Happy New Year from the Staring at Phones Blog!

I hope you all had a wonderful 2014 and I wish you all the best in 2015.  This was the first year of the Staring at Phones Blog, and I’d say it was a huge success!  In case you missed them, I’d like to highlight what I thought were the three best posts of the year:

How Apple can “Beat” the Competition  (Originally published on May 18, 2014)
Apple has a lot to gain from their rumored purchase of Beats by Dr. Dre.  Even if you don’t think you know what Beats are, you’ve probably seen people wearing them.  The super-trendy headphones aren’t cheap either – they start at $169.95.  I don’t understand why the average Joe would need headphones that expensive (though I could understand someone in the music business wanting them), but Dr. Dre must know something I don’t.  I see those headphones everywhere.  So obviously, if the headphones are selling, it’s a good buy for Apple – just because it’s a money maker.  However, I think Apple has their eye on something else: Beats Music.  Continue reading…

Why Tesla’s Open Patents Will Help the World… and Tesla  (Originally published on July 6, 2014)
Several weeks ago, the recently spotlighted Tesla Motors (famous for making high-end electric cars) made a very unusual announcement. They said that they will not sue anyone who, “in good faith,” uses their technology in electric vehicles. This is a hugely different approach from nearly every other big business we see today. In our trigger-happy lawsuit world, companies patent everything they possible can, fearing that someone out there will rip them off. However, sharing ideas is the fastest way for people to innovate, instead of forcing them to reinvent someone else’s wheel every time they want to make a product.  Continue reading…

August App Review: Aviary  (Originally published on August 3, 2014)
Photos are becoming a larger and larger part of the web. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat – we love to take and share photos. Photo editing used to just be for photographers, but with the rise of services like Instagram (famous for its filters), people have discovered how much fun it is to be creative with their photos. Aviary delivers traditional editing tools (brightness, contrast, and so on) as well as some fun new ones (yes, including filters).  Continue reading…

I hope you enjoy these posts, as well as other ones from this year.  Stay tuned in 2015 for even more great content from Staring at Phones.  Be sure to subscribe via WordPress, email, or RSS so you don’t miss any new posts this year.  Thanks again for a great year, I’ll see you Sunday!

-Nick  ••