Here we are now, entertain us
[Laptop Magazine. No online version.] Profile of (subsequently failed) mobile startup Amp’d. Article available only as a 1MB big image!… Read the rest
Laptop
Publications
New York Times
A Cellphone and a Plan for Just About Any Situation
[New York Times] Shopping for a mobile phone can quickly become bleary-eyed drudgery, as I discovered after my beloved Samsung SPH-i500 (a flip phone with Palm organizer) died from age and neglect.
Phone makers are spawning a confusing array of new models in all colors, shapes and sizes.… Read the rest
New York Times
Is It Time to Upgrade?
[New York Times] A new study by the Consumer Electronics Association shows that American homes spent $1,250, on average, for electronics last year. Though it may sound like a lot, that is barely enough for a medium-size flat-screen TV. So even gadget-crazy Americans have to weigh priorities – deciding what older gear they can still live with and what demands an upgrade.… Read the rest
Newsweek
Proud Bachelor Turned Marrying Man-Sort of
Helping gay couples get hitched gave me a new respect for a tradition I’ve been happy to escape [Newsweek] I’m a straight, single man, who, during Valentine’s weekend and for several days that followed, performed weddings as a deputized marriage commissioner for the city and county of San Francisco. … Read the rest
New York Times
Jumping In to Wed the Masses
[New York Times] WHILE Carrie Bradshaw in ”Sex and the City” agonizes over settling down, at least 3,000 couples jumped at the chance to marry during the frenzied first eight days that San Francisco allowed gay marriages.
And I, a straight bachelor, have happily performed about 60 of the ceremonies, in the cavernous rotunda of City Hall.… Read the rest
New York Times
The L.C.D. Screen Wins Color-Obsessed Converts
[New York Times] IN the tech world, the slender liquid crystal display monitor has become synonymous with cool, making steady inroads against its rotund predecessor, the cathode ray tube. By the fall of 2002, sales of flat-panel L.C.D. monitors in the United States had exceeded those of C.R.T.’s… Read the rest
Other Magazine
Redneck Environmentalism
The farmers and ranchers of the Dakotas are ahead of environmentalists on preserving the prairie and fighting global warming.
The first night of my visit to North Dakota Brad Crabtree fed me a hearty steak dinner-courtesy of a steer he’d recently sent to the butcher.… Read the rest
PC World
The amazing keyless keyboards
I struggle with my keyboard and mouse every day. I’m an abysmal typist, and lousy posture has taken its toll on muscles and tendons, making input painful at times. Plus, keyboards and mice just aren’t fun.
The PC has evolved from an electronic typewriter and calculator to an entertainment system, but we still interact with it as if we were at work — seated at a desk, hands suspended over a keyboard or clutching a mouse.… Read the rest
PC World
Will you be assimilated?
Future of tech will make you look like the Borg “You look like a Borg,” people told me as I tried out head-mounted video displays for this month’s column. It wasn’t just an objective observation, like saying “You look like Tom Hanks”.… Read the rest
Zed Books
Our Common Journey
Towards Cooperative Environmental Management [View on Amazon] I began this book in 1996, partly as a retrospect on progress since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. By most accounts, the results of Rio have been disappointing. Though the world community pledged a huge increase in development aid for the environment, scarcely any countries have kept their promises.… Read the rest
