Columns - SlashGear

What the Linux desktop must have to become mainstream

JC Torres | Apr 9, 2019

Linux runs the computing world. It is by far the most used operating system on servers and perhaps the only OS on supercomputers. It has taken over much of the mobile world thanks to Android and is on the cusp of taking a majority share in education via Chrome OS.

The one area where it has had difficulty expanding year after year is the desktop. Not because it's terrible at it but because it needs a few missing pieces that will stop the Year of the Linux desktop from being a running joke.

HTC’s downfall: Behind a once-promising smartphone maker’s struggles

Osmond Chia | Apr 7, 2019

Sometimes companies vanish without us even realizing. One of these is the Taiwanese tech giant HTC, which made big footprints in the tech world before fading away. You may remember – or even own – some of its products, from the HTC One, Dream, to the legendary EVO 4G. They were pioneers for much of the technology we take for granted today in phones, constantly introducing new ideas that actually made sense.

Reasons to Abandon Windows For Linux

Matthew DeCarlo | Apr 6, 2019

Had enough of Windows 10's hassles? Unless you plan to install Windows 7, which is going to lose support from Microsoft on January 14, 2020, or have the cash to spare for an Apple device, there aren't many other options for a computer operating system except some flavor of Linux.

Apple Card will make you spend even more money

Osmond Chia | Mar 31, 2019

Apple’s event on Monday signaled a new strategy: in addition to tech and products, its new baby would be services. Movie streaming, publications, and perhaps most curiously, banking. It’s called Apple Card, a new credit card linked to Apple Pay that's built into the Wallet app.

PC and mobile gaming are entering a sad exclusivity phase

JC Torres | Mar 27, 2019

Just like the larger entertainment industry, the gaming market is a rather aggressively competitive one. There are equal amounts of sometimes glorified success stories and urban legends as well as tragic drama of overtimes and turnovers. Companies, especially the big ones, are not too shy to use tactics that, on the surface, seem unfair and exploitative - and yet these are often excused as common industry practices.

For years, the PC gaming market has prided itself for steering clear of some of those practices that have become common in the console market but now it seems the culture of exclusivity is invading not just PCs but mobile as well.

Epic Games Store is necessary but it’s tearing the community apart

JC Torres | Mar 22, 2019

Epic Games is disrupting the gaming market and, just like any disruption, not everyone's too happy about it. It's easy enough to see the appeal of Epic's battle cry: better profits for developers and more choices for users. But in order to effect any significant change, Epic Games is employing some business strategies to get developers on its side. Those same strategies, however, are causing gamers and even some developers to draw the line in the sand, splitting the gaming community into sometimes very vocal camps.

Ignore Facebook’s security advice

Chris Davies | Mar 21, 2019

It's time to change your Facebook password. Again. The social network argues today's revelation that "hundreds of millions" of users' passwords were saved, in plaintext and unprotected, where thousands of employees could have accessed them, isn't bad enough that those users affected should be forced to update their security settings. I don't agree.

The Cloud is empowering but it’s also a double-edged sword

JC Torres | Mar 20, 2019

Google just announced its Stradia game streaming service and its perhaps one of the best examples of how far "The Cloud" has come. Online games are nothing new but few aside from text-based games are able to reduce the client side to a "dumb terminal". Cloud computing has undoubtedly changed the way we work, consume content, and interact with services. While it's hard to deny how powerful and liberating the technology can be, it also pays to take a step back to understand that it is far from being the panacea that some advocates would have us believe.

I’m so glad the iPad mini isn’t dead

Chris Davies | Mar 18, 2019

Sometimes the fates take away the ones you love, and sometimes - like today, and the new iPad mini 5th generation - you get a second chance. Apple's decision not to ditch its smallest tablet and instead give it a new lease of life is, frankly, a surprise in many ways, but it's one I'm pleased to see.

Apple’s iPad range (almost) makes sense now

Chris Davies | Mar 18, 2019

Apple's iPad line-up had a big gap in the middle, something the new 10.5-inch iPad Air and iPad mini 2019 address today. Promising to balance affordability and specifications, the new tablets slot right into the midrange, offering not one but two options for those turned off or priced out of Apple's existing iPads.

Genius or gimmick: The crazy phone showdown

Osmond Chia | Mar 17, 2019

"All phones look the same." Not anymore. 2018 may have been a pretty stale year for phone designs, but this year has been anything but – and it’s only March. We’re not just seeing obscure brands having the guts to introduce wild designs, but mainstream manufacturers are coming up with designs that are truly different.

Disney’s live-action dilemma

Osmond Chia | Mar 16, 2019

For many of us, Disney represented all that was great about the movies when we were kids. Glorious technicolour cartoons would be played to no end on our TVs, with unstoppably catchy tunes stuck on our minds; and Disney knows this all too well.