Christmas is rushing up fast and many are looking for electronic gadgets to entertain their loved ones or themselves. Amazon's products are frequently part of the equation because of their comparatively cheap prices and aggressive marketing. However, their mere mentioning can cause awkward silence and instantly turn the mood from cheerful to fairly frosty among tech enthusiasts. It's the ubiquitous incentives to buy and the frequent attempts to ingrain Amazon's services further and further into the daily lives of their users that taints Amazon's devices. I set out to take another look at the situation through Amazon's budget 9th generation Fire HD 10 (32 GB) tablet and learn more about its strength and weaknesses–and its annoyance factor!
I usually do my photo editing on my home PC. From meticulously placed filters and image parameter adjustments to one-click optimizations, it all depends on my mood and the quality of the photo. When I was recently out and about, to the extent permitted by the current situation, my cellphone was again stretched to its limits. The morning mountain panorama seemed more grayish than mystical, the backlighting was anything but ideal, and I could have taken better care cropping my shots. So I spent a quiet evening in my hotel room to do some prettifying. Here's what I found!
By now, you've probably noticed that Microsoft would love nothing more than for us Windows users to link our Windows PCs to Microsoft online accounts. Our only way out: offline accounts. And while Microsoft never tire of reminding us of the many benefits of a Microsoft account, like better access to Office 365, Xbox Live and the Microsoft Store (for us and a wealth of personal data for them), they've grudgingly tolerated local accounts for years. This practice may soon come to and end though!
Every large corporation needs competition, an archrival even, for interesting tales to emerge around their products. Intel have been ruling the roost in terms of chip design for many years, but for the first time since 2006, the semi-conductor specialist is gradually losing ground to AMD! Once primarily a low-budget choice, AMD's products have evolved into a genuine Intel alternative—even regularly outclassing them!
Some experiences are exceptionally formative. I had one of them on my birthday in 1985, when my heart was racing as I opened my presents. An elongated box immediately caught my eye. I tore it open and stared at the magic letters that said Commodore C64 MicroComputer. A bunch of disks and two joysticks were also included. It was a life-changing moment! This intriguing "bread box" would teach me the value of patience and the fundamentals of the BASIC language. The fascination for technology and the drive to explore I felt that day would take a firm hold and stay with me for the rest of my life. Now, the C64 is back, kind of. Same design but contemporary hardware. Naturally, I had to try out this homage to a milestone of home computing.
