Author Archives: halberenson

100,000 Apps and I can’t find anything to install

Posted on June 6, 2012 by halberenson

Back at the beginning of April I wrote a blog post that posited Windows Phone’s biggest App problem was the absence of key applications for interacting with the physical world. So I found it really interesting that in the same week … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Microsoft, Mobile, Windows Phone | Tagged Windows Phone Apps | 4 Comments

Uber Failure

Posted on June 1, 2012 by halberenson

I truly love the Internet and Apps and Mobile and the resulting improvements they make to my quality of life. But I have to tell you about two recent failures that leave me a little less enamored of today’s technology. … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet | Comments Off

What makes you think they know anything?

Posted on May 28, 2012 by halberenson

I’m constantly fascinated by reports in which someone with an important-sounding title at a company makes a statement that sets the blogosphere and twitterverse ablaze. For example, a country-level marketing manager or an evangelist. Obviously it must be true because … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet | 5 Comments

How will Microsoft keep existing Windows Phone’s “Fresh”?

Posted on May 22, 2012 by halberenson

When queried about Windows Phone 8 upgrades for existing handsets both Microsoft and Nokia officials have deflected the question with comments about supporting existing customers and keeping their experience “fresh”. The most direct interpretation of these statements is that Windows … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Microsoft, Mobile, Windows Phone | Tagged Windows Phone 8, Windows Phone 8 upgrades | 11 Comments

Slow Industry Response to Malware Reports is Killing Us

Posted on May 14, 2012 by halberenson

One of the biggest threats to the world of computing is how slow vendors are to respond to malware threats. For example, it took Apple 49 Days after Adobe fixed a vulnerability in Flash to make that fix available to OS X … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Security | Tagged Fake AV, Malware Distribution, Scareware, URL Filtering | Comments Off

Samsung and AT&T Send Messages

Posted on May 7, 2012 by halberenson

Today Samsung and AT&T announced the Samsung Focus 2 would be coming to AT&T in a couple of weeks. While the phone itself is interesting, what it really important here are the messages that both AT&T and Samsung are trying … Continue reading →

Posted in Mobile, Windows Phone | Tagged Microsoft WIndows Phone, Nokia, Samsung, Samsung Focus 2, Windows Phone | Comments Off

Media Center, DVD Playback, and Microsoft’s Media Strategy

Posted on May 5, 2012 by halberenson

There is quite a bit of noise in the system after Microsoft’s announcement this week that Windows Media Center would be a separate add-on to Windows 8, and even more noise regarding the decision to remove DVD playback from Windows … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Home Entertainment, Microsoft, Windows | Tagged Microsoft Windows 8, WIndows 8 DVD, Windows 8 Media Center, Windows Media Center, WIndows Media Player | 7 Comments

Looking for the Microsoft Nook

Posted on May 1, 2012 by halberenson

Microsoft has always had a thing for electronic books, but turning that into a successful venture? That’s a whole other story. Microsoft entered the electronic book reader business 12 years ago with the release of Microsoft Reader 1.0 as part … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Microsoft, Mobile, Windows | Tagged e-book, e-reader, Kindle, Kindle Fire, Microsoft Reader, Nook, Windows 8 Tablets | 6 Comments

Windows Phone 7.5 will top out at 100,000 apps

Posted on April 27, 2012 by halberenson

Two phone ecosystems, two very different phone experiences. That’s what the current Smartphone market really looks like. Apple’s IOS and Google’s Android (fragmented as it is). Apple ships out updates to its iPhone user base at regular intervals and has, … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Microsoft, Windows Phone | Tagged Microsoft WIndows Phone, Windows Phone 8, Windows Phone 8 upgrades | 9 Comments