The Pareto Principle: the 80/20 Rule and How It Works
Chris Pirillo, the lead Gnomie here at LockerGnome, has chosen a new direction for our organization. I call those of us who gather here at LockerGnome an organization, because we are a group of organized geeks who share a common thread. That common thread is our desire to share our experiences with technology with one [...]
What’s the Best Day and Time to Blog?
One of the questions I get asked most often by beginning bloggers is when they should blog. The most important thing for any blogger to know is that there is a critical difference between when you sit down to write your blog and when you actually publish your blog. I’ve advised bloggers for several years [...]
How to Save Money on Computer Repair
Spending too much money on computer repair can be a real drag. Some shops charge as much as $200 for an hour of service that includes relatively simple processes such as upgrading the RAM and performing system restores. In many cases, these high charges can be avoided by following a few simple tips. The solution [...]
Seven Things to Know Before Becoming a Freelancer
Do you hate your job or spend hours at your cubicle daydreaming of the freedom to work for yourself, setting your own hours and rules as a freelancer? I can personally say I’ve been there and know exactly how it feels to hear stories from the likes of Tim Ferriss and Gary Vaynerchuk exclaim how working [...]
How to Install an FTP Server in Windows 7
One of the oldest and most popular methods for sharing files over the Web from one central location is the File Transfer Protocol (FTP). FTP clients allow people from across the globe (or even next door) to share a mutual storage space and/or remotely update a website with ease. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t [...]
How Music Critics Adapt to the Social Media Landscape
Remember when music critics were a little bit like respected, but much-feared royalty? They wielded the power of life and death over the musicians they both loved and hated, and they were courted almost as lavishly by record labels as the spotlighted stage denizens, themselves. On a critic’s whim, praise or damnation doled out in [...]
Good Deeds and the Evolution of Piracy
Knowing a group of people with similar interests can be more than just a social thing. There are often other benefits as I have once again learned. This week I received an email from one of the other members of a group I attend. He sent a reference to the Hiren’s Boot CD. Although I [...]
How to Increase Frame Rates in First-person Shooters
Playing first-person shooters is a favorite pastime of geeks from all walks of life. Winding down at the end of the day by taking part in a competitive game that takes all of your concentration to play is a great way to get your mind off the stresses of the world and into something that [...]
Sharing a Cab: Is the Fare Unfair?
After an emotionally challenging post last time, I hunted around for a more light-hearted puzzle for this week. When looking for puzzles (which is a puzzle itself), sometimes the neatest ones pop up in the most unexpected places. I found the idea for today’s discussion in the archives of the Wall Street Journal! The puzzle [...]
Paid or Pre-paid Cellphone Service: Which is Right for You?
I believe that I may have become somewhat enamored with Straight Talk (a prepaid cellphone service that uses networks from AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon), causing me to want to tout its newest entry to the Android smartphone arena: an Android phone manufactured through LG. It is purported to come equipped with dual core processing power, [...]
How to Save Money on Your Next Pair of Glasses
The association between glasses and geeks is one that has withstood generations. While one may not always be connected with the other, long hours in front of the computer can take their toll on your vision as your eyes strain to keep focused through countless hours of gaming, reading, and YouTube viewing. So why should [...]
How to Block Tweets About the Super Bowl XLVI
The Super Bowl is not only one of the most anticipated sporting events of the year, but one of the most watched events around the world. In fact, this year’s 46th Super Bowl is expected to be the “most watched TV show, ever.” As access to the Internet becomes easier across the globe, more people [...]
Why RSS Readers Suck and the Best Alternatives
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication (or RDF Site Summary, depending on who you ask). If you hear someone talking about an “RSS feed,” this is something that many websites offer (including LockerGnome) that contains a list of their articles in one place — or excerpts from those articles — and is usually updated instantly [...]
Nine iPhone Apps to Get You out of Bad Situations
We’ve all experienced a bad situation once in a while. Either it’s an uncomfortable conversation with the in-laws, being stranded on the side of the road when your car breaks down, or any number of difficult situations that you find yourself in during day-to-day life. So, what if there was an app, or set of [...]
How Not to Blog
Anyone these days — from the young kid to the old-timer — can be a blogger. Everyone wants to be an award-winning machine of exquisite content creation who will be the envy of his or her peers, but there’s a lot of noise out there in the blogosphere and it’s tough to stand out in [...]
How to Protect Your Electronics from Theft
Having something of yours stolen can be one of the worst feelings in the world. Even more so when that particular item contains your personal information. These days we keep more and more of our personal data on our electronics. My iPhone, for example, has at least five apps on it that have direct access [...]
How to Avoid a Bad Group Deal
Eating healthy can be expensive — especially when you’re allergic to most unhealthy foods and are forced to shop in the vegetarian, dairy-free, and gluten-free aisles of specialty food stores. As a result, a recent Living Social deal piqued my interest, offering $50 of gluten-free food for just $25 from a gluten-free website. Sounds great, [...]
What is the First Gadget You Would Save in a Fire?
I recall a situation in the early ’90s when a wild fire ravaged a plush L.A. neighborhood. One of the most notable memories from that event was the footage from a news reel showing luxury homes ablaze, with one in particular with its wooden roof on fire while a news helicopter circled overhead. That in [...]
Four Great Alternatives to Picnik
Photo editing tools can be expensive. For most average consumers, features like cropping, color enhancement, and the ability to add text comprise the essentials for photo editing needs, and many online apps provide these services free of charge. For several years, Picnik has been one of the most popular services offering this array of features [...]
Programmer’s Perspective: How Android’s Fragmentation Can Be a Good Thing
One of the chief arguments against Android and in favor of iOS in today’s mobile OS battle can be simplified to one word: fragmentation. I see that word thrown all over the place, usually padding walls of text written by an iOS fanboy who probably hasn’t the slightest clue what fragmentation really is. Isn’t that [...]
