Kirk Lennon

Articles

Here is every article ever published on this site. It’s not much at the moment. Feel free to also check out The Apple Clickbait Generator, which isn’t really an article, but still looks like one.

100 Days of Apple Watch

Forget about first impressions. Here is what I think about my Apple Watch after wearing it 100 days in a row. Continue reading “100 Days of Apple Watch”

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My Afternoon With Scientology, Or: I Visited A Cult So You Don’t Have To

I’m an asshole. That wasn’t the word that was used, but that’s what it meant. The truth is, I already knew this, but now I have “scientific” proof. Anyone who has walked around pretty much any downtown has seen the signs: Free Personality Test. Sure, the whole thing is a sham, a calculated effort to take advantage of people’s egotistical interest in themselves, but I’ve long been curious to take Scientology’s test, if only because I’ve never (knowingly, at least) even talked to a Scientologist. Continue reading “My Afternoon With Scientology, Or: I Visited A Cult So You Don’t Have To”

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How Apple Pay Really Works and Why You Should Begin Using it Immediately

The announcement of Apple Pay was met with much press, and a lot of misunderstanding. Without naming names, it’s fair to say that there are a great number of misconceptions about how it works and why it’s superior (and, to be clear, it is vastly superior) to existing payment mechanisms. So how does it really work? Continue reading “How Apple Pay Really Works and Why You Should Begin Using it Immediately”

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Stop Changing Your Passwords

In the aftermath of Heartbleed, users of web services have been widely exhorted to change all their passwords, and reminded that as a best practice, they should be changing them regularly. Such advice is passed around as an accepted best practice, but is it? Should you actually be changing your passwords regularly? Or ever? Continue reading “Stop Changing Your Passwords”

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Android: Google’s Multi-Billion Dollar Boondoggle

Android is, ostensibly, a resounding success, installed on around 80% of the world’s smartphones, and still growing fast. And while it’s certainly an achievement to have its software distributed so widely, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s been a success for Google. By the standards most applicable to a business, Android has been a disaster, as evidenced most recently by the complete failure of Motorola. So why did Google develop Android in the first place? Who are the winners? The losers? Continue reading “Android: Google’s Multi-Billion Dollar Boondoggle”

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The Imploding Tea Party

In 1773, a group of Americans calling themselves the Sons of Liberty threw chests of tea into Boston Harbor as an act of protest against what they deemed to be unfair taxes. It has since become an iconic symbol of patriotism and early American independence. In 2009, a diverse group of people appropriated the symbolism of this event and created the “Tea Party.” Continue reading “The Imploding Tea Party”

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Amazon Prime Air

On the evening of December 1, Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos unveiled a new program, Amazon Prime Air. The service promises octocopter drone delivery within 30 minutes for eligible products (with a five-pound weight limit). It’s an audacious plan, but one which he concedes won’t launch until 2015 at the absolute earliest, and possibly years later. So why announce it now? Continue reading “Amazon Prime Air”

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Google’s Giant New Search Results Banner Ads

Google recently began testing branded search results pages. When users search the name for one of the participating advertisers, there is a small percentage chance that instead of the normal results page, they will end on a page with all of the normal results … and also a very large branded banner ad directly above the results. Continue reading “Google’s Giant New Search Results Banner Ads”

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Predictions for Apple’s October Event

On Tuesday, Apple will once again hold an October special event. Apple’s invitations announced “We still have more to cover,” so what are they going to cover? In furtherance of the goal of embarrassing myself as publicly as possible, I offer my predictions. Continue reading “Predictions for Apple’s October Event”

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The Inevitable Death of BlackBerry

When a company has bad news, they often try to bury it. BlackBerry was scheduled to announce quarterly earnings this week, but instead decided to pre-announce them last Friday, on the same day that the media was focused on the new iPhone launch. The “earnings” turned out to be a billion-dollar loss. They also announced a plan layoff 40% of their staff and to pare their lineup to four phones: two for enterprises and two for “prosumers.“ The stock immediately fell 20% before trading was halted. On Monday, in news surprising only for its timing, BlackBerry announced that its largest shareholder, Fairfax Financial Holdings, was planning on buying the remaining shares of the company at a valuation of $4.7 billion and taking it private. Is this a good price, and what are the future prospects for a private BlackBerry? Continue reading “The Inevitable Death of BlackBerry”

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C is for Color

Apple’s iPhone even has come and the rumors were horribly wrong, pushed off perhaps precisely because of the factual leaks. Continue reading “C is for Color”

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Pricing the iPhone 5C

At this point, both the name and very existence of the iPhone 5C are still technically rumors, but where there’s smoke, there’s fire—and in this case we can all see the flames burning holes through the shroud as well. So how much is this thing going to cost? Continue reading “Pricing the iPhone 5C”

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Microsoft’s Purchase of Nokia

The speculation that started when Microsoft executive Stephen Elop resigned from Microsoft to become Nokia’s CEO have finally come to an end with the seemingly inevitable announcement that Microsoft is buying Nokia—or at least its devices and services unit. The less well-known, more profitable side of Nokia will remain an independent company. So how did these two companies get to this point, and more importantly, what (if anything) does it mean for the future of the mobile phone industry? Continue reading “Microsoft’s Purchase of Nokia”

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