Egg Freckles

I do not own a wireless keyboard. I do not own a wireless mouse. Because when it comes to wireless, wired is always faster, cheaper, and without batteries to charge or replace. But starting this Summer I began to get tired of running my earbuds up under my shirt to avoid tangles. I watched horrified as three pairs of Amazon premium earbuds get yanked out of my ears and smashed to the ground. So after two decades of earbud use, first on my MiniDisc, then iPod, then smartphone, it was time for a change.

I did a little research. Didn’t find anything I liked. And purchased a pair of Photive HF1 Bluetooth headphones on Amazon for $49.95. For podcasts, audiobooks, and light listening on the go they sound fine. Certainly not any worse than the Apple/Amazon earbuds I have become accustomed to. What I was worried about most is how they would feel on my ears, how they would look on my head, and how they would hold up to every day use.

Feel

Feel is important to me. I wear my headphones all day — every day. When they are not on my ears, they are wrapped around my neck. My wife thinks I am anti-social. I can’t hear her. The Photive HF1 headphones rest on your ears. They feel great even after hours of use. The protein leather is soft. The ear pads are nice and squishy. The headband never feels too tight. If I have a problem with the Photive HF1s, it is that they feel too loose. Walking along busy city streets is a big part of my every day commute. After two months with the Photive HF1s I am worried they are going to fall off. The problem is the headband. It is not rigid enough, and cannot be adjusted. The length of the headband can be adjusted, The angle of the speakers can be adjusted. But not how much the headband grips the side of my head. I have a medium sized head, and the headband is as short as I can make it. A relaxed fit might add to the comfort of the headphones, but I would never take them running. I need to be careful just walking around town.

Look

When selecting wireless headphones, I wanted something that looks light, and doesn’t draw attention. Basically the opposite of Beats. The Photive HF1s fit the bill. The thin arms connecting the headphones to the headband are my favorite design feature. The arms and the headphone backs are made of zinc alloy. The rest is protein leather. The only visible branding is under the headband. I got the black model, and wear them around my neck in the office. They are big enough for my coworkers to notice them, but small enough no one cares. When I wear them on my ears it doesn’t look like half my skull is encased in plastic. I am still approachable unlike the cyborgs you see with a blue light in one ear. Do the Photive HF1s have a flashing blue light? Sure, but it is small, and on the back. You can’t see it if you are facing me. I could cover it up with tape and use the headphones with audio cues alone. But I already forget the light is even there.

Use

The Photive HF1s are my first pair of Bluetooth headphones. When I bought them I was concerned about wireless reception and battery life. Both hold up great. I get about 12 hours of playback. As long as I charge them every other night, I don’t run out of juice. My iPhone tells me approximately how much charge is remaining, and the headphones beep when the batteries are about to run out. They charge using micro USB. Reception is dependent more upon your phone. When I leave my iPhone sitting on my desk I can walk 30 feet down the hall before before the sound cuts out. When I leave my Amazon Fire Phone in my left pants pocket the signal sometimes has a hard time reaching the headphones. The Photive HF1’s Bluetooth 4.1 receiver is on the right headphone. If you are using these headphones to listen to music in a small room you shouldn’t have a problem. Volume controls are on the right. There is a center button for pausing the music, or taking a phone call. All of the controls are easy to find by feel alone. Holding the center button down for a few seconds turns on the headphones. Holding it for a few seconds more puts them in pairing mode. When you hear a beep you know they are connected. I have never had a problem pairing the Photive HF1 headphones. There is a microphone on the headphones I never use. It is there to makes hands free calls or talk to Siri. There is also a line-in jack if your PC doesn’t have Bluetooth.

End

For $39.95 the Photive HF1 Bluetooth headphones are a good choice for first time Bluetooth buyers, or anyone looking to ditch their earbuds. They work with the iPhone 7 that doesn’t have a headphone jack, and devices that don’t have Bluetooth. Discrete enough for the office, versatile enough you can take them anywhere. They lie flat when folded and the 12 hour battery life is good enough for most long trips. Not meant for sports, be careful when you wear them in a crowd; they might fall off your head. But if I lost mine, I would still buy a second pair.

October Update

It appears my pair of Photive HF1s may have gotten loose over time because they were broken. I can now feel a break in the headband above the left headphone where the adjustment well ends. I believe this to be a weak spot in the design on both sides. Both headphones still produce sound, but I am doubtful they will remain on my head during normal use. I am disappointed the headband is not made out of a more resilient material, but Photive was quick to replace my headphones with a brand new pair. I continue to recommend the Photive HF1s Lightweight Wireless Headphones.

Ii his article ‘New Apple,’ Stephen Hackett tells us what makes the Apple of today different from the Apple he discovered in the early 2000’s.

Apple of today is different. It’s not only one of the world’s largest companies, it’s been that way for some time. Employee head count has swelled and the company is pushing into services more than ever before, all while juggling more products than ever.

As a fan of early 2000’s Apple, I often reminisce of a time when Apple was the underdog. When its low marketshare and outspoken CEO taught us to ‘Think Different.’ When choosing a computer meant picking between Home or Pro — laptop or desktop. iOS had not been invented yet.

Today’s Apple doesn’t face the same challenges. It doesn’t need to shout in shades of brightly colored plastic to be heard. Today’s Apple is a market leader, with products reaching every price point. Whose actions speak louder than words, with or without a keynote address.

Increased marketshare and a larger audience aren’t the only things that make ‘New Apple’ feel different. Tim Cook has lead Apple in a new direction. Apple is no longer just the sum of its products or the strengh of its people. Under Tim’s leadership today’s Apple is a voice for diversity, fitness, and envionmental awareness. Apple would not have the same voice if Steve Jobs was still in charge.

Like Stephen and myself, you might celebrate Apple’s new voice while still identifying with the old Apple.

I may personally identify more with a smaller company with more fight in it, it’s impossible to deny that New Apple is a greater force for good in the world. We have Tim Cook to thank for that. His unwillingness to conform to Jobs’ image has proven to be his greatest strength, and one that I think Steve himself saw and appreciated.

Here’s to another five years of Tim Cook.
nLong live New Apple.

The Apple en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning_(connector text: Lightning connector) was introduced on September 12, 2012 to replace the 30-pin dock connector on the iPhone 5. It went on to replace the 30-pin dock connector on all new Apple products including popular accessories like the Apple Pencil, Magic Keyboard, and Siri Remote.

More compact than the 30-pin dock connector, the Lightning connector can be inserted with either side facing up. But as far as Apple’s customers are concerned, that is where Lightning’s advantages end.

The 30-pin dock connector introduced new capabilities by extending the existing 30-pin layout and utilizing dedicated hardware on the device. The Lightning connector emulates these capabilities across Lightning’s 8-pins by way of the device’s on board CPU. Often this emulation requires including expensive integrated circuits inside the Lightning adapter itself. This is one reason why Lightning adapters often cost more than their 30-pin counterparts.

The other reason is the Apple MFi Program. The MFi Program is a licensing program that third-party manufacturers must join in order to produce Lightning compatible accessories. Failure to pay the MFi Program tax could prevent a manufacturer’s Lightning accessories from working with Apple devices. The program is enforced by the use of DRM. But even after the DRM was hacked, Lightning accessories that do much more than USB are still complicated to produce.

Apple created Lightning to retain control of its products They did so from a position of power. Designing the next interface for the world’s most popular phone, tablet, and digital music player. Unlike the iMac’s early adoption of USB, no suitable alternative was available at the time. Standards driven USB 3.1 and the reversible Type-C connection were still over two years away. Apple needed a smaller, convenient, future-proof connector in time for the introduction of the new thinner iPhone. What better way to ensure that Apple’s products have the features they need and at a schedule of Apple’s choosing, than to design a extensible connector and control the delivery of its capabilities. Lightning is that connector.

I am not surprised Apple is removing the headphone jack from the iPhone 7 and replacing it with the existing Lightning connector. But I don’t think the removal of the floppy drive from the iMac is a comparable analogy.

The headphone jack’s popularity isn’t in decline. It has not been superseded by technologies like the ZIP drive, magnetic optical, and rewritable CD. Nor is it a legacy port, kept on for compatibility. If anything its popularity has increased in recent years with the surge of mobile devices and the digital music revolution. If anything its capabilities have grown with the introduction of an on board microphone, and remote control.

Apple has two reasons to get rid of the headphone jack. One is to ensure even greater control over its platform by getting more third-party accessory manufactures to join the MFi Program. The other is to announce a new feature of the upcoming iPhone 7 that would not be possible if the headphone jack is included.

Either way the Lightning connector is here to stay.

I repair people’s Macs for a living. Often the task requires reinstalling the operating system, and installing updates. Before I return a computer to its owner I always remove the temporary user account I created, and reset the machine back to the Setup Assistant. By following these commands, the owner has the chance to connect to wifi, create a new user account, and sign into iCloud the next time they turn on their computer.

1. Boot into Single-User Mode by pressing ⌘-S at startup.
2. Once the command-line prompt appears type the following commands.
3. mount -uw /
4. rm -R /Library/Preferences/
5. rm -R /Users/username/
6. cd /var/db/dslocal/nodes/Default/users/
7. Type ls to list the contents of the directory.
8. Delete the active user account, by typing rm username.plist where username is the name of the active account.
9. rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone
10. reboot
11. Mac OS X will restart, and the Setup Assistant will launch automatically.

For Macs running Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger an earlier, follow these steps.

1. Boot into Single-User Mode by pressing ⌘-S at startup.
2. Once the command-line prompt appears type the following commands.
3. mount -uw /
4. rm -R /Library/Preferences/
5. rm -R /Users/username/
6. rm /var/db/netinfo/local.db
7. rm /var/db/n.AppleSetupDone
8. reboot
9. Mac OS X will restart, and the Setup Assistant will launch automatically.

For the past month I have been the owner of an Amazon Fire Phone.nThe mythical device whose name is adhered upon many an Amazon shipping container, but whose visage is rarely seen in public.nFor the past month I have grappled with a decision.nShould I accept the Fire Phone as my primary digital companion, or send it back to Amazon in the cardboard box that bears its name?nAs a instrument of suspense, I will leave my ultimate decision until the end of this review.nIn the meantime here are some of the factors that led me to my decision.

Price

At $199 the Fire Phone is a steal.nThat is the price I paid on Black Friday, when the 32 GB Unlocked Fire Phone went on sale.nHad the price been $249, $449, or $649, I would not have bought it.nEven at $199 the price is deceptively high.nA Fire Phone at any price comes with one year of Amazon Prime, a $100 dollar value.nAs a regular Amazon Prime subscriber you could say my 32 GB Fire Phone cost me the same as a 16 GB storage upgrade on a iPhone 5s.

Unboxing

Unboxing the Fire Phone was a real treat.nStraight out of Apple/s playbook, each fold of the box concealed a new joy.nFrom the carbon fiber texture of the packing materials, to the way the micro USB cable, charger, and earbuds came tucked away in their own separate compartments.nEverything felt luxurious.

Even setting up the Fire Phone was a delightful experience.nUpon pressing the power button, I was greeted by my name.nMy Fire Phone had been preregistered with my Amazon Prime account, Amazon Music, and Amazon Cloud Drive.nImagine if your next iPhone came preregistered with your iCloud account, apps, and the latest software updates.nAmazon gets a head start over its competitors by having Fire Phone come preregistered out of the box.

Hardware

The phone itself resembles a super-sized iPhone 4; Gorilla Glass front and back, except this time the bare metal sides have been wrapped in soft touch rubber.nThicker than the iPhone 6, the Fire Phone really feels good in the hand.nThere is a weight to it that I associate with high-end electronics.nSome people might say the style, thickness, and heft of the Fire Phone make it appear out of date.nBut I would rather hold a comfortable phone in my hand, than watch a slippery slice of aluminum and glass shatter on the floor.

Fire Phone is adorn with the usual ports and buttons.nA power button and headphone jack on the top, micro USB port on the button, volume rocker, dedicated camera button, and nano SIM card slot along the left side.nBecause the low volume and camera button feel similar, I find myself sometimes taking a picture of the inside of my pocket by mistake.nFire Phone has paired speaker grills along its top and bottom; giving it Dolby stereo sound when held in the portrait orientation.nThe volume of the speakers is better than most phones.nAs a nice touch, the Amazon logo and regulatory information have been etched into the glass back.nA noise canceling microphone, 13 megapixel camera, and LED flash bring up the rear.nPhotos are on par with an iPhone 5 or 5s, but not an iPhone 6.nIt is not until we get to the front of the phone that things start to become interesting.

All the better to see you with

On the face of most phones there is at least one camera staring back at you.nFire Phone has five.nIn addition to the usual proximity and ambiant light sensors, Fire Phone tracks your eye movement and viewing angle with the use of four low power cameras.n(A 2.1 megapixel front facing webcam is available for selfies.)nAmazon calls this feature Dynamic Perspective, and it gives the user interface a third dimension not usually associated mobile phone displays.

Think of Dynamic Perspective like the gyroscope-driven parallax effects in iOS 7, only turned up a notch.nYou might call it a gimmick, and I would not say you are wrong.nJust like the gyroscope in the original iPhone, Dynamic Perspective doesn’t have much value until developers take advantage of it.nThe only problem is that unlike the gyroscope in almost every modern smartphone, the Fire Phone is the only phone with Dynamic Perspective, and from the looks of Fire Phone sales it will probably stay that way forever.nI quickly learned to turn off Dynamic Perspective to save battery life.

A 720 x 1280 pixel, 4.7 inch (~312 ppi pixel density), IPS touchscreen display dominates the face of the phone.nThe screen is super bright.nSo bright in fact, that I have its brightness set to one of the lowest settings, and it still outshines most other phones.nWith this settings, and Dynamic Perspective turned off, Fire Phone’s battery gets me through the average day with plenty of charge to spare.nBelow the screen is a raised rectangular Home button.nIt appreciate the extra grip it gives you when pulling Fire Phone from your pocket.

Gestures

Because Fire Phone doesn’t have any other hardware buttons, the Android-powered user interface is navigated with gestures.nThey aren’t as complicated as gestures on the BlackBerry Z10 I tried a couple months ago.nJust the usual swipe left, swipe right, and swipe up, but they can be confusing for new users.nAmazon provides a tutorial to get you started, but even I found it confusing that many Amazon apps stick to the prescribed swipe left and right to reveal hidden menus, while most Android apps from the Amazon App Store do not.nAt least you can always rely on a swipe up from the bottom of the screen to bring you back, and if all else fails the Home button returns you to the Home screen’s grid of familiar icons.

Since the interface on every Android phone is a little different I can’t say the Fire Phone is unique.nThe large Coverflow inspired carousel of recently used apps works for finding your last launched applications.nBelow that a dedicated dock of four icons keeps your favorite apps close at hand.nWhile swiping up from the bottom reveals a grid of icons, familiar to any iPhone user.nThe combination of all four user interface elements means I can always find the app I am looking for.nSome apps even show additional real-time information below their enlarged carousel icon, but often Amazon just uses this space to try to sell you something from their store.

Lack of Apps

Just like on Google’s Android, double tapping the Home button brings up the multitasking switcher, holding it down brings up voice command.nUnlike Google’s Android, the voice commands are not powered by Google Now, and there is no Google Maps, Play Store, or Gmail to be found in Fire Phone’s App Store.nApps can be side-loaded of course, but if you are looking for the Google experience on Fire Phone, look somewhere else.

As a frequent Windows Phone user I know what limited app selection is like.nI did find most of the apps I wanted from Amazon’s App Store, and the built-in Android apps took care of my Exchange email, contacts and calendars.nI might be satisfied by Amazon’s offering, and the option to side-load Android apps, but I feel most iPhone user’s will be disappointed.

Keeping it

I am keeping my Amazon Fire Phone.nAs I said before, it is a steal at $199; even without the one year subscription for Amazon Prime.nThe hardware is top notch and the software, although limited, does everything I want a smartphone to do.

Fire Phone may not be right for you.nIf you base your choice of phone on carrier subsidies, or are heavily invested in an existing phone ecosystem, Fire Phone should not be you first choice.nBut Fire Phone makes a pretty good unlocked spare GSM phone, even if you don’t plan on shopping with Amazon.