On September 8, noted science fiction writer Jerry Pournelle passed away quietly in his sleep.

Amoma is one travel site that needs to be put on permanent vacation.

I’ve been free from cable and satellite TV for a couple of years now — with mixed results. I didn’t give up watching entirely; I simply re-calibrated my priorities and expectations a bit and adopted my Roku box as the primary source of programming. As you can no doubt discern from my less-than-optimal happiness, it […]

Since the dawn of science fiction, people have contemplated the eventual reality of a fully-capable interactive assistant. Some imagine them taking the form of talking robots. Others picture a disembodied voice connected to a core computer as seen most popularly in Star Trek. The path toward that goal is forever moving forward, although often at […]

This post is about Lookout Mobile Security—an app for Android and iPhone devices. However, this isn’t a review of that product. Its main design is as a security app to lock down and/or locate your missing phone (among other nifty features). This post is about what it isn’t today but should be. One of newer […]

A week ago I wrote about the new streaming service, Vudu. After several days of use I already have some comments/concerns that might impact those thinking of trying it out. First and foremost is that if you go down this path understand that Vudu doesn’t fully control their own destiny. The entire affair is tied […]

Recently I’ve lamented about the strange state of missing pieces regarding Netflix and just last week mentioned that major competition was on the way via Redbox. Most recently I was alerted to a new option available to me on my Roku device. It seems that the Walmart-owned Vudu service is finally available on all Roku’s […]

Anyone that knows me knows that I’m both a Netflix fan and a rather big critic of the service. The company seems to represent a classic example of one that has a great idea but then doesn’t really know how the make the very most of it. The argument against that position is that they’ve […]

Back when I had my first Android smartphone—the original Droid—I noticed a strange phenomenon that caused me a lot of consternation. Every so often my touchscreen would act as if it were possessed. I’d type a character and it would sometimes replicate that character and other times it would act like Linda Blair‘s character in […]

Today the FCC surprised a lot of consumers by fining Verizon Wireless $1.25 million dollars for violating an agreement it made when it purchased additional spectrum from the government that it uses for it’s LTE (4G) network. Under the terms of that deal Verizon agreed that it would not limit consumers choices on how to use […]

For those of you who just recently got an HD TV be aware that you’re already behind the times according to what many manufacturers are up to. First let me give a 50,000-foot overview of the technology issues. Since roughly 1942 until the mid-2000’s, NTSC (as the standard in the US was called) dominated the […]

If you own an Android phone part of the fun or hell (depending on your mindset) is working through all the various, seemingly endless, options regarding additional applications. For me apps come in three flavors: add-on apps, replacement apps and games. When it comes to the games those are pretty straight-forward. You either like a […]