Two pieces in the NYT/IHT that weren’t about technology, but kind of are, illustrate how technology can shrink distance but also grow it. First off a piece by Geoff D. Porter, an analyst in the Middle East and Africa division of the Eurasia Group, explores how African would-be immigrants to Europe are now making their… Read More »
The recent experience of an acquaintance offers a use for camera phones: Her duplex was invaded by a snake, forcing one offspring to yell for it to be killed, another to demand its safe return to the wild, the mother to scream from a safe distance, and the father to frantically Google the snake’s appearance… Read More »
Amusing post on David Pogue’s blog about stuff. This comment from a reader caught me eye. Is it true, I wonder? Must be. ”Like the battery indicator, the signal strength on a cell phone is deliberately weighted toward the high end. I worked on a phone development project several years ago. When the first units… Read More »
Still the big players don’t get it. Still they drive people like me nuts, and confuse ordinary users, with their sly tactics that confound and bewilder. Above, for example, Microsoft’s Windows Media Player provides a list of files that it will play by default. All are checked automatically, including DVD video, midi files, WAV files… Read More »
A few weeks back I wrote in WSJ.com about Bezurk.com, a great travel website that’s on a par, if not better, than Kayak, Sidestep, Zuji and Yahoo! FareChase. Here’s what I wrote: What I like about Bezurk’s site is that it follows what I think are the best unwritten rules of Web 2.0, the new,… Read More »