Are We Really Living In Exponental Technological Growth?

Thumbnail - Emoji Surprised ChartIt seems like a silly question to ask. As I type this from an extremely thin and powerful portable computer, do I really have to wonder if I’m living in the future? I can speak to a machine and it will respond to my commands. Run computations… done. Play 80’s music… done. Find the nearest pizzeria… done. Nothing like this has been possible before… or has it? Supposedly, if technology is growing fast now, it should grow even faster in the future. But as I look back at the last two decades of tech, what has really changed?

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Upgrading My Early 2009 Mac Mini (Again)

Activity Monitor and System Preferences IconsWhile I’m happy with the new iPad Air 2, and it has seriously cut down my desktop usage, I still need a traditional computer to get work done. The problem was that my Mac was running slow. It’s over five years old. I thought about getting a new Mac, but the new models didn’t impressed me. They’re either too expensive for my budget or not a significant improvement over the earlier Macs. To save money, but boost performance, I decided to upgrade my Mac Mini.

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Enjoying The Holidays With The iPad Air 2

Emoji - Christmas Tree With Gift BoxFor technology and gadget lovers, there were two main Black Friday sales at Best Buy this season – a 50″ Panasonic LED TV for $199.00 (regularly $549.99) and an iPad Air 2 for $100 off. Since I wasn’t looking for a new TV, I started focusing on a new iPad. Originally, I wasn’t a fan of the iPad. I didn’t see the purpose of it. But after reviewing the specs of the iPad Air 2, and after seeing all the crazy holiday sales, I decided that I should get one.

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Where’s the Turkey / Thanksgiving Emoji?

Emoji - No Turkey?Emoji are to text messages as a turkey dinner is to Thanksgiving in the United States. A problem occurs when all four of these things are combined. How does one send a festive text message to someone celebrating Thanksgiving? It seems like such a trivial issue, but probably lots of people have been sifting through their iPhone’s special characters – looking for a good turkey icon. I was one of those people. I looked through the People, Nature, Objects, Places and Symbols categories. I started wondering, “Where’s the thanksgiving icon?”

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The Poor Man’s Retina (HiDPI) Mac

Mac OS X - System Preferences Icon Apple’s new iMac with Retina Display is pretty impressive. With 14,745,600 pixels, the image is quite sharp. Unfortunately, it also starts at $2,499. That’s well out of my budget for a new computer. I also looked at the new MacBook Pros with Retina Displays. Starting at $1,299, I still felt that was too expensive. The problem is that HiDPI screenshots are required for my next book project. Shouldn’t there be a more affordable way to take high-quality screenshots?

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