Edward Kiledjian

Digital Trends is reporting that Google is in talks with WhatsApp about a potential acquisition. It seems WhatsApp is pushing for a $1 billion valuation.

WhatsApp is a private company and doesn’t share subscriber information but the industry believes they should have about 300 million active users. December 31 2012, they processed 18 billion messages. WhatsApp is one of the most popular platform agnostic messaging systems with deep penetration in Europe and Latin America.

Why would WhatsApp consider selling? No one knows for sure but I believe it may be because of strong competition from Asian providers such as WeChat (China) and Kakao Talk (Korea). Competing with these fast growing competitors may be costly and WhatsApp may be looking for a new owner with deep pockets.

If Google can acquire WhatsApp, it would be a major blow to Facebook who is trying to catch up to the Instant Messaging train.

Possible repercussions

WhatsApp has always been an ad free app and it would be interesting how consumers would react to a Google owned WhatsApp with advertisements. Many users chose WhatsApp because it was an independent player and IM was one piece users didn’t want to provide to Facebook or Google for data mining.

It is safe to assume some users will be disgruntled and leave.

I am an iPhone user playing with Android and was surprised when I learned I have to “maintain” my Android devices. One of the main maintenance tasks I do on Windows machines that I also have to do on my Android tablet is “getting rid of junk files”.

These files consume precious storage space you definitely want to reclaim. After testing over 20 different apps, I have finally settles on a free software called Clean Master. This app cleans application cache files, orphaned files after uninstalling apps and deletes app histories.

Cleanup is simple and quick with one click. It also provides storage utilization metrics so you can determine which apps are using the most of your precious space (like WinDirStat on Windows).

Download this free app here. 

Knowledge workers and serious gamers will tell you starring at a bright screen for hours at a time takes its toll (eye strain, headaches, etc.) If you work in an office environment will little natural light and lots of white artificial light then the situation becomes even worse.

About 2 months ago, I noticed that my eyes were dry, I was getting more frequent head aches and generally felt worse from wear after spending most of the day starring at a screen. I needed a solution and after a couple of days I stumbled on a company called Gunnar Optiks. Gunnar Optiks sells glasses specially designed to make using a screen gentler on the eyes.

They have a bunch of models depending on your needs but at the end of the day, they all share the same purpose in life. So I picked up a pair at my local Best Buy (GUNNAR Optiks MLG Legend Gaming Eyewear)  and have been using them for 2 months (5 days a week, 10 hours a day).

Do Gunnar Optiks glasses work?

Did they improve my overall computer use experience? Yes!

The build quality of the glasses are decent. It is solid enough to last a good while but nothing to write home about. The MLG Legend was very light so even though I didn’t normally wear glasses, it was easy to keep them on and not be bothered.  I find the designs modern and attractive which is important. You can wear these and not stick out.

The main attraction are the technologies the company claims make the lenses unique : amber iONik lens tints, fRACTYL lens geometry, diAMIX lens material, and i-Fi lens coatings. Each technology is supposed to make your experience more enjoyable by reducing harsh glare, improving the geometry when looking at a close screen, keeping eyes more humid, etc. As a consumer, you really can’t test any of these claims so I won’t spend too much time talking about them. The real question is does it help? Was it a good purchase (using my own money)? The answer is Yes and Yes.

The slightly yellowish tint improved contrast and reduced the harshness of computer screens and artificial office lights. Whether it’s the tint or the geometry, something in these glasses also seems to reduce glare.

Annoyances

As good as the glasses are, there are some shortcomings that I wanted to highlight.

The glasses attract and retain smudges, oil and dust. I really wish they had some kind of coating to repels these. The kit came with a microfiber carrying case that you can use to clean the lens but I found it ineffective. The only way to clean the lenses was with a lens liquid and a good lens cleaning cloth.

Although the glasses are of decent quality, I was expecting slightly better built frames for an $80 pair of glasses. Granted you are paying for all that lens technology but still….

Conclusion

Overall I enjoyed using the Gunnar Optiks glasses and found myself using them every day. This certainly isn’t a necessity; after all I have been using computers for many years without these just fine but it definitely improves your wellbeing.

The main question is “Are they worth $80?” and this is a difficult question to answer. If you have gotten to the point where you constantly have tired eyes, dry eyes or headaches after using a monitor for a couple of hours, then you should run out and buy a pair. If you aren’t afflicted with one of the above symptoms, my recommendation is more muted. As much as I liked them and found myself using them every day, I isn’t easy to justify spending $80 if you don’t have an immediate direct need.

Like it or hate it, the Microsoft Surface RT tablet is an original creation forcing us to think differently about the tablet market. As good as some think it is, most users agree it is missing one main tool, Microsoft Outlook. It seems Microsoft may have heard your complaints and may be preparing to release Outlook for Surface RT (according to the Supersite for Windows). The article says a bug in the ARM chipset (the tablets brain) may have caused the delay in the release.

Obviously Microsoft is committed to the new tiles interface of Windows 8 / RT and is going to continue refining the user experience. Sales of the Surface RT have been soft but Outlook may be the driver that finally pushes it into the arms of waiting power-users and corporations.

comScore has published it’s smartphone Subscriber Market Share statistics and it looks like Apple my be heading higher while Android takes a little dip. Google’s dark  night (aka Android) dropped 2% in the latest period (51.7%) while Apple’s IOS gained 3.9% (38.9%).

Microsoft and Blackberry both lost ground and it’s not even worth mentioning.

I think the big test for Apple will be the summer release of IOS 7 and the next iPhone (the iPhone 5s?). If they manage to deliver a compelling product then I think they may manage to win back a big chunk of the market. However if they deliver a boring ho-hum release of IOS and the iphone then I’m afraid Apple may see a sizeable drop in market share. I have been an iPhone user from day 1 but am now on the fence, waiting for the next release before I decide to upgrade to another iPhone or finally jump ship to the Android world.

Like most tech savvy computer users, my browser of choice [in the pre-Chrome days] was Firefox. It was the most stable and secure browser around (compared to Internet Explorer, Opera, etc).

We all love Chrome because it is a fast browser, has a clean uncluttered interface and is constantly updated. We recently received the stable version of Chrome version 26 and now adventurous users can start playing with the beta version of Chrome version 27.

After all the hoopla about Google changing Chrome’s rendering engine to its new in-house Blink product, you may have thought that version 27 may have finally implemented it. Well it doesn’t.

Chrome is still the safest, fastest and [in my opinion] best browser. 

From an end user perspective, version 27 brings small user interface improvements and a very slight performance boost. Everything else is for developers. Hopefully we see Blink in version 28.

Chromium blog post talking about version 27 can be read here.

How do I download Chrome beta?

If you downloaded Chrome through the regular channels then you are on the stable release channel which means your browser will auto-update when a final stable release is made available by Google.

If you are more adventurous and want to beta test non-final versions, then go to this website and download the special installer that will give you access to the beta channel. This means your browser will update much more frequently with every beta version made available by Google. This is my channel of choice but I am technical enough to work through any beta related issues I may experience.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Apple is very secretive about how its technologies are designed. Case in point, we all knew iMessage had some type of encryption

Now we learn that the security is so well designed that even the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) isn’t able to intercept iMessages [according to CNET at least]. This is great news for privacy advocates but a worry for law enforcement. 

Interesting in testing out the Blackberry Z10 but don’t know where to take it for a test drive? Blackberry wants to make this easier and has created a special site you access via your IOS or Android browser which replicates some to the key Blackberry Z10 functionality. It is an interesting walk through of some of the key gestures, multitasking functionality, shows the Blackberry hub, BBM and time shift.

It isn’t a full emulator but it is enough for you to decide if it is interesting enough to drive to your local  mobile phone shop.

Analysts were spreading incredible rumors prior to the launch of the Samsung Galaxy SIV and were disappointed when the device delivered a more bland device. Primate Labs took the US version of the Galaxy SIV for a test drive against its main competitors what it seems to have performed really well.

Looks like the US version smokes the HTC One, Google/LG Nexus 4, Samsung Galaxy S3, the iPhone 5 and the Blackberry 10. 

See the detailed benchmark here.

A new report sent to the Wall Street Journal says Apple will begin production of the next generation iPhone sometime in Q2 (aka starting now). The report claims the new device (iPhone 5s) will have the same shape and design of the existing iPhone 5.

The report provides the same release info other rumors have mentioned, which is a July/August lunch. The much rumored “cheap” iphone for developing countries is expected sometime in the second half of the year.

I have been an iPhone user from the very beginning but am now feeling left behind when comparing device functionality to major Android competitors. If the iPhone 5s only increases CPU and GPU speed, I worry many will jump ship to competing Android device which seem to be offering a much more compelling solution. 

The media has been vehemently against piracy claiming it is the biggest evil to afflict humanity in the last 100 years. Imagine my surprise when industry heavyweight HBO comes out and says that piracy isn’t as bad as others are making it out.

HBO’s biggest money maker is Game of Thrones and estimates peg that each show is downloaded (illegally) 4 million times. Michael Lombardo, HBO’s programming president, says piracy “compliments” the show. Season 2 was a record setting release selling 241,000 units (44% more than season 1).

“I probably shouldn’t be saying this, but it is a compliment of sorts,” Lombardo said to Entertainment Weekly.

What does it mean when the most pirated show on the internet is also the biggest money maker for a network?

Michael Lombardo makes it clear that HBO is against piracy. Although HBO has an official anti-piracy policy, they seem to understand the "benefit of piracy" and take a much more relaxed stand with pirates.

Whether you’re a business traveler or love to listen to music around the house, a good Bluetooth wireless speaker is the way to go and the Ultimate Ears Boombox is a wonderful option.

Why wireless and why bluetooth

Over the last 5 years, we have been deluged by speakers with docking connectors in all shapes and sizes but the era of dock based speakers is dead. Why is it dead you ask? Apple killed it when it switched from its traditional 30 pin dock connector to the new Lightning connector. Millions of iPhone owners cringed when they realized their investment in iPhone gear just became useless and obsolete. Most of these “burned” users don’t want to make the same mistake again.

There are other wireless options (aka Airplay) but these are typically vendor specific and cost considerably more than Bluetooth devices. Sure Bluetooth doesn’t provide high fidelity sound reproduction but I’m pretty sure your 50 Cent and Jay-Z will sound just fine. Remember that most of your music is in compressed MP3 format which is already a down-sampled version of the original.

What was I looking for?

Before I out to find the best affordable portable speaker for the masses, I wanted to create a list of characteristics I would be looking for:

• Since we are talking portable, I wanted something with a decent battery 
• I wanted something relatively small and lightweight
• I wanted something that would offer decent sound quality
• I wanted something well-built and reliable
• I wanted something affordable

The contenders

It wouldn’t have been much of a showdown if I didn’t have at least a couple of models competing for my attention. Search Google for “bluetooth speaker” and you’ll see that there are thousands and thousands of devices vying for your attention. In order to narrow down the testing to a handful of devices, I read hundreds of reviews from users on sites like Amazon, I read shootouts from professional reviewers (on renown tech sites) and then I looked for newer model products that looked promising but didn’t have a lot of reviews yet. 

This allowed me to narrow the list down to the top 12.

The test

As mentioned in previous sound equipment reviews, sound quality is very subjective and personal. So your own views may be different but most readers typically agree with my findings. I tested the speakers in different rooms (containing different types of furniture) and in locations with different sound profiles (quiet room, noisy cafeteria, on a busy street corner, etc).

I didn’t think it would make much of a difference but I tested each speaker using different types of music (classic, rock, pop, opera), in different formats (lossless, mp3 in sample rates from 96-320) and using locally stored songs and streamed music.

All the devices were tested one after the other (for each location) using similar placement and configuration. I wanted to test simplicity to every device was used with its default configuration and I didn’t use any proprietary control or configuration apps. I wanted to test the vanilla out of the box experience most consumers would live.

I was testing each unit for the criteria mentioned above

The Verdict

When all my testing was completed, I was surprised and pleased with the winner. And the winner is…….. Logitech’s Ultimate Ears (UE) Mobile Boombox. I own a pair of UE Triple-Fi 10 headphones and absolutely love them but Bluetooth speakers are a late addition to the finally that happened after Logitech bought UE.

Why I liked it: 

• The device was small and portable.  It is about the size of a medium soup can which means it is pocketable, light (298grams) and easy to carry.
• It offered 8-10 hours of wireless play
• It was extremely well built. The device has a nice rubber covering which holds it in place on the table, helps it when dropped and feels solid in your hand. Overall the build quality is very good (aka it doesn’t creek or crack like most cheap electronics we are used to).
• It was affordable for the masses. It’s under $US!00 on Amazon so it definitely falls into the affordable category for the general public.
• Sound quality was good. It pushes out 78db of sound which is as loud as a washing machine. No Bluetooth speaker (available today) will provide a high fidelity experience so don’t expect it. What I was looking for was clear sound reproduction without distortion. The Mobile Boombox delivers a nice clean sound profile that is well suited for general listening.
• It doubles as a speaker phone. I tested the speakerphone functionality by placing it in the middle of a round table in a typical corporate conference room and the party on the other side said It sounded exactly the same as the high priced corporate speakerphones in most meeting rooms. 

Pairing Bluetooth devices with a smartphone can sometimes be problematic but not with this little speaker. I paired it about 2 dozen times with different devices and it worked flawlessly every time. I tested how far I could do before I started to experience streaming issues and found that it worked well until about 25 feet (with clean line of sight between the device and my smartphone). It sometimes worked ok up to 30 feet but I would get more sound artifacts.

The UE Mobile Boombox charges via micro-USB which means you won’t have to carry another charging brick. Most of us already carry a micro-USB to charge our kindles, smartphones (non-iPhone of course) or Nexus tablets.

The Issues

Those who read my reviews know that I try to take a balanced approach and present both the positives and negatives of each product I review. 

• Some of the limitations are to be expected since we are talking about small speakers, crammed in a small package. The device seems to offer the best sound reproduction when music is played 70-80% of its maximum. 
• Although there are 2 speakers in the device, they are very close to each other so you won’t really get a stereo experience but who cares.
• The device is small so bass is weak but that seemed to be an issue all of these portable Bluetooth speakers had.
• The device has 3 buttons so music control will have to be done from your device (smartphone, tablet or PC).

Buy It 

My final advice is Buy IT. It is a great little device that is affordable, reliable and fun. You'll get years of use out of this little guy and I know you'll be a very happy customer.

The team at Digiarty is giving away free copies of their popular video converter app called MacXVideo Converter Pro. It converts videos into Mac and Apple product compatible formats easily, quickly and while maintaining the highest quality.

It currently supports these formats for input : MKV, M2TS, AVCHD, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, AVI, MPEG, MP4, H.264, MOV, FLV, F4V, RM, RMVB, WebM, Google TV.

I receive a lot of questions about counterfeit products and 80% of them are related to headphones. I recently read an interesting press release from Otterbox about their fight to keep counterfeit smartphone cases off the street.

Otterbox is the grand poobah of smartphone case manufacturers. They are number one in most countries and are struggling under the tidal wave of cheap Asian knock-offs.  In 2012 alone, the US Customs and Border protection teams seized over 118000 counterfeit Otterbox items.

These cases look exactly like the real thing but can often be purchased for 50-80% less than the originals (from sites like eBay, Aliexpress and others). Counterfeiters are interested in making their products look authentic  but don’t care about actual performance.

If you have a normal slim type case then the difference may be negligible. If you are using one of their more heavy duty products, you may be upset when you realize that after a drop, the counterfeit didn’t protect your device and now you’re stuck with a cracked screen or dead phone.

This is a case of buyer beware. You get what you pay for.

Related articles:

• How To Detect Counterfeit Headphones
• Counterfeit Electronics Being Sold On EBay
• Counterfeit USB Chargers On EBay May Be Dangerous