2005 December

There’s a lot to really like about how blogging and citizen bloggers are changing the world of communication, whether it’s the ability to connect with like-minded folk through your writing or whether its how individuals can now help keep companies in check as they publicize bad experiences, inappropriate employees and just plain stupid business tactics. […]

Well, even if some of our national leaders choose not to use mobile technology, that does not mean that the citizens of specific nations are making the same choices.

Look, services crash. And most of them do are often times being offered as free. Granted, this is really irritating to be sure. But we need to remember that these things happen…

BusinessWeek’s cover story for January 9, 2006 starts:
Paul Otellini’s plan will send the chipmaker into uncharted territory. And founder Andy Grove applauds the shift

BusinessWeek Online reports:
For years, Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ ) seemed locked into the role of computerdom’s least likely to succeed. Caught in a no-man’s land between hyperefficient Dell Inc. (DELL ) and technology powerhouse IBM, HP became known mostly for epic earnings misses, a controversial merger with Compaq Computer Corp. (HPQ ), and acrimony among employees […]

Where was today’s Warped site when I really needed it? This would have been a perfect site to have known about a week or so ago. Well, all I can say is bookmark it and save it for next Halloween, because it would have made a great place to get your costume accessories.
The name of […]

It’s a basic, simple question, but one that a surprising number of AOL users still have: how do you change your password? Now, be nice, not everyone can be a computer genius like you blog-reading fanatics. Trust me, I get lots of email from AOL users about quirks of the AOL interface. :-)
Anyway, here’s […]

Kevin Bullis of TechnologyReview.com writes:
Technology Review picks five important advances in nanotechnology and materials science in 2005 - and one policy issue that could decide the future of the entire field.
Harvesting Energy from the Sun

Free registration required to read the story. John Markoff of The New York Times writes:
Nanotechnology is officially on the road map.
A handful of futuristic chip-making technologies at the atomic scale have been added to an industry planning effort that charts the future of the semiconductor manufacturing industry every two years.

I have been in mourning for years ever since Gary Larson and the Far Side left my daily newspaper. But thanks to the Warped Web site, I may have found a reasonable substitute for all of us who miss Gary’s warped sense of humor.
Called Strange Breed, this site is the home to the single pane […]

Kevin Bullis of TechnologyReview.com writes:
Tech-savvy recipients of an Xbox 360 this season might want to take it apart and solder in a few modification chips, maybe even convert the gaming console into a PC, if past tinkering with the original Xbox is any indication. And consumers with new mobile phones might be looking for […]

Kate Greene of TechnologyReview.com writes:
Young detectives of yesteryear would idolize the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, or Encyclopedia Brown. But for kids interested in solving a different kind of mystery - the making and breaking of codes and ciphers - role models have been few and far between. That’s understandable, since real-life code experts - […]

It’s a question I hear time and again: I’ve been ripping music CDs with Apple iTunes and it’s been working fine, but now that I have an MP3 player of some sort - a cellphone, MP3 device, iPod or even Sony PSP - all of a sudden I realize that the files are in the […]

While it’s not the most complex technology in the world, I’m still rather amazed at the number of queries I see about how to download songs onto various types of MP3 players, whether they’re cellphones, tiny pendants, or even Sony PSP game units or iPods. Rather than address each one (which would require me to […]

If you haven’t been living under a rock, you’ve heard the ads for both XM Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio and, perhaps, wondered how the two really compare and which is a better choice for you. A colleague of mine is a big fan of both (yes, he subscribes to both each month) and wrote […]

A lot of people have been writing about the back and forth editing battles on specific Wikipedia entries, including certain well-known figures - including the founder of Wikipedia - inflating their roles in historical events, and similar, but it’s not the editing that is the problem, it’s the result that all this wanton editing has […]

There is an unwritten rule that Web sites need to be exciting and fun to look at. But that rule is going to be broken today. The name of this site kind of gives it away, but read on, if you please.
Bore Me Away is a collection of Web sites that are unique, to say […]

The introduction to today’s Warped site says it all: one person’s trash is another’s treasure. But sometimes, trash is, well, just trash. This site explores just how trashy trash can be.
Disturbing Auctions is dedicated to the research and study of the most bizarre items found for sale on Internet auction sites. Not the obviously fake […]

Erika Jonietz of TechnologyReview.com writes:
As computer chips become faster and smaller, they also get hotter, and the fans used to cool PCs and keep their chips from slowing or failing can’t keep up.
To solve this problem, Thar Technologies in Pittsburgh, PA, has developed a microrefrigeration system that uses carbon dioxide to rapidly and effectively […]

TXU Electric Delivery, the nation’s sixth largest electric transmission and distribution company and a subsidiary of TXU Corp. (NYSE: TXU), and CURRENT Communications Group, LLC, the nation’s leading provider of broadband over power line (BPL) solutions, today announced an agreement to transform TXU Electric Delivery’s power distribution network into the nation’s first broadband-enabled Smart Grid.