John Martellaro

Personal assessments of what technology to adopt and what to ignore is what we do these days. Developers develop, technical columnists experiment and report, and individuals decide yea or nay. However, basing those decisions on old-fashioned or emotional preconceptions in increasingly unproductive. John Martellaro roughs up the technical hobgoblins and sizes up iOS 7.

Now that Google Glass is being widely tested and written about, reactions are all over the map -- as they should be. That's a good sign for a new technology: our inability to come to consensus on the technical and social aspects at first. But in the long term, the technology always settles out.

Satellite Safari is a realtime, visual guide to hundreds of satellites in orbit.  This universal iOS app will tell when they pass overhead and where they are right now.  You can follow along in orbit, with the satellite, see what it looks like, look at the ground track or watch it pass overhead from your location on the ground.  It's also the official app for the Kickstarter SkyCube mission.

Many Apple customers throughout the years profitably utilized the rack mounted Xserve product in their businesses. It was a quality product that cost less than the competition's by a significant amount. Yet, it was doomed to failure.  John Martellaro tells how it happened.

Over the weekend, Cult of Mac ran a story about how new technologies are threatening to leave the iPhone behind. The premise there is that there is no longer room for vision, that a technology race determines the ultimate winner. John Martellaro weighs in with a rebuttal.

Ulysses III is a complete rewrite of the legendary Ulysses II writing tool.  It uses a wide range of OS X technologies to create a focused, elegant writing environment. By using Markdown, it separates how the document looks from the content. Version 1.0.1 is missing a few minor features, but is a solid and impressive initial release.  John Martellaro liked it a lot.

There are times when the iPad or iPhone user needs a stylus. And because stylus technology has come a long way in terms of the design, craftsmanship and the nib material, they're even more fun to use. The LYNKtec TruGlide Pro, with a 5 mm microfiber tip, is the best pure stylus John Martellaro has ever used. Here's his review.

Often, it's good to be reminded of things that get lost in the Internet storms.  This week, we were reminded by some calm, cool heads about things we have forgotten to appreciate about Apple. John Martellaro recaps.

When Apple's developer event, the World Wide Developer Conference, sells out in less than three minutes, something is broken. Developers that TMO contacted weren't happy with the process and strongly urged Apple to make changes, both to the sign up process and to the event. Here's a vivid and articulate collection of developer responses that's full of insight and provides serious food for thought.

What if you could just swipe sideways to switch between apps on your iPad?  Well, you can!  John Martellaro shows you how to perform this most innocent of finger gestures.