Vector

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Google Buys Fitbit — Can it Survive? Nov 05, 2019

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Google is buying Fitbit, which previously bought Pebble, and if my Twitter feed is any indication, not everyone is happy about it.

Small, beloved hardware companies that are struggling to survive on their own being gobbled up by the big tech titans is almost becoming a cliche. But it's also affecting a lot of customers. Namely, us. So, let's break it down.

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I Was WRONG About SAMSUNG Nov 04, 2019

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Samsung's original sin was… not being very original.

Now, wait. Just wait. This one has a Sixth Sense ending. So, hear me out!

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Apple's iPhone Business [Q4 2019] Nov 01, 2019

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iPhone revenue was down 9% from the same quarter last year, but everything else was up to such a degree total revenue actually still grew by 1.8%.

Big biz pubs seem unable to print the word iPhone anymore without some weird glitch in their auto-correct system changing it to declining iPhone, lackluster iPhone, flagging iPhone, weak iPhone, stalling iPhone, faltering iPhone, slumping iPhone, slowing iPhone, waning iPhone, sputtering iPhone, down-turning iPhone, business damaging iPhone, woes threatening iPhone, troubled iPhone… And that's just over the last six months of their thesaurus subscription.

Why is that? And what's really going on with Apple's iPhone business?

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AirPods Pro Hands On! (vs. AirPods 2 & PowerBeats Pro!) Oct 30, 2019

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Apple's got some brand new AirPods. AirPods Pro to be specific. And, I'm not just going to give you all the details, and tell you how they compare to the regular AirPods and the PowerBeats Pro, but I'm going to unbox them and go hands-on. Right now.

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Pixel 4 vs. iPhone 11 Video Camera FIGHT #TeamTrees Oct 29, 2019

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Go to https:teamtrees.org and help #TeamTrees plant 20 million trees!

In 2011, just months before he died, Steve Jobs appeared before the Cupertino City Council to pitch Apple Campus 2.

The land had once been an apricot orchard and, while Jobs had plans for a spaceship-shaped office building the likes of which this world had never seen before, he also had plans to bring back at least some of that orchard.

To make the new campus decidedly Apple but also to make it… a park.

That means they needed trees, some native and fully grown, others more diverse, to better withstand the changing climate, the hotter summers, the cooler winters.

It took half a decade to get everything in place but, by 2016, Apple had their park. Apple Park. And over 8000 new trees in and around it.

Now, MrBeast and the largest YouTube collaboration is history are trying to plant just a few more. 20 million more, to put a ridiculously large number on it.

It's the #TeamTrees project and, to help do this channel's part, I'm putting the iPhone 11 up against the Pixel 4 in a camera-to-camera video shootout, right in the middle of all these trees.

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$329 iPad (2019) Review: One Month Later Oct 28, 2019

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When Apple introduced the 6th generation, 9.7-inch iPad with Apple Pencil support starting at $329, many of us called it the best deal in tech.

Now, Apple has introduced the 7th generation, 10.2-inch iPad with Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard support, still starting at $329, the obvious question became — is it now an even better deal?

So, is it?

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Why iOS 13 Is Buggy (And How to Fix It in iOS 14) Oct 26, 2019

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I fully realize how ridiculous any recommendation my dumb blogger, podcaster, and YouTuber can sound. But, I'm going to make two anyway. And, hey, if I'm going to run at a wall, I'm damn well going to leave a cartoon shaped hole through it when I do.

So, here we go!

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Pixel 4 Face Unlock vs. iPhone 11 Face ID — FIGHT! Oct 24, 2019

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Back in 2017, Apple introduced Face ID on the iPhone X. It was the first real biometric facial geometry identification scanner. It couldn't do multiple registrations like Touch ID, but what it did, it did even better — including and especially making authentication feel almost transparent.

Now, Google has just released Face Unlock on the Pixel 4. The basic biometric facial geometry identification system is pretty much identical to Face ID. It adds some extra hardware and software for extra convenience, though, but some of that is region dependent and it's also missing a key aspect of operational security. At least for now.

So, which one is better and why? Let's find out.

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Noise-Canceling Beats Solo Pro Review: One Week Later Oct 23, 2019

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First we got PowerBeats Pro, a more robust take on Apple's second generation AirPods with the same H1 headphone chip but in the PowerBeats in-and-around the ear design.

Now we have Beats Solo Pro. That the not-in-ear, not over-the-ear, but on-the-ear Beats design, likewise Pro'd up with an H1 headphone chip and quite a bit more.

So, how are they?

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Apple Watch 5 Review: One Month Later Oct 19, 2019

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I've been using the Apple Watch Series 5 since just after its introduction back in September I posted my initial review, complete with all the little technical details of how all the new stuff worked, just over a week later, after traveling back from Cupertino and reviewing three new iPhones as well along the way. It was a whirlwind.

Now, I've gotten in a couple more trips, but also a lot of regular life. Just day in, day out, using the Series 5 as I've used every Apple Watch going back to the first.

I've also switched from the space gray aluminum review unit to my own, personal, brushed titanium. So, how has the first held up and the titanium… just… what's up?

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