After reading Dear Nintendo…, a friend today asked me “How do you feel about the Switch?” Well, let's go down the list. Nintendo Account I can log into my account online, yes. Apparently, Nintendo Network ID is simply an OAuth provider for the rest of the Nintendo website. But you can also have a standalone Nintendo.com login. I deal with this stuff every day, and I still get confused on Nintendo’s website. I have a Switch, a Wii U, the original 3DS, the original 3DS XL, and now the new clamshell 2DS XL.

I’ve been a life-long Nintendo console owner. I have the NES, SNES, N64, GameCube, Wii and Wii U. I’ve also owned the GameBoy Advance, GameBoy Advance SP, multiple Nintendo DS lites, and a regular and XL-sized 3DS. I have invested so much time and energy into your products over the years that I feel a certain qualification to be able to talk about them as an expert-level consumer. This was originally posted to Facebook Notes. Let’s go back to the GameCube With the GameCube, you very nearly achieved perfection.

Apple’s October 16th product announcement begins at 10am PST; 1pm EST. My guesses? Definitely: OS X Yosemite, iTunes 12, and the next-gen iPad Air and iPad mini. Maybe: Updated Thunderbolt 2 + Retina display (I’d guessed at this last year and was wrong), iMac with Retina display, updates to the MacBook Pro line, Apple TV 4 with support for third-party apps. Not a chance: An HDTV, more info about Apple Watch, a mega-sized iPad, or a pull-string-to-talk Steve Jobs doll.

I’ve been paying quite a bit of attention to the story of Edward Snowden — the former CIA contractor who leaked classified information to the American public about how the government is spying on us through acronym-laden programs known as “PRISM” and “MUSCULAR”. Allow me to be your tour guide as we uncover just a few of the ways in which the NSA has broken the law and spied on American citizens. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (1978) It all started in 1978 with the passage of FISA:

Last month, when writing about Apple’s Fall 2013 Product Announcement, I’d guessed at a few announcements that they didn’t end up making. Today, Apple announced all of those things and more. OS X Mavericks OS X 10.9 ”Mavericks”. Available today. Free (down from $19.99 last year). MacBook Air Lighter and faster than the last model. Faster 802.11ac wireless networking, Bluetooth 4.0 and Thunderbolt 2. Available today. Starting at $999. MacBook Pro with Retina Display Lighter and faster than the last model.

I’ve been spending time with iOS 7 since WWDC this year, and I wanted to post a few notes. I installed Beta 1 on my iPhone 5 the day it was available at WWDC. I toyed with it for an hour before returning to 6.1.4. It was appallingly ugly and very, very slow. The icons looked garish, and the typography was unrefined. Not surprising for a Beta 1, but it was still pretty bad. I installed Beta 2 on my iPad mini, just so that I had one device that was running the latest beta.

Apple’s fall product announcement begins at 10am PST; 1pm EST. My guesses? Definitely: Next-gen iPhone 5S, iOS 7, OS X Mavericks, iTunes 11 (with iTunes Radio), updated MacBook Pro. Maybe: New iPads (though I’d bet on spring instead), lower unsubsidized-cost iPhone for other (non-American) countries, updated iMac, updated Thunderbolt 2 display (with USB 3.0). Not a chance: An HDTV, a wrist-watch, a pull-string-to-talk Steve Jobs doll. How’d I do? How good were my predictions?

I learned at a relatively young age what makes a good password versus a bad password, and I’ve tried to always use these qualities in the passwords that I choose. The Problem Unfortunately, even with the best intentions, you inevitably end up re-using one or a few passwords across every single website you log into. Some people do things as dumb as using the name of their significant other. Or their pet. Or a birthdate. Or something else equally guessable by one of the many supercomputers that exist (whereby “supercomputer”, I mean pretty much any computer invented in the past 5–7 years).

In 2011, I wrote about Apple vs. Android and how “It’s all about the ecosystem, stupid!”. The more time I spend with my iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV, the more of a believer I become in the power of the ecosystem. The Digital Hub Apple spent the first decade of this century focusing on the idea of The Digital Hub. It started with Mac + music, then they added photos, movies, TV shows, books, and all sorts of things.