Tag: COLUMNS

A reader asks: Share I recently moved apartments, and was startled to discover that I get little to no cell phone signal in my new pad, which obviously sucks. Calls drop or don't come through, and my phone chews through the battery. To make a call I have to go on my roof or across the street. Short of switching to a new service provider, which I don't want to do, I've read there are gadgets that ...

If you want to shave a few bucks off your electric bill and save a couple trees, the most common methods involve buying all new appliances and just turning everything off all the time. But you can actually trim your bills and reduce your carbon footprint with a simple piece of software called Granola. This little applet sits in the system tray of your Linux or Windows PC, monitors how much energy ...

As much as we love new gaming experiences, sometimes we hanker for the classic games of our distant youth. Luckily, many of these can be revisited in browser-based iterations. This week, we'll take a look at timeless classics -- like Monday's 'Pac-Man', Tuesday's 'Lemmings', Wednesday's 'Duke Nukem' and yesterday's 'Civilization' -- that are always worth wasted productivity. If you haven't played ...

What is Net neutrality? Net neutrality is a principle for managing the Internet, or more specifically, not managing it. At its logical extreme, the ideology would forbid any restriction or regulation of the content, devices or protocols used on the Web. In practice, it suggests that users paying for a particular level of service should be guaranteed the same quality of access to all content, ...

As much as we love new gaming experiences, sometimes we hanker for the classic games of our distant youth. Luckily, many of these can be revisited in browser-based iterations. This week, we'll take a look at timeless classics -- like Monday's 'Pac-Man' or yesterday's 'Lemmings' -- that are always worth wasted productivity. If you haven't played these in a few years, or if (heaven forbid) you've ...

As much as we love new gaming experiences, sometimes we hanker for the classic games of our distant youth. Luckily, many of these can be revisited in browser-based iterations. This week, we'll take a look at timeless classics -- like yesterday's 'Pac-Man' -- that are always worth wasted productivity. If you haven't played these in a few years, or if (heaven forbid) you've never undertaken them, ...

As much as we love new gaming experiences, sometimes we hanker for the classic games of our distant youth. Luckily, many of these can be revisited in browser-based iterations. This week, we'll take a look at timeless classics that are always worth wasted productivity. If you haven't played these in a few years, or if (heaven forbid) you've never undertaken them, then what are you waiting for? ...

The Web is teeming with the unrealized ideas of both students and established designers who set out to produce astonishing renderings and prototypes for unusual products. Unfortunately, due to the lack of time, money, or technology, many of those products never progress from the planning stages to the mass market. But that doesn't mean we can't salivate over them, nevertheless. We need fewer ...

What it is: Until now, iRobot's Roomba has been the only janitorial gadget worth employing. Enter Neato Robotics' XV-11, which, after several months' delay, has finally hit the market. The results are impressive; while perhaps not powerful or thorough enough to render your manual vacuum obsolete, it does represent a solid step forward for automated cleaning technology (otherwise known as Machines ...

The Web is teeming with the unrealized ideas of both students and established designers who set out to produce astonishing renderings and prototypes for unusual products. Unfortunately, due to the lack of time, money, or technology, many of those products never progress from the planning stages to the mass market. But that doesn't mean we can't salivate over them, nevertheless. This week saw ...

When it comes to managing your e-book collection, there aren't a whole lot of options out there. If you want to organize a large library of e-books, especially ones that you're not buying or downloading directly from your e-reader's manufacturer, then there's really only one viable choice: Calibre. Not only does it organize your collection and load it onto your e-reader, but it will do so ...

It may not be Halloween yet, but that doesn't mean we can't spend some time haunting and hunting amongst the monsters and the freaks. This week, we'll find out why sandworms are the new zombies (and why zombies aren't quite played out yet), we'll try to survive on desert islands (without the aid of any soccer ball companions), we'll turn slack-jawed yokels into canned food, and we'll delve into ...

The Web is teeming with the unrealized ideas of both students and established designers who set out to produce astonishing renderings and prototypes for unusual products. Unfortunately, due to the lack of time, money, or technology, many of those products never progress from the planning stages to the mass market. But that doesn't mean we can't salivate over them, nevertheless. We saw a lot ...

The fantasy genre has always held particular sway over various corners of geek culture. (In fact, some might say that J.R.R. Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy gave birth to what we consider fandom today.) Ancient lands populated by fearsome beasts, wizards, warriors and mystical objects have provided fertile landscapes of escapism for countless books, movies, and, of course, video games. ...

Who, besides vegans and the lactose intolerant, doesn't love ice cream? Nobody. (Even the dairy-averse have found alternatives for this universally adored frozen treat.) Although precursors to what we know as ice cream have existed for ages, Harold McGee -- food science master and author of the must-have 'On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen' -- notes in his book that "the ...