For the last few years I’ve happily rocked my iPhone, which I moved to after several years of (mostly unsuccessfully) syncing my Blackberry to my Mac laptops. Getting an iPhone felt like a step up, a move toward better connectivity. Mac people were cool, trendy, and interested in what their machines did as well as how […]
I recently bought a netbook, after not having a portable computer for a few months. It came pre-installed with Windows 7, which doesn’t usually matter to me because I like to replace the native OS with Ubuntu or another Linux-variation. This time I decided to keep Windows on it because there are a few things […]
One of the best tech purchases I ever made was an iPhone*. While I’m normally a bigger fan of open-source software than of anything from either Apple or Microsoft, there are a couple of reasons an iPhone works for me: I can use it as a mini-computer, it automatically notifies me when I have email, […]
At some point or another, many of us find ourselves facing a new kind of technology, a new type of operating system, or a new look to the way we normally interface with our tech-driven world. As software is revised and updated and made old-fashioned, something new takes it place, and we have to learn […]
Many of us not only do our socializing online, but we also work online as well. Whether we’re employed in the creative arts as artists, writers, or musicians, or we’re self-employed (plumbers, landscapers, babysitters) there’s a Internet site to promote our services. While web-savvy businesses have been working online for years, even more traditional companies […]
“The work is challenging, the public is hostile, and the monsters are hungry, but the MMD crew has science, teamwork … and a secret weapon on their side. Together, they can save Japan, and the universe!” – from the back cover Hiroshi Yamamoto’s novel, about an alternate history where all of those rubber suit monster […]
DOCTOR WHO, the classic British scifi television series, recently celebrated 48 years since its first episode. I recently re-read Chicks Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who By The Women Who Love It and it got me thinking about what makes Doctor Who so special, and what makes MY Doctor Who experience into something […]
If you have a desktop computer, chances are you take care to keep liquids from spilling on it, or try to avoid using it to prop up heavy furniture. While those are important things to remember, many of us forget to protect our towers where it counts the most – on the inside. This post […]
I bought Myke Cole’s debut novel the day it came out, on the strength of the reading I saw him do at last summer’s Readercon. Shadow Ops: Control Point is the first in a series, and it’s a quick read. I started it on the train ride from Trenton to Philadelphia, read a bit before class, […]
A disaster recovery plan does exactly what it sounds like: it gives you a way to recover from a disaster, usually a loss of data. This can be anything from losing your laptop, or having your hard drive die on you, to something as terrible as losing your home in a fire. With recent advances […]
The term “podcast” is a combination of “pod” (Portable On Demand) and “broadcast”. A podcast is a pre-recorded bit of music, talk, or other sound, which is posted to a site on the Internet for others to download and listen to. Because it’s available online, it can be accessed anywhere that you can access the […]
It sounds a bit silly but the truth is that knowing where to find what you’re looking for is one of the most important parts of getting things done. Whether you’re replying to email, finding the right cable to hook up your printer, or writing a novel, how you’ve organized your technology determines how much […]
Once you begin to work with multiple computers, smart phones, and other devices, you might find yourself needing a file on one system that you last opened on another system. As a writer, I find this happens to me all the time. I often start a story on my desktop computer but later need it […]
I love living in the future. I get woken up in the morning by my hand-held personal computer / communications device, which is programmed to notify me via sound and vibration at the exact moment I want to be awake. Without getting out of bed I can slide my finger across the touch-sensitive screen, and […]