, I have been writing and talking about the national campaign where you pledge to not text and drive. It's called It Can Wait (the hashtag is #ItCanWait). There is a website that you can go to to take this pledge of not texting and driving - just head over to www.ItCanWait.com and you can…
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September 18, 2013
Direct Download iOS 7 Final IPSW Links for Latest iPhone, iPad & iPod Touch
The day has finally arrived! Apple's latest mobile operating system, iOS 7, is now available. Most people can simply connect their iOS device to the latest version of iTunes (be sure to download version 11.1 which is now available as well), update your apps, do a sync, make a backup and THEN install iOS 7. For those people who were…
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September 13, 2013
ODOYO Power+Shell EX iPhone 5 Battery Case is Almost Perfect
A few weeks ago, I published a head-to-head review of four iPhone 5 battery cases (by Mophie, Belkin, MyCharge & XPAL Power). Each of these case+battery solutions had their own advantages (and disadvantages). Unfortunately, I didn't get my hands on the ODOYO Power+Shell EX iPhone 5 battery case in time for that review, otherwise, it would have been the leader…
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September 10, 2013
12 Useful iOS 7 Tricks To Know
With Apple's new iOS 7 for iPhone and iPad GM (Golden Master) now available to developers and the release to the general public just around the corner, I wanted to share 12 useful iOS 7 tricks that you probably want to know. I have been reading public information about iOS 7 as well as using the developer beta for a…
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September 5, 2013
Still Texting and Driving? This #ItCanWait Documentary Will Change Your Mind
We all know that we shouldn't text and drive, but yet even I feel sometimes compelled to glance at my phone. I don't respond to texts unless I'm fully stopped, but even that is against the law in many places. That second that you remove your eyes from the road, you become distracted, and the vehicle you are driving is…
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August 28, 2013
What is a Technology Evangelist?
I often get asked by friends, family, acquaintances and recently, companies that I’m interviewing with – what is a Technology Evangelist? While many within the technology space understand the position, it is still relatively unknown within the job marketplace. In fact, when I first started the position almost 6 years ago, it was definitely one of those niche jobs. Fast…
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August 22, 2013
The Back-To-School Hard Drive Questions: Use for Backups or Media? Size vs. Size?
Schools are booting up in the coming weeks and students are also Ctrl-Alt-Deleting their brains to get ready to upload GBs of essential data into their minds to help them maintain their upgradability down the line. As part of the back-to-school process, parents often need to think about the tech that they will provide their kids. This is particularly important…
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