Geek round up of 2015
Welcome to 2016! After a well deserved break The Mac Mechanic is back and we’re kicking off the year with a round up of the tech wins and fails from last year.
The Good
Box
That’s right folks, we are banging on about Box again. But it seriously is the best cloud storage system tailored for business use out there. And although it’s been around for a while now, 2015 really saw it gain momentum particularly with Australian businesses. Version control, user groups, custom permissions, offline file sync, reasonable pricing plans and a tonne of storage space, what’s not to love?
Netflix Australia
In March 2015 Netflix finally made the long overdue leap to Australia! Now if you’re a massive nerd like we are you may have already been accessing Netflix through various geo-blocking evading services. However given that accessing content through these services is a bit of a legal grey area it’s great to finally have the option to go legit. If you’re not into tinkering with your DNS settings or setting up a VPN, you can now easily access content without resorting to piracy or breaking the bank. Plus anything that forces content providers with their prehistoric business models into acknowledging that streaming is the way of the future is fine by us!
The Bad
New 12-inch Macbook
It was between this or the Apple Watch but given that we are The Mac Mechanic we didn’t want to bag out Apple too much! This obsession with thin has gone too far. So far that this Macbook has only one USB-C connector… one! So you can’t plug anything into it except for the power cord. There’s no expansion port so you can’t have extra hard drive storage. The Facetime camera has been downgraded from HD to 480p, the low, grainy quality of the front facing camera of an older model iPhone. The crazily thin keyboard makes typing feel like you are stabbing your fingers into glass. And finally there’s Force Track, the haptic feedback trackpad that while good in theory (and may improve with further models) is clunky and can only be used with a limited number of Apple apps. Apple should be innovating to improve the product, not to just simply make make it thinner. It’s a thumbs down from us.
4K video
There was a lot of hype around 4K and most smart TVs support it but the fact of the matter is there’s hardly any content available, so what’s the point? The difference is hardly discernible to the naked eye and cheekily, a lot of content that is sold as ‘4K’ is in reality upsampled from HD. It’s a RORT we tells ya!
…and the awesome!
Samsung Portable SSD
The Mac Mechanic is all about SSD, so imagine our joy to learn about this product. It’s a little bit bigger than a thumb drive but packs 1TB of storage! It also has fast transfers with USB 3.0, is easy to use out of the box on PC or Mac and can be password protected. Geek heaven!
Chromecast Audio
This device will allow you to stream music to any stereo in your house via your smartphone – pretty standard right? But unlike a Sonos which will set you back serious cash this thing is only $50. Perfect for Android users!
Trend predictions for 2016? Here are our picks!
A.I.
No, not quite at the level of the Steven Spielberg film. But given the rising popularity of digital assistances like Siri, Cortana and Google Now, it makes sense that the race towards smarter digital automation will continue to grow in 2016. The coolest application of this technology? Self driving cars!
Mobile payments
53% of all payments made in Australia in 2015 were cashless and that number is expected to grow this year and beyond. Many banks have already developed their own payment apps and e-wallet services such as Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Android pay are expected to become standard features on future smartphone models.
Give The Mac Mechanic a shout out to see what we can do for you and your business in 2016!