CHANGE, PART DEUX

Yes, that swanky guy in the picture is the new Editor for HWM. If you’ve been reading this column, I’ve actually introduced myself last issue and hinted at changes coming. If you didn’t… well, surprise!

The last issue (April 2014) was the first time we featured a personality on the front cover, and this issue (May 2014) marks another milestone for the HWM team as we roll out our revamp for the magazine. What you’ll immediately notice are the more colorful layouts; as us geeks infiltrate the masses, we figured we might as well do it in style. We’ve streamlined how the magazine is presented, and introduced subtle tweaks to the flow of stories here and there. Underneath all the pomp and flash however, our commitment to quality editorial content remains the same and as in-depth as ever.

This issue, we explore the dual-edged nature of technology. On one hand, we celebrate the explosive growth of connected devices and services that empower us to do more with a few taps of our fingers. Smartphones and tablets have enabled mobile computing in a way that notebooks never could, and through them, comes a boom in mobile commerce.

On the other, the convenience of cloud services comes with way too many logins and passwords for the average Joe to remember. The recent Heartbleed bug scare is a reminder that the internet can be a scary place. If you find that you’re not willing to readily give up all your private data to the safekeeping of the faceless corporations running these services, you can take direct control of your own data with affordable and easily managed personal cloud devices.

It’s a brave new world. Try it.