Category Archives: Gear

Bothering with Brother

That’s the UI for  the Brother HL-L2305w laser printer, which you can get for $140 right now at OfficeMax (or Office Depot, same thing). It’s a good deal. It also took me a whole day to set up. See, it … Continue reading

Posted in Gear | 3 Comments

What’s up with @TMobile in North Carolina?

Check this out: I took that screen shot at the excellent Oakleaf restaurant in Pittsboro, NC a few days ago. Note the zero bars (or dots) of telephone service, and the very respectable (tested!) data service. To confirm what the … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Family, Gear, infrastructure, Internet, North Carolina, Places, Strange stuff, Technology, VRM | Tagged | 9 Comments

We can all make TV. Now what?

Look where Meerkat and Periscope point. I mean, historically. They vector toward a future where anybody anywhere can send live video out to the glowing rectangles of the world. If you’ve looked at the output of either, several things become clear … Continue reading

Posted in Broadcasting, Business, Culture, Fun, Future, Gear, history, Ideas, infrastructure, Internet, IoT, Law, Life, Links, Live Web, music, News, Photography, Politics, privacy, problems, Technology | 9 Comments

The best travel accessory, ever

Monster’s Outlets To Go power strip is the most useful many-purpose accessory I’ve ever thrown into a bag and plugged into a wall. Or a floor. It’s a light and compact four-outlet power strip with a short cord that wraps … Continue reading

Posted in Gear | 3 Comments

The most important Kickstarter ever

Fuse is more than a device and a smartphone app to go with it. The world is full of those already. Fuse is the first product in the digital age that can blow up every one of the silos built to … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Future, Gear, Personal clouds, Technology | 12 Comments

Re-birthing Radio

Radio’s 1.x era is coming to an end. Signs and portents abound. The rise and decline of AM radio just ran in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, hometown paper for KDKA, the granddaddy of AM radio in the U.S. In AM/FM Radio … Continue reading

Posted in Broadcasting, Business, Future, Gear, history, infrastructure, Internet | 2 Comments

TV 3.0

We’re not watching any less TV. In fact, we’re watching more of it, on more different kinds of screens. Does this mean that TV absorbs the Net, or vice versa? Or neither? That’s what I’m exploring here. By “explore” I … Continue reading

Posted in Broadcasting, Business, Future, Gear, Geography, infrastructure, Internet, North Carolina, Past, problems, radio, Technology | 13 Comments

Why does Dish Network’s HD look so Low-D?

[Later (7 April)… The issue has been resolved, at least for now. We never did figure out what caused the poor video resolution in this case, but it looks better now. Still, it seems that compression artifacts are a mix … Continue reading

Posted in Broadcasting, Gear, Geography, Photography, Places, problems, Santa Barbara, Technology | 4 Comments

Android as a life management platform

Nearly all smartphones today are optimized to do three things for you: Run apps Speak to other people Make you dependent on a phone company The first two are features. The third is a  bug. In time that bug will … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Future, Gear, infrastructure, Live Web, Technology, VRM | 14 Comments

Should Apple buy Nokia?

Mobile maps matter, and Apple now has the worst mapping you can get on a phone. The best, one would think (given the Apple vs. Google coverage) is Google’s. But maybe not, because Nokia has NAVTEQ, which rocks. Or so says Alexis … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Gear, Geography, problems, Travel | 2 Comments