Like others, I learned of Jobs’ passing on an Apple device. S and I were just on our way out the door to pick up dinner when I hit the Facebook app on my iPhone. One of the updates near the top of my feed was from a friend in the tech sector and it [...]

I’ve engineered a fair number of inexpensive DIY camera hacks. This one is by far the cheapest: it’s free! Simply place a drop of water on the phone’s lens, carefully turn the device over, and the suspended droplet serves as a liquid lens. Behold: Droplet images are dreamy, blurred at the periphery, and just a [...]

Three months ago, I received an email informing me that a high school friend, Pat, had died. I read his obituary and my body stopped functioning. I froze on the spot, limbs tense but trembling. My mouth went dry, my vision blurred. As I waited for my train in the packed station, I could barely [...]

Pucker up this year, because you might not always have a sprig of mistletoe hanging around at your annual Christmas party. The popular, parasitic plant could soon be disappearing from its historic habitats. The problem—in the U.K., at least—is that European mistletoe (Viscum album) is losing the traditional apple orchards it has long depended on [...]

[Every so often Life, Unbounded allows itself a little more speculative leeway, a little bit of armchair musing, this post is very much in that vein, and yes, it was written on a Mac] Like many scientists of my generation the first time I experienced Steve Jobs was through the almost magical interaction with a [...]

In a sign of just how important content and mobility have become to gadget lovers, network providers and device makers will take center stage at the 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) next week in Las Vegas. For the first time since 1997 Microsoft won’t deliver a keynote touting its latest version of Windows. Chipmaker [...]

With the specter of Apple’s iPhone 5 introduction looming on September 12, gadget makers pressed for their share of the consumer electronics spotlight this week. The most prominent devices on display: Nokia’s first Windows Phone 8 smartphones and several new Motorola Droids running Google Android. Even Amazon made a play on Thursday to preempt next [...]

The FBI says there is no evidence to support hacker group AntiSec’s claims that it stole digital serial numbers for more than 12 million iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches from a poorly secured agency computer. The bureau issued a statement Tuesday indicating the agency “is aware of published reports alleging that an FBI laptop was [...]

With the imminent arrival of Google‘s latest Android operating system later this month, Apple’s iOS upgrades this fall and Microsoft’s relentless push to make Windows relevant to mobile devices, a lot of people are talking about smartphones and tablets. The next few months will also likely see an increasing number of people talking to these [...]

The sheer number of reports indicating Apple plans to launch a mini version of its iPad would lead one to believe that a 7-inch (18-centimeter) Apple tablet is a foregone conclusion. It’s less clear, however, that the company has much to gain in taking on the likes of Samsung and Amazon head-on by shrinking the [...]

(Note: Updated below with my decision.) My birthday comes a few weeks before the holidays. This year my wife got me an iPad. I love it. (Related: her, too.) I’ve downloaded dozens of apps and have spent most of the intervening weeks playing with it. I don’t like to be without it. And yet I [...]

DURBAN, South Africa—I rented a cellphone during my sojourn here to cover the recent climate change negotiations. A local number enabled me to keep in touch with home and office but also, perhaps more importantly, to make appointments on the fly with ever harried international negotiators. The Nokia 2330—which was dubbed, affectionately, my “hellphone” by [...]

Apple Computer co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs has announced his resignation, according to a statement issued by the company. In the statement, Apple announced that Jobs, who co-founded Apple with Steve Wozniak in 1976, stepped down August 24 and will be replaced at Jobs’s suggestion by chief operating officer Tim Cook. “Steve’s extraordinary vision and [...]

Apple’s iTunes software has been heralded for the past decade as an example of an application that almost exemplifies what cloud computing is all about. With Monday’s launch of iCloud services, Apple takes its digital music offering the rest of the way by allowing iPod, iPhone, iPad, Mac and PC users to store their tunes [...]

Microsoft added a key piece to its flagging mobile operating system business Tuesday when the company announced it is buying voice and video communications provider Skype Global for $8.5 billion. Despite heavily hyping its Windows Phone 7 operating system late last year, Microsoft has struggled to gain traction against Apple’s iPhone as well as against [...]

As you’ve no doubt read, Apple CEO Steve Jobs is stepping down from the company he co-founded three decades ago. Tim Cook will take over the reigns for the long-term, and has served as COO since 200. For those who don’t follow Apple nerdery obsessively like I do, This Is My Next has a profile [...]