Hello, I'm Evan. I write about tech from my perspective – that of the average tech geek, sometimes with my lawyer glasses on. You can also find me on Twitter and at my real-life job as a lawyer. MORE ABOUT ME.
If you’re like me, you’ve got boxes and drawers filled with video tape, CDs, DVDs, hard drives, and even audio cassette tapes. Some of that stuff might seem indestructible, but it isn’t. Physical media deteriorate over time, and Tech and Life recently highlighted a couple of articles from PCMech that detail just how long you can expect your physical media to last, and what you can do to preserve your files.
We asked, and you answered. We recently asked what freemium services had earned your cash, and you answered in force, suggesting many services for which you have paid. We mentioned at the time that if we got enough answers, we’d run a poll to assess the popularity of each service. So here we go – below you’ll see a poll that asks you to pick the one service that is most worth paying for. Cast your vote, and we’ll report back with the results.
The poll closes on Saturday, February 5, at 9 p.m. Eastern time.
Image by Ho John Lee.
Every now and then an innovation comes along that can change the world. If you thought flying cars were cool, or that phones that can translate languages on the fly were cutting edge, you haven’t see anything yet. A Washington state startup company has invented the “Bottom’s Up Draft Beer Dispensing System.” While such an invention might not be “tech” in the way that we normally think of it, we can’t pass up a chance to write about this one. Read more
Last week, we asked you how you’ve tweaked your Android device, to make it all your own. Now, it is time for iOS. If you have an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, let us known in the comments how you’ve tweaked your device. Admittedly, that can be a bit harder to do on iOS than on Android, but we have some pretty clever readers.
This is a sponsored post written by the sponsor, Dial-A-Phone. Please click here for more information on sponsored posts on 40Tech.
The Blackberry Torch is a sincere attempt on behalf of RIM here to break away from the closed “business user” market and enter the mainstream with a phone that expresses all the personality of a Blackberry, with the usability that is favorable to the mainstream smart phone consumer.
The phone is unsurprisingly weighty at 161g as it is, after all, a Blackberry. The solid chassis measuring 111x62x14.6mm houses a 3.2” screen that caters for even the most demanding of users. The external design and weight have characteristics that are common with most Blackberry phones and it is obvious that the company has stuck with what it knows works as far as this area is concerned.
It is upon closer inspection of the interface and software that the user really comes to understand Blackberry’s conceptual development. The inclusion of the old QWERTY keyboard, also common to Blackberry design, and the touch screen capability is the first aspect to draw the users attention and brings the handset in line with other mainstream competitors.
With an operating system similar to that of the HTC Desire, the Torch isn’t a weak contender in the smart phone market. The 624MHz processor on the Blackberry OS 6.0 system would satisfy any user running social media apps, viewing videos and listening to music.
Like the Nokia N8, the Blackberry Torch is a break through phone designed, as a hand set that will draw RIM into the mainstream market, so for that reason it is understandable that some of the operating features do not quite meet the spec of the market leaders. However, this phone offers a real step in the right direction for Blackberry technology and design, and offers plenty of new features that would keep any Blackberry lover happy.
It will be interesting to see how Blackberry react to the popularity of this handset and how that will sway their design decisions in the future.
Find out more about the Blackberry Torch online at Dial-A-Phone where you can read the latest review highlighting all of its fantastic features.
Photo by Enrique Dans
