How I Consume the News (Without the Television)
While I was growing up, it seemed to be a family tradition to sit down for dinner with the TV on. Usually, the night’s news was what flashed across the screen. That was how I stayed current with the latest happenings in the world. Nowadays, I see a flaw with that method. I was really [...]
DSLR Cameras Vs. HD Camcorders for Video
Recently, I’ve found myself scouting around for a new prosumer video camera in hopes of finding something that is capable of capturing excellent video, above-average audio, and all with as little rolling shutter and moiré issues as possible. To my surprise, I discovered that HD camcorders are not the only big kids on the block [...]
Why Web 1.0 Needs to Make a Comeback
I’m quite young — 18 years old, but still quite young. Nevertheless, I was also introduced to the Internet and the Web at a very early age, so I can personally say I have grown up alongside it all. I remember way back when there was no Twitter or Facebook or even Wikipedia. Google was [...]
How to Get the Adobe Creative Master Suite for $49
Back when Adobe launched its subscription software program during CS 5.5, I was excited to see that a company or individual could essentially rent the software at a fraction of the actual buying price. That means short projects or off-and-on necessity could make it possible for you to pay for just the time you use [...]
Online Privacy: Is Sweden a Dystopia?
What is a dystopia? It is usually an imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian control. In Sweden, every citizen is a number inside a computer, literally. A scenario like in the film THX 1138 is pretty much what [...]
Microsoft’s Humantenna: the Next Big Thing in Gaming?
Guest blogger Lance Seidman writes: It should be no surprise that the gaming industry is growing every day as it attracts new types of gamers and programmers from every walk of life and mainstream media coverage upon the release of hotly anticipated games becomes more commonplace. Even Mom and Dad aren’t left out when there [...]
Open Source Weight Loss Week 1: the Rollercoaster
I’ve completed the first week of a year-long project involving sharing any and every detail of my attempt to lose weight and improve my overall health. This week is full of highs and lows as my body adjusts to a sudden increase in activity. As per the advice I’ve received from numerous exercise sites, I’ve [...]
Five Reasons to Shop Online
Online shopping has grown in popularity over the years due to its various advantages and benefits over traditional shopping at brick and mortar establishments. Matt Ryan’s recent LockerGnome article about pushy salespeople exposes a major disadvantage in shopping at conventional stores, particularly ones that specialize in technology. We all know the frustration and annoyance felt [...]
10 Favorite Music Creation Apps for iPhone and iPad
I like music. There really isn’t much more to it. I have self-taught keyboard, flute, clarinet, and a few other members of the woodwind section. I don’t consider myself great and I certainly don’t consider myself a professional. I play music because I enjoy it and that, in my opinion, is how it should be. [...]
Updated Google OS: Why You Will Like It
On April 16, 2012, I wrote an article, New Google Chrome OS: Admission of a Mistake? in which I stated that it appeared that Google had given up on the idea of a browser-only operating system. At the time, I also mentioned my disappointment with Google for not offering the new OS to those of [...]
Compromised Contacts Can Cause Confusion
It has happened again. Things seem to go in waves, and right now people who I know seem to be involved with a wave of compromised contacts in their email accounts. Last week, my wife received an obviously bogus email from a friend. She returned a quick warning, but I suspect her friend had already [...]
Dead Drops Offer Global Offline Anonymous File Sharing Network
It’s one of those cyberpunk ideas that sounds almost impossible to implement on any global capacity, but Dead Drops are very real — and over 800 of them exist around the world with more being added every day. USB Dead Drops are a modern take on an old spy practice of dropping a message in [...]
10 Advantages of Using GoToAssist for IT Professionals
This is a sponsored post written on behalf of Citrix. All opinions are 100% my own. As more small companies begin to depend more on information technologies, the need for viable, inexpensive IT support solutions becomes a must. Small IT teams can support multiple businesses simultaneously thanks in part to modern cloud-based solutions including GoToAssist [...]
The Science of Momentum in Portal 2
This may be a slightly strange subject for LockerGnome but I found it interesting. Fellow Gnomie Kat Shaw and I have started designing test chambers — after helping Matt Ryan with his article yesterday — and we’re trying to make them as devilishly deadly and difficult as possible. The test chambers we’re designing will use [...]
Diablo III: 12 Years In The Making
For the benefit of those who haven’t played Diablo or Diablo II, Diablo III is an action-packed role-playing game that combines elements of the hack and slash genre. The highly anticipated release of Diablo III is imminent. It has been twelve years since Diablo II was released, yet to this day there are still people [...]
Gilgamesh and Open Source Filmmaking
The Tube Open Movie is inspired by the expiration poem of Gilgamesh, and is an experiment in distributed collaboration. Furthermore, it also is a continuation in thought of the open movie. This includes, above all, crowdsourcing to help the project off the ground. The tale of a king seeking immortality is one that has been [...]
Pushy Third-party Salespeople in Electronics Stores Need to Go
I really don’t want to be “that guy” who’s known for giving bad reviews about retailers or tech businesses. I love my weekly trips to Fry’s and Best Buy because it allows me to see what geeks and non-geeks alike are being exposed to in the retail world. What products are being pushed right now, [...]
Logical Political Decisions: Oxymoron?
This branch of mathematics [probability] is the only one, I believe, in which good writers frequently get results entirely erroneous. — Charles Sanders Pierce Get your facts first and then you can distort ‘em as much as you please. — Mark Twain These are two quotes I used as chapter headings in a book on [...]
Do You Need to Own a Suit to Work in Technology?
It seems like I can’t check my email over the past week without hearing about Mark Zuckerberg’s trademark hoodie, or his presentation to potential investors while donned in a set of pajamas. Analysts are debating back and forth on whether or not his clothing choices are a detriment or an asset to his multi-billion dollar [...]
Five Reasons to Play Tabletop Role-playing Games
It would seem that, with the proliferation of computer games based on popular pen and paper platforms like Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, Cyberpunk, and others, the days of playing these games in person with friends are coming to a close. Bags of 20-sided dice, stacks of resource books and handwritten notes, and worn battle mats [...]
