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Quickies May 15, 2013

xkcd’s Interstellar Memes Graphic, or Stellar Distance Measured by Age of Pop Culture Phrases

I love xkcd.com. It’s a thought-provoking, often hilarious, sometimes sobering stick figure strip. The strip was conceived by Randall Monroe, who describes himself thusly: I’m just this guy, you know? I’m a CNU graduate with a degree in physics. Before starting xkcd, I worked on robots at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia. As of [...]

Deals, Music Diary, Quickies May 13, 2013

by Michael Anderson

Stream Daft Punk’s New Album “Random Access Memories” on iTunes This Week!

My son is a HUGE Daft Punk fan, something he got as part of his introduction into the electronica world – courtesy of me. The group is one of the most influential in electronic pop, with people like Skrillex and Deadmau5 owing them a huge debt. The last recording they released was the soundtrack for [...]

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Quickies May 8, 2013

by Carly Z

TiVo’s Exclusively Terrible Offer

In 2006, I bought a TiVo Series 2. It was a great device, and it lasted me until mid-2011, when it finally stopped changing channels and went on strike. It retired to that great recycling center in the sky/the next town over, and we moved on to bigger and better electronics. TiVo however, sends me [...]

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Quickies May 8, 2013

by Dan Cohen

HTC First Was Last and It’s Now Almost Free

A few weeks ago we got exclusive information that the HTC First was in big trouble. As we first reported, sales number for the first phone designed specifically for Facebook Home were close to nonexistent. Our inside information told us that the pre-order and first weekend sales numbers of the HTC First were less than [...]

B&N “Innovates” by Becoming Yet Another Tablet Company

News broke today that Barnes and Noble is opening up the NOOK hardware to Google, adding Google Play to their NOOK HD and HD+ devices. Is this a canny move to capitalize on tablet demand, or a desperate grab for any port in a storm? Does this actually matter to the average buyer? As our [...]

GE’s Incredibly Creepy Matrix-Themed TV Ad

Apparently GE’s ad people are living in the late 1990′s. I can’t judge them for this, since my musical tastes are clinging tenuously to the earlier part of the same decade. However, I do question what they were thinking with their latest ad touting their medical equipment business. And since GE apparently bought all the [...]

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Quickies April 27, 2013

by Carly Z

Confessions of a Doctor Who Newbie

I am trying to rectify a big hole in my Sci-Fi viewing history, and finally giving “Doctor Who” a shot. I knew it had a huge cult following, I knew it was from the BBC and it involved a time machine, but otherwise I was pretty much entirely in the dark about the show. A [...]

The Gear Diary Guide to Infographics

Spend enough time on the Internet, and you’ll find an infographic. These are “educational” graphics that distill bits of information into pretty pictures and at-a-glance factoids. As a concept, they aren’t terrible, but only if they’re used as a summary for a full report. Unfortunately, lately they’ve become flashy vehicles for marketers with an agenda. [...]

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Quickies April 24, 2013

by Carly Z

Amazon is Looking for Feedback on Their New Television Pilots

Looking for an idea of what to watch this week? Amazon is following in Netflix’s footsteps and gearing up to launch their own original content, but they’ve crowd-sourced their choices. They have twelve original pilots, from kid friendly to decidedly adult. You can offer Amazon feedback on what you liked best, which they will use [...]

How Do You Kill a Samsung Galaxy S III?

We’ve all done it., killed a phone at one time or another. I’ve had one die in the toilet, I almost lost my G1 in a glass of tea, and I broke my first PDA by dropping it on the floor at church. My friend from church lost his in unique way; that picture [...]

The Invisiplug 6 Outlet Power Strip Hides an Otherwise Ugly Necessity

I dislike the way the typical power strip will stick out like from under or behind my furnishings like a sore thumb. Even worse, I dislike the way power strips look when lying in plain site on top of an area rug. Because most power strips are a stark ugly white or boring beige, unless [...]

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How to Do It Yourself!, Quickies April 20, 2013

by Judie Lipsett Stanford

Lifehacker’s ‘Top 10 Awesome MacGyver Tricks that Speak for Themselves’ Is Awesome

I love to find tips and tricks that make my life easier, and that’s why a recent post on Lifehacker caught my eye … the title might have had something to do with it, too, as I do love MacGuyer-esque fixes. Three of my favorites include how you can: Make Perfect Pancakes with a Squeeze [...]

Facebook Home App Arrives on Google Play, Hands-On First Look

We have been hearing about Facebook Home since the Facebook event last Wednesday which we covered here. The general consensus was that Home was pretty much just another launcher – but a Facebook centric one. Now as the Facebook Home app arrives on Google Play, we have installed it and taken a quick look. The [...]

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Quickies April 12, 2013

by Joel McLaughlin

The Origin of the Term ‘Ham Radio’

I hope you have been enjoying my posts on Amateur Radio. Other than mobile tech and the typical tech stuff I am into, it is one of my most favorite things to do in the evening. Nothing beats chatting with a group of fellow hams about amateur radio itself, the tech behind it, or other things that [...]

No Scream Cream – Waxing Poetic (and Pain Free) in Jamaica

I’m on vacation in Jamaica with my wife Elana, her brother Rob and Rob’s girlfriend, Alison. We had a casual breakfast in our villa this morning after which Rob headed to the beach to read. I lingered a bit too long over my last cup of coffee and, as a result, had the opportunity to [...]

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