This post may contain more typos than usual, on account of it being typed almost 23 hours after my day began in Berlin (give or take a few naps on planes).
9/6/2013: IFA Electronics Show Features Some Gadgets Behaving Badly, Disruptive Competition Project
Having already decried TV and smartphone resolution overkill in earlier DisCo posts, I had to tee off on the IFA show floor’s examples of extremism in pursuit of a captivating, buzzword-compliant spec sheet. I liked this comment from somebody whose handle reminds me of one of my favorite commenters at the Post: “We need a 4K OLED refrigerator we can use to read our UHD grocery list.”
9/7/2013: Samsung Smart Watch Leads IFA’s Gadget Parade, Discovery News
This show recap led off with Samsung’s Galaxy Gear (allegedly) smart watch, then noted such other high-profile IFA debuts as two Sony camera modules designed to work symbiotically with smartphones. I had to leave some details out, which is why I devoted a third post to the show on my blog.
9/8/2013: Are optional Windows updates necessary?, USA Today
An overdue round of system-update installations on my ThinkPad reminded me that other people were probably as puzzled as I to see fading apps like Silverlight get a prominent spot in Windows’ “Optional Updates” list. Then I further remembered that I hadn’t written a Windows-specific Q&A column in a while. The tip part of the piece offers some encouragement to try out OS X’s Automator scripting tool, but I suspect not many readers will follow it.
Sulia was an all-IFA proposition this week: I posted a report about my first impressions of the Galaxy Gear, kvetched about the radically better selection of cable- and satellite TV hardware in Europe, complimented one convertible laptop concept and cast doubt on others, wondered about the utility of Sony’s add-on cameras for phones, and suggested some manufacturers’ rush to sell curved OLED 4K sets was best intrepreted as a call for help.
Update, 9/11: See also my Flickr set from IFA; slideshow is after the jump.
Rob Pegoraro 