Hacking voting machines to run Pac-Man is an example of “your freedom to understand, discuss, repair, and modify the technological devices you own” as per the Freedom to Tinker blog.
3 ideas for how to create secure passwords, that include a combination of numbers and letters, and uppercase and lowercase.
Virginia Heffernan’s piece in the New York Times Magazine over the weekend tries to make the case that the Web is chaotic and dangerous, and therefore those who can afford the iPhone/iPad will increasingly be segregating themselves to a clean and happy non-Web future, one sanitized by Apple (thanks to the App Store, where everything [...]
There are 5 main formats in which to store images. Why would you choose one over another, and what are the differences? 1. TIFF (also known as TIF), file types ending in .tif TIFF stands for Tagged Image File Format. TIFF images create very large file sizes. TIFF images are uncompressed and thus contain a [...]
An article by Charles Passy in today’s Wall Street Journal entitled “Can Big-Box Merchants Fix Your Computer?” is his tale of taking 4 computers to 3 different large retailers that offer computer repair, plus sending one away to a fourth company. The three retailers, Best Buy (Geek Squad), Office Depot, and Staples, all did varying [...]
I read the following quote today, said by Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer (courtesy of All Things D): “Frankly, the economy is good for us, because people do understand that Macintoshes are quite a bit more expensive for essentially the same computer.” So he’s expecting to have strong sales, thanks to the bad economy. I disagree. [...]
In the chill of winter, it’s annoying to have to take off your mittens to make a call on your iPhone or adjust your music or surf the web–since the iPhone touch screen only works when your actual finger touches it. To solve the problem of cold hands, I’ve invented Slittens, a pair of mittens [...]
I recently wrote this step-by-step guide to achieving ROI using social media, and many have found it useful as a way to think about using social media as part of their business plans. Achieving ROI using social media is all about focusing on your needs and planning ahead. Here are the 10 steps to implementing [...]
The New York Times Magazine had an article this past Sunday, May 24, called “The Case for Working with Your Hands,” by Matthew B. Crawford. It’s an excerpt from his new book Shop Class as Soulcraft, just published by Penguin. Crawford is a motorcycle mechanic in Virginia, even though he has a Ph.D. in political [...]
In the “Mac vs PC” wars, David Pogue, tech columnist for the New York Times, comes down on the side of the Mac. His primary reason is to avoid viruses and spyware, but he also says “they look nicer.” However he does suggest that a netbook might be preferable to a Mac, because of its [...]
