NYT Now (iPhone only) recently became completely free so I gave it another try. It has quickly become my favorite news app and has replaced Circa on my home screen. Now's focus meshes with how I want to read news on my phone. There is a curated list of the day's top stories written specifically for a mobile device along with daily briefs and notifications for breaking news that don't overwhelm me.

The Wall St Journal is reporting that Apple has canceled plans to build a television set:

But after nearly a decade of research, Apple quietly shelved plans to make such a set more than a year ago, according to people familiar with the matter.

Apple had searched for breakthrough features to justify building an Apple-branded television set, those people said. In addition to an ultra-high-definition display, Apple considered adding sensor-equipped cameras so viewers could make video calls through the set, they said.

Ultimately, though, Apple executives didn’t consider any of those features compelling enough to enter the highly competitive television market, led by Samsung Electronics Co. Apple typically likes to enter a new product area with innovative technology and easier-to-use software.

As more video streaming services come to market and some of the most profitable cable networks dip their toes into the unbundling waters, I have seen a few narratives about the future of TV. The first is the utopia of everything available a la carte live and on-demand, which would more closely resemble monopolistic competition. The second is replicating the old oligarchy of cable providers and media conglomerates over the internet. Sports will play a big role in determining how all of this shakes out.

I have never watched a ton of TV. I grew up in a household without cable and the only TV allowed was TGIF and weekend cartoons. Today I still don't have cable and rarely watch live TV except for sports. I much prefer to watch TV on-demand and commercial-free and have been that way since Netflix's only product was DVDs by mail.

I love tech and I love podcasts, so I decided to put together a list of my favorite weekly shows. They come from tech blogs, Apple developers, and analysts. I tend to enjoy the shows from analysts and developers the most, because they're more than just a regurgitation and discussion of the news. There are many other good tech podcasts, but these are the ones I rely on to stay informed on a week-to-week basis.

I've been using Squarespace on this site for about 6 weeks after using Wordpress (self-hosted on Godaddy and .com) for several years. There are some big differences between the two platforms, and each is better suited for different tasks and types of users. Here are my thoughts on Squarespace vs Wordpress and what type of user should go with each platform.

When the iPad was unveiled in 2010 Steve Jobs made the case that there was room for a new product category that was better  at some key tasks than smartphone or laptops. Several common computing tasks were cited: web browsing, email, photos, video, music, games, reading, etc. iPad sales took off like a rocket ship, but have since come back to earth and have had five straight quarters of declining annual sales.

After the initial Watch reviews came out I said I was bullish on the platform but probably wouldn't be buying one. Now that I've had the chance to demo it at the Apple Store and some of my favorite bloggers and podcasters have given their extended thoughts, I'm confident saying I won't be buying a gen-1 version. Here's why.

The market for streaming video services is growing, with several new entrants and existing services reporting impressive subscriber growth. This sounds like a win for consumers on the surface. However, one of the side effects is the need for each service to differentiate itself, and one of the best ways to do that is to have more/better/newer content than the competition.

Today I'm going to look at the best fitness trackers and fitness/running smart watches available and compare them to my ideal fitness device. There are several companies converging on this space. Fitness trackers from Fitbit and Jawbone are adding features and becoming more capable devices, while Google and Apple are attacking it with more fully featured smartwatch platforms. Each approach has its merits and will appeal to different types of users. Let's look at the latest products from Fitbit vs Jawbone vs Android Wear vs Apple Watch to see how they compare.