Shayaan Faruqi's Blog

Outlook Insider Post #1 — Link your accounts!

Apr

2013

So folks, I signed up for the Outlook Insider Program at Microsoft, and as part of that agreement I’m here to put up 6 posts in the next year about how to use Outlook.com to be more productive. Granted, I think the vast majority of folks will figure it out as Outlook.com is a pretty ...

Core rot at Apple…

Jan

2013

The Mac Performance Guide put out a great article on the ins and outs of OSX; I’ve long been a proponent of using the best tool for the job, and in recent years it seems that their total about-face on the little enterprise support they had like X Serve, Final Cut, etc… has all been ...

Let’s say this simply… last year, patents cost us more than we do in R&D.

Oct

2012

According to an article by 9to5Mac.com, last year for the first time, Apple and Google spent more money on patents than on development of new products. Say it again slowly. These companies spent more money on lawyers than they did on engineers. It’s a sad day for those of us who love the world of ...

The hidden gem of Windows Media Center, and why Microsoft needs to wake up.

Sep

2012

I’m an avid TV and movie watcher. Being a parent to three young kids as well, limits the amount of adult activities I can do outdoors, and so in exchange I’ve got the biggest TV package through my provider, Cablevision. I get every channel — HBO, Showtime, Encore, etc — just minus the sports networks ...

Why I’m keeping Windows 8.

Aug

2012

In light of the recent article here: http://www.pcgamesn.com/article/why-i-m-uninstalling-windows-8, I thought it might make sense to make a reply to this in my own words. Needless to say if you’ve been keeping up, I hadn’t used Windows 8 at all really up until my last post. As of the last two weeks however, I have been using ...

Windows 8, Steam, Gabe Newell and the future…

Jul

2012

I think this post has been a long time coming, since I’ve been following the development of Windows 8 for quite some time. With the new interview from Gabe Newell, he states that “Windows 8 is kind of a catastrophe for everybody in the PC space” to which I have to laugh. Let’s not talk ...

A word on outsourcing…

Jul

2012

It is an interesting time in the world, where we find some companies outsourcing their talent, and other companies bringing it all back in house. GM is taking the latter approach, while many other companies (whom I would say are a bit ‘dated’ in their thinking) are continuing the trend of outsourcing. Let’s just sit ...

Why I love Windows Phone… said by somebody else.

Dec

2011

I have to say, that I find that Windows Phone is an amazing mobile OS. So somebody took the benefit of explaining why, in better terms (and prettier pictures) than I really could. So read away! http://spillwaybrain.wordpress.com/2011/11/10/why-windows/

A time of changes…

Dec

2011

Out with the old, in with the new… It’s been a time of change in my life and thus I haven’t had time to post here, having recently started a new job. But I found a recent blog entry that is really interesting, and wanted to share it with you. It’s titled Why I Will Never ...

Silverlight… dead?

Sep

2011

I have to be honest, I’m a Silverlight “fan”, if there is such a thing. It’s a great way to build a web application without the bulk of ASP.NET and get it up and running quickly, without having to worry about the deployment you would from a WPF application. And then, I read this, from ...