Articles by Jerry Hildenbrand

It’s all about the Benjamins.

Chromebooks are quickly becoming bonafide business computers, and as JR Raphael points out at Computerworld, it’s not because of what Google is doing.

If you think about it, there really isn’t anything else Google can do. Chrome OS is a stable and functional operating system that can run complicated and demanding software. Google’s services are all cloud-based, so all of them work extremely well on every connected device from the cheapest phone to the best Chromebook. At this point, Google can call Chromebooks a success.

Chrome OS is great, but plenty of software still needs Windows.

The problem, especially for business users, is that most software needed for day-to-day tasks in the workplace isn’t written for Chrome OS. There are plenty of useful substitutions that work really well. Still, the names we all know, like Adobe Photoshop or Microsoft Visual Studio, are names we know for a reason — those are the tools the corporate world uses. Thank…

Google’s business is all about eyeballs on the internet, and iOS is good for business.

Epic Games has amended its lawsuit against Google saying that there is no incentive for the company to lure users away from iOS to Android. What originally started as a slap fight over in-app purchase fees from Fortnite revenue has evolved into a full-fledged courtroom drama between companies that, in my opinion, would be better served to hash things out in a way that doesn’t hurt the end-users of either. But that ship has sailed, and here we are.

While Epic isn’t shying away from hyperbole, which always makes for some good courtroom drama, saying that Google and Apple are best friends because of the Google Search app, it is correct when it says there is little or no incentive to peel users away from iOS. That’s because Google makes just as much money from Apple fans as it does from Android fans when it comes to its core business.

Search is part of it, of course, and I’m not saying Google wouldn…

OnePlus built its brand for Android enthusiasts, and those are the people who care about performance on all fronts.

OnePlus is intentionally slowing down the performance of a lot of very popular Android apps in an attempt to improve battery life. According to the company, it’s trying to balance everything so an application can have the power it needs but nothing extra. So, for example, by not allowing the CPU to crank all the way up, there is a noticeable benefit in battery life.

See how sensible it sounds when you say it that way? Too bad OnePlus didn’t have the foresight to say anything to customers before it decided to mess with everything on one of the best Android phones available.

I’m not going to lie — I really like OnePlus’s recent phones. Not because I’m some superfan who wants to rush to a pop-up event or buys everything OnePlus has to offer (though the company’s USB-C earbuds were really good, too). But because I think they have a nice mix of useful software without t…

Fixing the latest bugs and exploits in Android every month.

Google has detailed the latest Android Security Bulletin and released the fixes for Pixel devices.

These are exploits and other security concerns that affect Android as a whole. Issues with the operating system, kernel patches, and driver updates may not affect any particular device, but these need to be fixed in the Android base by the folks maintaining the operating system code. That means Google, and they’ve detailed the things they have improved for this month.

Updated factory images for Pixel devices that are supported are available, and over-the-air updates are rolling out to users. If you don’t want to wait, you can download and flash the factory image or OTA update file manually, and here are some handy instructions to get you started.

The company that made your phone uses these patches to send an update out to you.

These changes have been released to the people making the best Android phones for at least 30…

Some Android devices are perfectly capable of playing console-quality games, but not all.

Feral Interactive is bringing the XCOM 2 Collection to Android soon, and that’s pretty awesome. I hope it turns out to be one of the best Android games and is just as fun as I remembered it to be. But, unfortunately, it also highlights a couple of potential pain points for developers who want to release great console-quality games, like XCOM2 for Android: It’s hard to make money, and many Android devices just aren’t capable.

I have no idea if Feral’s decision to bring the collection to Android will be profitable (though I have seen plenty of moaning over the $25 price). Still, I know the way the company is weeding out the devices that can’t run the game is the right thing to do and the right way to do it.

These are the Android devices Feral will officially support, but that’s not the whole picture. This is a list of devices the developers have actually tested the XCOM2 Collection on, and th…

The next generation of Wear OS is a full platform update, complete with new hardware to support it.

You hate to hear it. I actually hate to say it. Nevertheless, updating any existing watches, whether they run Wear OS or Samsung’s Tizen, to the new platform will do nothing but hold the platform back and keep it from reaching its full potential.

This sucks, but it’s still true. You might have the best Android smartwatch or a new Galaxy Watch 3 and feel like you’ve been duped if you don’t get the update everyone really wants, but you shouldn’t feel this way. That doesn’t matter, though, and I’d probably feel the same way. We’re all secretly hoping for some sort of solution, but the solution is that trying to get the new software onto existing hardware is a continuation of the thing that made the current version of Wear OS so bad — worrying about making it run on underpowered and underperforming hardware.

We thought a solution was found when Qualcomm announced expensive new chips t…

Amazon Sidewalk: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

A lot of people ended up buying a new Amazon device during Prime Day 2021, and many of those devices will work as part of Amazon Sidewalk. It’s that thing you keep hearing about but is never really explained well, and the internet collectively says you should just opt out because Amazon is shady or will do something evil with it.

I’m not here to change your mind. It would help if you decided how much of anything you want to share with any tech company, including Amazon. But I do want to take a few minutes and lay out exactly what Amazon Sidewalk is, what it can do today, and discuss both the good and bad of it all.

How to opt-out

I’ll start here because that’s what many people really want to know about, and even if you only read this much of the article, you should at least get some benefit from it. But I think automatically deciding to opt-out without knowing why is the wrong decision every time, including this time.

You need …

Chromeboxes aren’t laptops. You’re not tossing one into a backpack and setting it up at Starbucks. Instead, it sits quietly behind a screen of some sort and is always ready. That means there’s no reason to try and get by with 16 or 32GB of storage. Most models are easy to take apart and upgrade if you’re the DIY type, but adding more storage is as easy as plugging in a cable. These are the best external hard drives and SSDs for your Chromebox.

The affordable choice

WD 1TB My Passport Portable External Hard Drive

Staff Pick

WD My Passport is the best Chromebox hard drive you can buy at a bargain. It’s a spinning disk drive so you won’t be breaking any read speed records, but it’s perfect for storing photos, music and video. It’s also available in 1TB to 5TB options.

From $52 at Amazon From $55 at Best Buy

When you wanna go fast!

SAMSUNG T5 Portable SSD 1TB External Solid State Drive

If you need a big boost in storage for your Chromebox but need to have SSD speeds, th…

Does your phone support wireless charging?

Wireless charging has been around for a few years now, but sadly it hasn’t become as widely adopted as we’d like. That’s changing and the various groups that build wireless charging standards are working together, and even Apple finally embraced the technology starting with the iPhone 8 and iPhone X.

Many of the best Android phones likely already embrace wireless charging, and if that’s something you’re looking for in your next phone, here’s a list of those lucky devices. Then, once you’ve found the phone to upgrade to, make sure you get the best wireless charging pads to pair with it.

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Your loved ones have enough to worry about when you shuffle off this mortal coil. Preparing your Google account is easy and something we all need to do.

It’s not something we like to talk or even think about, but we’re all going to die one day. I sincerely hope that day is far off for all of us and the time between now and then is filled with happy memories, but when it does happen your friends and family probably aren’t going to think about your Google account and all the personal information you have stored there. It might seem trivial to some, but for others, it’s important that this all be given to someone who can take care of it all responsibly.

Your Google account holds more than just your search history. You may have active credit information or even funds in Google Pay, Google Photos will likely be filled with memories your friends and family will want to see, or you might have important documents in Google Drive. Any information about you will be important to those you lea…