Is it too Late for HBO to Offer a Standalone Subscription?

By Rich W Woods

Recently, HBO Chairman and CEO Richard Plepler announced that HBO would soon be launching a standalone streaming service. They announced that customers would be able to stream HBO content without a need for a cable subscription. The service could come as early as next year. Rumor has it, the service will cost $15 per month.

This has been an action long called for by fans of HBO content. HBO’s content is the most pirated content on the Internet. This year, between January 13 and February 9, 7.5 million episodes of Game of Thrones were illegally downloaded with downloads starting minutes after the end of the episode.

Why I Switched Back to Apple

By Rich W Woods

First, let’s be fair. I go through more phones than the average Joe. Probably even more than an extraordinary Joe. Over the last month, I’ve had shipped to me the Moto X, Moto G, iPhone 5S (I had Apple send me one to compare to the iPhone 6), iPhone 6, and iPhone 6 Plus. Over the next month, I expect to be using the Sony Xperia Z3, Samsung Galaxy Note 4, HTC desire 820, and Nokia Lumia 530, 730, 735, and 830.

This is true of any tech journalist. We all get tons of new stuff to try out and to ultimately review; however, if you ask any tech journalist what kind of phone they use, there is only one. There is a single phone that they prefer to use for personal use.

The Dark Side of eBay has become even Darker

By Rich W Woods

Selling something on eBay is like selling something in a dark alley in a bad neighborhood. A few weeks ago, I wrote a column about how people try to scam eBay sellers by contacting them, asking to buy the item off of eBay, and sending them a fake PayPal confirmation that would say the money wouldn’t appear in their PayPal account until the item had shipped.

Well, it would appear that eBay was listening, but unfortunately they only made it worse. This could have been expected for a company that is widely known as one of the worst places to do business and has been for a long time.

Why we should be Skeptical about Ello

By Rich W Woods

For those that haven’t been following, Ello is a new social network that is branded as the anti-Facebook. They promise that they will never collect a user’s data or ever sell ads. In their manifesto, they make the promise that “you are not the product”. Ello is currently invitation only.

Ello has become extraordinarily popular as of late. Seemingly out of nowhere, everyone was out to sign up for Ello.

The Dark Side of eBay

By Rich W Woods

Whenever I had an old phone to sell, I would typically go to Gazelle. Their prices aren’t bad and they’re reputable, so you know that when you mail them a smart phone, you’re going to get a check in the mail.

Recently, I’ve started selling my phones through eBay. Since I’m not selling the phone to a company that’s going to resell it, I get the retail price for it. It’s a much better deal.

There is a Darker Side of eBay

You Might want to Consider the 128 GB iPhone 6

By Rich W Woods

When iOS 7 was publicly released, dozens of people contacted me asking about the best way to free up space on their iPhone was. After all, Apple makes expensive stuff and people like cheap stuff. It only makes sense that most people will go for the 16 GB model.

Ever since that day, I decided that it’s irresponsible for Apple to make a 16 GB iPhone or iPad. Most people will fill up the space on their iPhone, upgrade to the next one, and restore from an iCloud backup, finding themselves in the exact same boat they were in with their old phone.

Why was Windows 8 so Bad?

By Rich W Woods

To be clear, I loved Windows 8 from day one. I loved Windows RT and Windows Phone 8 as well. I have always loved how Windows 8 starts up so fast. I love live tiles. I love not having to use a tiny start menu in the corner of the screen that lags when you hold the mouse over Programs. In fact, when I have to use a Windows 7 PC, I get frustrated sometimes.

So why does everyone hate it? The performance is fantastic. In fact, it’s the first new take on an operating system since the GUI was invented. In fact, that’s a huge part of the problem…

Yesterday was Internet Slowdown Day. Why we Need to Give Up the Battle for Net Neutrality

By Rich W Woods

This will be the third time that I’ve written about Net Neutrality. The first was Net Neutrality: Are You Sure You Want It? which was a message to the average person who really doesn’t know about the subject except for what they hear on the news, and A Message to the Cable Companies, which was a plea to cable companies saying that if they simply treated their customers better, they would trust them a little better with the end of Net Neutrality.

After all, this is what the debate is all about, right? Our whole lives we have been saying that we don’t want the government to regulate the Internet; however, we are so distrustful of the cable companies that we are willing to go back on that core belief.

You Should be Skeptical about Buying a OnePlus One

By Rich W Woods

Just a few weeks ago, I finally got an invitation to buy the OnePlus One as my new personal phone. On paper, it’s a great phone. It has a gorgeous 5.5″ 1080p display, it’s super fast with 3 GB RAM and a 2.5 GHz Snapdragon 801 processor, it takes great photos with a 13 MP rear camera and a 5 MP front camera, and it even takes 4K video.

Also, did I mention the price? $299 for the 16 GB model and $349 for the 64 GB model. That’s unlocked prices. They call it the flagship killer for a reason. A phone with similar specs could be the Samsung Galaxy S5 and that costs $649 unlocked.

OnePlus Forums

While you’re on the OnePlus forums trying to get your invitation to buy the OnePlus One, you may notice how much everyone loves OnePlus. When you post in the forums that you finally ordered your OnePlus One, you will get tons of “congratulations”; however, you would be better served if they said “beware”.

The Trouble with Trolls

By Rich W Woods

The biggest problem facing the Internet today is trolls. In fact, it’s safe to say that 100% of the people using the Internet would agree. So, if everybody on the Internet agrees that trolling is such a huge problem, why are there so many trolls?

What is a Troll?

For a very long time, I had no idea what a troll was. I thought it was something that tech journalists called big fans of theirs that bothered them on Twitter a lot. I was wrong.

A troll is someone who leaves negative comments. He will read through an entire article to find the one line he disagrees with just to leave an abusive comment at the end.

When I wrote my comparison of the HTC One M8 and the HTC One M8 for Windows, I compared Android to an iOS clone with widgets. Of course someone needed to comment that I was an idiot that doesn’t know what he was talking about.

When I posted to Reddit my comparison to how much Lumia Cyan improves the camera on Windows Phones, someone needed to comment that I am fucking retarded because the reader couldn’t enlarge the photos. This comment was followed up by a bunch more people telling me what a retard I am.