Delightfully reminiscent of my first SLR, a Pentax K1000, which is still the best camera I’ve ever owned. Sadly, I’m no longer enough of a photography buff to justify a dedicated camera at any price.

Plus, I’ve always been a terrible photographer. Just awful. Although, I took my best shots with that K1000.

Sam Byford at The Verge:

The huge screen is suspended within a metal frame reminiscent of an easel — it can be tilted up and down — and, while we’re not sure how many living rooms the colossal contraption will fit into, the floating effect is a sight to behold.

What the hell is he talking about? The title of the piece also says “floating”. It’s not “floating”, it’s in a big-ass metal frame. Does CES cause a kind of collective madness?

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes:

[Sterne Agee analyst Shaw] Wu has a lot to say about Windows 8, and most of it is quite negative. In a statement to ZDNet Wu claims that Windows 8 hardware is “overpriced” and offers “no clear benefit in switching from iOS or Android.”

He went on to say that Windows 8 hardware is ugly and its mother dresses it funny.

Dave Wiskus writing for Macworld:

Hardware and software alike are trending toward conceptual simplicity. It’s just taking a little longer for software to look the part.

I’d say that Windows Phone (and Metro) are actually a step ahead of iOS and the Mac OS in this movement. Just another reason why I don’t get why Windows Phone continues to do so poorly.

Ed Bott:

I love data-driven journalism more than just about anyone, but Chitikas numbers don’t pass the sniff test. Ive avoided writing stories based on Chitikas many press releases precisely because I couldnt find any evidence that the numbers were reliable, trustworthy, consistent, or meaningful. On the contrary, the numbers have frequently been just laughably inconsistent.

It’s appalling to me how much of this stuff gets reported as gospel. Actually, no, that’s the wrong word. It’s appalling to me how much of this stuff gets reported as science.

In vague news that may give hope to all mankind, Twin Peaks co-creator says a comeback is not out of the question. (Via Laughing Squid.)

Information Week’s Paul McDougal seems to imply there’s something fishy in the Best Buy reviews of the Surface.

Catherine Bracy elaborating on a tweet she wrote wondering why Silicon Valley gets worked up about Instagram’s terms of service but doesn’t seem to care about FISA being renewed:

Why can’t we, the tech community, figure out how to harness our talent and influence to fundamentally change the way our democracy works—not just for us, when it suits our interests, but for everyone?

I think some of it has to do with the fact that tech people are more comfortable brow beating other nerds than ideologues in Congress, but the order of magnitude in the difference of importance between the two examples in this object lesson is rather damning.

The New York Times (via The Verge):

Major crime in New York City inched up this year, and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on Friday fingered the culprit: too many iPhones and iPads were being swiped.

…

“If you just took away the jump in Apple, we’d be down for the year,” said Marc La Vorgna, the mayor’s press secretary.

What if you took out cars? Or convenience stores?

Or people? I bet it’d go down a lot if you took out people.