2014 S Class: First Impressions

The all new Mercedes Benz S Class (Model W222) was unveiled yesterday and there was nothing new to see in terms of styling; no thanks to several spy shots. In retrospect, Mercedes shouldn’t have released those teaser images of the interior. The numerous leaks didn’t help either. So what’s new? Honestly, not very much. In fact, I think we've seen this car before.

Person of Interest: The Machine (from a tech perspective)

This is a tech version of an earlier article. I should start by saying this: if you do not watch Person of Interest, then this article is not for you. It will make little or no sense to you. However, if you are one of the fortunate people that watch this show but are not a techie, then please read on. I theorized that Finch could still control the machine.  My primary concern here is The Machine’s command set/command structure.

A Word On iOS 7

This seems to be a popular opinion that the primary objective of the on-going redesign of iOS that will culminate in iOS 7 is to get rid of the skeuomorphic illustrations. Many even go on to imply that skeuomorphism is the major problem with iOS today. Though we are yet to see any glimpse of iOS 7, I think the suggestion that skeuomorphism is its bane is nothing but a fallacy. Yes, iOS in its present form is outdated and is a bit of a mishmash but suggesting that skeuomorphism is the reason behind its almost archaic nature will onlyserve to portray a lack of understanding of user interfaces and user experience. Unfortunately, many others have also adopted this reasoning.

So You Want a C Class?

A colleague mentioned that one of his superiors at work was in the market for a small-size luxury sedan. As expected, he was considering the usual suspects: the Mercedes C Class and the BMW 3 Series and it seemed he was angling towards the C Class. I convinced my colleague to let me speak to Mr. X. An appointment was made and I was invited to his home the following weekend. When I arrived, I observed a 2010 Mercedes E Class parked adjacent to the front door and just as I rung the bell, a woman (whom I later found to be Mr. X’s wife) drive up in a Mercedes M Class. At that point, I knew this wasn’t going to be an easy task. To be fair, Mr. X was under the impression that I had come to advise him on which of the two cars he should buy. He had no idea what I had in store for him.

Finding The Perfect 7-inch Tablet

To say that there are many 7 inch tablets in the market would be an understatement. This is because the 7 inch category of the tablet market is burgeoning with many different and diverse models. This is understandable considering that the main advantages of a 7 incher are its small size and ease of portability. There is something for everyone from the ultra-budget end of the price spectrum to the premium and top-end models. So when I was asked to suggest a good 7 inch tablet a few weeks ago, I had just one requirement: a tablet hat strikes the right balance between price, performance and features. And of course, it has to run Android. How hard could it be?

Just How bad is Plastic?

Consumer electronics come in all shapes and sizes but the material used for their enclosures (housing or shell if you prefer) are not so varied. Generally, these enclosures are either made of plastic, glass, metal or wood. Sometimes, a combination of some or all of these materials is used. In recent times, plastic enclosures have been derided and labelled as inferior but is there any merit to this argument?

Google's Inactive Account Manager: Allowing Alteration of History

Google's new Inactive Account Manager, the tool/setting that allows a user's Google Account to be deleted after a set period of inactivity is not a very good idea considering it allows a user's Google account to be deleted in its entirety. This includes an entire blog, youtube videos, Google + posts, etc. Of course, the tool has more useful features such as alerting certain specified persons of your inactivity. It is the complete account deletion option that has me worried.