The "New" Microsoft and it's Surface Book →

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So Panay’s team set a different goal: to reinvent the laptop. They spent two years designing, prototyping, and fine-tuning—all to get to the Surface Book that goes on sale today. It’s the product of everything Microsoft has learned from making the first Surface machines, and from watching Apple eat its lunch. It’s a story right out of Cupertino, really: A small group of creatives sits in a room together, passionately slaving over every tiny detail of a product until it’s perfect. To go after Apple, Microsoft learned from Apple—and then found a few places to take right turns toward the future it imagines. It cost Panay much more than one night’s sleep.

This is what sets the course for success. Still at $1,499, makes it a little hard to digest but yes, it's definitely production and hardware plus excitement heading in the right direction.

Just in case you missed the latest shenanigans, PCWorld posted their benchmarks showing it beat the Apple's MacBook Pro 13" laptop not by twice but almost three times in terms of speed. Pretty impressive nonetheless, but 9to5Mac brings to light some of discrepancies. The biggest takeaway points to dedicated graphics cards do help in processing power and frame rate. The Surface Book has one, but the MacBook Pro does not.

Republic Airways Leading the Way in Pilot Pay and Quality of Life Improvements →

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The new agreement includes significant improvements in work rules and pilot quality of life. Additionally, it establishes pay rates that recognize Republic’s pilots as leaders in the regional airline industry, including a transformational $40/hr first year new hire rate.

Republic Airways voting for a large improvement during these times will definitely enable them to bid on more flying and attract more pilots. It'd be nice to see the rest of the contract and compare it to my previous employer and SkyWest. For those who many not know, first year pay when I started in 2006 was at $16.00 an hour and I didn't get to $40 an hour until my fifth year.

In fact, this first year pay bump is just under what first year pay currently is at JetBlue, Spirit, Virgin America and Allegiant.

Sausage and Bacon Classified as Carcinogenic →

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The report outlined that simply eating 50 grams of processed meat each day -- the equivalent of two slices of ham -- can increase the risk of such cancer by 18%. However, the authors say the risks are relatively small to begin with.

The organization defines processed meat as any type of meat that is salted, cured or smoked to enhance its flavor or preserve it. Processed meat generally contains pork or beef, but may also contain poultry.

The WHO now classifies processed meat in the same category as smoking and asbestos, based on its certainty of a link with cancer, but stressed that did not mean they were equally dangerous.

Did this study include the many islanders who eat Spam or even the Europeans who eat arrays of aged meats? Once again, everything in moderation.

A $27,000 Civic? It's Getting Absurd

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Just my opinion, but at that price, for around $27,000 for the 2016 Honda Civic Touring Edition, you can grab yourself a Certified Pre-Owned Mercedes, BMW, or Lexus or for that matter, a hopped up Toyorta Camry or save a few thousand and go with a Corolla or the Honda Fit.

Motortrend's Frist Test Review proved pretty awesome, but the vehicle that they used was the top of the line Civic Touring Edition, which by the way, did I mention, is $27,000!!! It's powered by an awesome brand new turbo engine but paired with an automatic CVT, I'm leaning more and more towards the no. How much is the Si or even the rumored Type-R going to be? Abusrd.

Living the Dream Part II

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Part two of the awesome Lego animation depicting my life as an airline pilot! Love it! If anything, skip ahead to around 4:20. That is spot on!

Walt Mossberg on Sorkin's 'Steve Jobs' →

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Unlike Mr. Sorkin, I did know the real Steve Jobs, for about 14 years — the most productive and successful 14 years of his career running Apple, Inc. I spent scores of hours in private conversations with him over those years, and interviewed him numerous times onstage at a tech conference I co-produced. And the Steve Jobs portrayed in Sorkin’s film isn’t the man I knew.

Sorkin chose to cherry-pick and exaggerate some of the worst aspects of Jobs’s character, and to focus on a period of his career when he was young and immature. His film chooses to give enormous emphasis to perhaps the most shameful episode in Jobs’s personal life, the period when he denied paternity of an out-of-wedlock daughter.

Unfortunately, this is yet another Steve Jobs movie that I'll be skipping. I had high hopes but alas, the book was good enough for me.

Tesla's Autopilot →

Once you’re on the highway, an autosteering feature can maintain your speed, keep an appropriate distance from the cars around you, and keep you in your lane — even around big bends and turns. It doesn’t just let out a loud beep when you start to drift out of your lane; it physically controls the wheel.

This would be an ideal vehicle for my commuter to Long Beach not to mention getting one of those fancy HOV stickers too!

via  Electrek

via  Electrek

Adobe Flash Vulnerable... Again →

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Just one day after Adobe released its monthly security patches for various software including Flash Player, the company confirmed a major security vulnerability that affects all versions of Flash for Windows, Mac and Linux computers. You read that correctly… all versions. Adobe said it has been made aware that this vulnerability is being used by hackers to attack users, though it says the attacks are limited and targeted. Using the exploit, an attacker can crash a target PC or even take complete control of the computer.

And now for the fun part: The only way to effectively protect yourself against this serious security hole is to completely uninstall Flash Player from your machine.

Another reason why Nest needs to update their Dropcam player. I haven't installed Flash in years and use Google Chrome for the sometimes necessary Flash shenanigans. And yes, I'll say it again. Steve Jobs was way ahead of his time in NEVER enabling Flash on Apple's iPhones.

SprezzaBox 24 Hours Flash Sale!!! →

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A few weeks ago I told you about my Sprezzabox Ambassadorship and how you could get 10% off your initial order and subscription. Well, being that today is Wednesday Humpday, take advantage and grab some 30% off goodness! Check out the lastest offerings and show me what you got!

 
 

The Best Implementation of 3D Touch a la Tweetbot →

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3D Touch facilitates this behavior as quickly previewing tweets and links is easier than ever. If I want to see how many faves, retweets, or replies a tweet has received I no longer have to swipe on it and then swipe back – I can just press, peek, and let go to return to my timeline. Tweets are previewed in a smaller card with the same design of a standalone detail view (which is what you get if you "pop" and choose to fully expand a tweet, entering a nested view).

Leave it up to one of the best apps on iOS to implmenet 3D Touch in the way that it's suppose to be. Way to go Tapbots team! If you haven't already, buy the latest version and best twitter client now, Tweetbot 4 only for iOS.

Microsoft's Band vs the Apple Watch →

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The Band has also added a new sensor trick or two, most importantly a barometer to track elevation. That joins the built-in GPS, sleep tracking, calorie counting, notifications, and the other previously available features mentioned above. It’s also got more robust Cortana integration, both because talking to your wrist feels like the future and because it’s a much easier input method that tapping that tiny display.

There are sport-specific features here as well. Microsoft exec Lindsey Matese noted that the Band makes for a capable digital caddy, able to know where you are, your distance to the green, the calories you’ve burned, and your heart rate. It can even generate a score card after you’re done, an experience Microsoft first detailed in August but will be a headlining feature of its new hardware. For athletes more concerned with oxygen debt than par fours, the new Band can even measure VO2 max.

Ever since I acquired the iPhone 6s Plus, I'll admit that the temptation to buy an Apple Watch is reaching it's fever levels but at the same time, my desires for what it lacks is what is keeping me.

Come in stage right, Microsoft's latest Band. It comes closer to Garmin's 920XT in terms of fitness capabilities. Essentially, all these new additions for a price that is less than Apple's offerings is what makes the Band enticing. If Microsoft can make a band do this, I'd hope that the Apple Watch v2 could too. The wait... Ugh...

Untill then, when and if I start up training again, Garmin's one year old 920XT will have to do.