David Pogue's Blog, page 8

Laptop Buyers Should Pay Some Attention to the Chromebook

David Pogue says it's been a long, patient slog for Google to get here, but with year after year of careful tweaks and improvements - and a jaw-dropping $250 price - the Chromebook is finally ready for prime time.

You Can Stop Spreading That Facebook Notice Now

An odd piece of boilerplate text about copyright that has been making the rounds on Facebook is not grounded in reality.

Pogue's Mailbag: Tethering, Generators and More

A sampling from just one day's worth of reader e-mails - an inside look at a technology columnist's job. Topics include tethering to a phone for wireless data on a laptop, the reliability of Drobo storage and unsubscribing from junk mail.

What Is a 4G Network?

Here is the difference between 4G and 4G LTE.

How to Keep Electronics Going With No Power

How a tech columnist muddles through a 10-day stretch without electricity and Internet (not to mention heat or hot water). Sometimes, the technologies a columnist and his family crave most are 100 years old.

A Windows 8 Cheat Sheet

If you install Windows 8, you'll have to learn both environments, like it or not; you can't live in just one environment or the other. So how are you supposed to operate it if you have a nontouch computer? David Pogue provides a cheat sheet.

More Advice on Home Data Storage

Readers weigh in with more advice about backing up data at home.

Do We Ban App Distractions, Too?

David Pogue says he'll still ask Siri to "read my messages" while his attention is on the road. Yes, of course, any kind of distraction is worse than none. But hearing one sentence read aloud seems to be the least of our automotive distractions, he says.

Tim Cook's Apology Is an Important Step Forward

Whatever the story, the Apple chief's apology for the condition of the new maps app conveys a note of humility that has been missing so far. Without it, the Apple Maps fiasco felt even worse than it was.

What Makes Google's Maps So Good

Nobody ever raved about Google's mapping app for phones until they saw how hard it was for Apple to come up with a rival. Conversations with executives at Google make clear that the company's maps represent years and years of hand-tuning and manual effort.