Should Maglev Trains Replace the Airplane?

No one knows for sure, but maglev (magnetic levitation) trains could be the newest and greatest thing to happen to the transportation sector in generations. In fact, with the cost of plane travel and the time demanded to traverse our crowded freeways, it could, in the future, easily become the option chosen by the mobile [...]

by Ron Schenone for LockerGnome.

Cellphones or Smartphones: Are Your Kids Too Young?

My wife and I are in a position where we are helping our daughter, a single mom, care for our 12-year-old grandson. One of our responsibilities is to make sure, when he gets to our house after school, that he does his homework. During dinner last evening he mentioned that he had an after-school function [...]

by Ron Schenone for LockerGnome.

Free Home Design Software

If you haven’t heard, we are excited over a new group that Chris has formed, called Gnomies. Gnomies is a group of informed, electronics-minded folks who desired a venue in which to share valuable information. One of the members of the group posed an inquiry as to what software others in the group might recommend [...]

by Ron Schenone for LockerGnome.

Five Easy Ways to Eliminate Cable Clutter

On my desk I have five cables matched up with the miscellaneous smartphones and tablets that we own in our household; each of these cables is essential in order to charge each of these various devices. That means that, when one of these devices is being used, there is no weight to hold the charging [...]

by Ron Schenone for LockerGnome.

Free Phone Calls On Your iPad, iPod, iPhone, or Android Phone

Applications for making free calls using an Internet connection have gained in popularity over even just the last few years. I have been using such an application on my Android smartphone called GrooVe IP, and for the most part, it works fairly well. The only issue I have with the program is that sometimes there [...]

by Ron Schenone for LockerGnome.

How Elected Officials Should Be Using Social Media

A recent news item propagated by the opponent of one of our current US senators chastised her about being technologically challenged because she didn’t have a Twitter account. When I first read this I wondered why, in this day and age, any political candidate would fail to take advantage of this free media to get [...]

by Ron Schenone for LockerGnome.

Five Web Apps to Engage Your Mind and Spirit

Most of us download applications to our computers, tablets, or to our smartphones in the hope that they will provide a means to perform some type of task or another that we deem necessary. Thanks to these apps, we get the benefit of Internet alerts, weather information, bus schedules, happy hours, GPS data at our [...]

by Ron Schenone for LockerGnome.

How Not to Screw Up Your PC with Windows Optimization Tools

Those of us here at LockerGnome have all heard this story before. One of our relatives, friends, neighbors, associates, co-workers, or acquaintances tells us they saw an advertisement on TV — or maybe an advertisement on the Internet — claiming that [fill in the name of shyster company here] software will make their PC run [...]

by Ron Schenone for LockerGnome.

Cellphone Deal That Won’t Break the Bank

I recently wrote an article comparing paid cellphone plans to pre-paid plans, in which I mentioned an exclusive pre-paid plan from Walmart that offered a 4G phone and used the T-Mobile network. In the article, I told readers that I would be trying this new smartphone from Walmart and in turn testing the T-Mobile service. [...]

by Ron Schenone for LockerGnome.

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 [...]

by Ron Schenone for LockerGnome.