technology

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Mac Tips: Backup (Part 1)

As a long-time Mac geek, I'm often called upon to help friends and family with Mac issues. In this new feature, I'll post a few of the most crucial tips so our Mac-using readers can benefit. This week's tip is also applicable to the Windows platform -- but future tips may not be! Today's topic is backup. Anyone who has experienced a hard drive crash, had a computer stolen, or lost a computer in a disaster can tell you how important it is to have a copy of your precious data. Imagine losing all your... READ ON

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Four Ways Technology is Changing Sports Officiating

Hawk-Eye... READ ON

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Why Cell Phones Make Speakers Go "Blip Blip Blip Buzz"

When I first got a cell phone (an early Sidekick), a new noise entered my life. When I put on my big crazy headphones while the phone was in my shirt pocket, I'd hear a very distinctive "blip ba da blip ba da blip ba da buzzzzzzz" noise right before my phone rang, so loud that I'd have to wrench the headphones from my poor ears -- which was handy, because then I'd hear the phone ringing. It took me a long time to figure out that this noise was coming from the phone, because I'm kind of slow. I also... READ ON

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A plea for help: My problems with radio interference

I have a bit of a problem with my speakers. Whenever they're on, I can faintly hear my campus radio station. Now don't get me wrong, I like WNUR, but I don't like hearing it when I'm working. Or napping. It's mostly the napping thing. I visited the website for my speakers and found out that the radio interference problem is a common one. There's all kinds of radio signals in the air and any wire can become an antenna if its length is on the same wavelength as a signal.... READ ON

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Amazon's E-Book Vision: "Kindle"

Today Amazon takes the wraps off the Amazon Kindle, an e-book reader they hope will transform publishing and reading. Offering an initial catalog of 80,000 titles, Amazon will sell bestsellers for $9.99 and "classics" for $1.99. The device itself has a strangely 80's-futuristic vibe to it, with a white molded plastic body featuring angular edges and a thumb-keyboard. Kindle does have some game-changing features: an EVDO wireless connection allows you to browse the web and buy books, and the battery... READ ON

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Pogue's Imponderables

New York Times technology columnist David Pogue has been keeping a list of unanswered (though not necessarily unanswerable) questions. Pogue writes: "Some of them are answerless because nobody knows the answer. Some may have answers, but only industry insiders know what they are. And still others are answerless because they're incendiary hot-button issues, and there's no consensus." Here are some of my favorites: Who are the morons who respond to junk-mail offers, thereby keeping spammers in... READ ON

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The Secret Life of Machines

I have fond memories of watching The Secret Life of Machines on The Discovery Channel in the early 90's -- back in the days when the channel was mostly about sharks and David Attenborough films. The Secret Life of Machines was written and presented by Tim Hunkin (with assistance from Rex Garrod) and broadcast in the UK in the late 80's and early 90's. The show was like an early version of MythBusters, minus the myths, and with more quirky animation. It was all about machines -- how they work, how to... READ ON

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Reuse, Reboot, Recycle

Neatorama has a wonderful link to this DarkRoastedBlend article on how to recycle your old computer parts (I'm particularly fond of the CD-ROM salami slicer). I've posted just a few of the photos below, but you should definitely check it out here. Link via the ever entertaining... READ ON

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Keyboard + Dishwasher = It Works!

Michele at Coudal Partners kept hearing about people cleaning their computer keyboards in dishwashers, so she decided to try an experiment -- she popped the keys off her Apple keyboard and washed it. Documenting the experience in a short film called Shift Option Rinse, Michele found that it worked! Except somehow the F10 and F11 keys disappeared...oh well. Computer keyboard manufacturers don't recommend the dishwasher treatment, though in my one attempt (an Apple Extended Keyboard II), it worked like... READ ON

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Forecasting the Electronic Household

This page (found at Cynical-C) is from the 1979 book Future Cities: Homes and Living into the 21st Century. It described "the electronic household." Click the picture to see it full-size. It said in the 21st century, we would enjoy huge flat-screen TVs, discs for recording and playing back TV shows, videocameras (with rerecordable tape instead of film!), electronic mail, videophones, and robots to serve drinks. Four of the six predictions are now common in the living rooms (and bedrooms) of... READ ON