I was sitting at a restaurant this past weekend, reading a book on my Kindle when my phone beeped to tell me that I'd just received an email at my Google account. Popping open my phone, I noticed that it had connected to the restaurants WiFi network for me, enabling faster browsing. I opened up the Gmail app and started to read the email. It was from a friend of mine who recommended a book that...read more

I'm a gadget guy; I love anything with bells and whistles, or more appropriately, circuits and buttons. I also like building things. So you can imagine my delight in discovering a company called RepRap. They've been around for awhile, and I've checked in every so often to see how they are progressing, and they've finally reached the point where I want one.

RepRap is a company that...read more

The computer is arguably the most important tool that has been developed in our history. Most of us interact with one on a daily basis and we are all faced with the same challenge of getting information in and out of these pesky devices. We've even had to coin new terms for the impact it's had on our health. From carpal tunnel and gamer thumb, to qwerty-itis (the impressions on your face when...read more

I saw this the other day as I was Stumbling. Has to be one of the coolest gadgets ever! Tell me you don't want it!

Last week I talked a little bit about the history of the modern computer. This week I'm going to take you a bit farther and talk about what's coming.

The open-source community developed Linux to provide an alternative to Mac and Windows, though coincidentally the Mac OSX software is actually running on a Linux core. Firefox is a great example of open-source development reaching the mainstream...read more

Christmas has come once again, bringing joy to children of all ages; and bringing the needs for millions more batteries. I counted my nephews' battery requirements this year: 8 D-cell, 14 AAs, 7 AAAs. It really starts to get a bit expensive, especially considering that some of the toys will go through a set of batteries in a week.

The smart thing to do is invest a little more up front and pick...read more

With the holidays rapidly approaching I thought I'd spend a few columns talking about all the cool things that fellow geeks could buy for themselves (or hint heavily about).
If you have suggestions, just add your two cents worth as a comment so others can see what kind of gadgets you'd like to get.
The first is an Amazon Kindle. I talked about this a few weeks ago, and so did Oprah, so it must be...read more