Articles by Zek

Running, Technology, and What Really Matters

(Me, 2 years ago) I fully intended this to be a post about over-reliance on technology. You see, in one week I am running my fourth half-marathon, and I really, really, really want to set a new personal record (PR). I have trained hard, and obsessed over every run, and my biggest dilemma is whether to use my Garmin Forerunner during the race, or whether it will psych me out too much to have all that data strapped to my wrist. For those who don’t live and breathe running, a Garmin Forerunner is a wristwatch with GPS that tracks your…

Gear Bits

Angry Birds in Space, As Explained by NASA!

When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut in the worst way. I had astronaut ice cream, an astronaut Barbie, and to this day I still say Epcot is the coolest amusement park in the world because of “Spaceship Earth”. I eventually outgrew my desire to fly far away from this planet, but I still love all things space-y.

News & Features

Which Muppet Would Survive in the Arena?

It seems like everyone in my social circle, from Gear Diary to Facebook to coworkers, are anxiously awaiting The Hunger Games. Know who else is excited for them? Surprisingly, The Muppets!

eBooks

Staples Asks, ‘How Fast Can You Read?’

It’s no secret that I love to read. Even as a kid I was an avid reader, and my parents had trouble finding books to keep me occupied for long periods of time. When I was in 5th grade my mom gave me “Gone With the Wind”, and I finished it in three days. Basically, I read a lot, and very quickly. Still, when Staples sent their “Speed Reading” test, I was surprised to see my results:

Editorials

The iPhone as a Visual Assistant, One Woman’s Story

The iPhone is one of those devices that prompts its fans to declare “This phone changed my life!” Yes, the apps are great and add an immense amount of convenience to everyday life. And the ease of use means just about anyone can pick one up and grasp the basics within minutes. But then there are those individuals who can say “The iPhone changed my life” without hyperbole or out of tech geek exuberance. No, these people talk about how transformative the iPhone is thanks to the accessibility features built into it. Dan has written about how voice recognition, especially using…

Gear Bits

How Fast Do You Need to Run to Be a Secret Service Agent?

I was a teenager during the Clinton administration, so I didn’t pay a great deal of attention to the news, but I do remember hearing about the President’s habit of running a few times a week. From what I understood, it wasn’t uncommon for Presidents to run to stay in shape and deal with stress, but it never occurred to me what a Secret Service issue it was! According to former Agent Dan Emmett, they had a hard time finding agents who could protect the President while he was out running: Clinton jogged about three days a week, for no…

News & Features

Batman, the Joker, and Moral Philosophy: Perfect Together!

Much to my family’s chagrin, I majored in Philosophy in college. I chose philosophy because I loved everything about it, especially the thought experiments. Basically, we’d look at a situation or an example, and debate the underlying moral/metaphysical/ethical/political themes until we either came to a conclusion or talked ourselves in circles. Philosophy taught me the importance of standing behind my beliefs, of expressing myself in a clear fashion, and of making sure any argument I laid out could be defended (often in front of the rest of my class, and while my professor tore into me until I gave in or…

Editorials

Scott Jordan Appears on Shark Tank, but Who Was the Shark? And Who Was the Bait?

If the name Scott Jordan sounds familiar, it’s probably because you’ve seen it in the context of his clothing line, Scottevest. We’ve reviewed many of their products here, and I will say I personally use my SeV gear quite often. However, after seeing Scott on ABC’s “Shark Tank” and witnessing his attitude on the show, I can’t help but wonder how he runs his business! In case you missed it last night, here’s a shot from Scott’s segment. (The episode is available on Hulu+) To make a long story short, Scott doesn’t want to sell SEV; he just wants to…

News & Features

Stack the Odds in Your Favor with Hunger Games Skins!

I admit it-I devoured the “Hunger Games” trilogy in less than three days while on vacation! The story combined everything I love about a good series; there was political intrigue, a strong female heroine, and lots of action and gore! While I’m not rushing out and buying tickets for the midnight showing, I do stop and watch the trailer whenever I see it on TV. But if you really love The Hunger Games, there’s only one way to show it: with a device skin from SkinIt! This way when you whip out your iPhone, iPad or another device, you can…

eBooks

B&N Is Hungry for the Hunger Games

Looking to buy a NOOK this spring? The odds are suddenly in your favor that you’ll get a good deal! If you want to read The Hunger Games on your new NOOK device that is! Buy a NOOK between March 10th and 20th and receive a free copy of the first Hunger Games book! Moreover, if you live in New York, LA, or a few other cities (check out the specific ones here) you can also see the movie for free at your local B&N! And there’s more! B&N will be hosting cast appearances and other assorted goodies are planned…

News & Features

The AV Club Tackles TV, Digital Availability, and Piracy!

Earlier today I was driving home from work and chatting with a friend of mine about “The Vampire Diaries”. I convinced her to start watching the first season via Netflix, and now she’s blown through seasons one and two and is totally hooked. Unfortunately, she’s coming into season 3 partway, and so Hulu and CWTV aren’t offering the early episodes. She’ll have to wait until the DVDs are released, likely at the end of this summer. We commiserated about how annoying it is that she can’t track down season 3 yet, and moved on…but I’ve been on both sides of…

eBooks, News & Features

Penguin Books Rips the Carpet out from eBook Library Patrons

It’s no secret that publishers hate library ebooks. Essentially they are everything publishers hate about ebooks in one place; the cost is zero (once you have an ebook reader), and libraries don’t have to replace them due to wear and tear. According to The Verge, Penguin previously pulled all their support for Overdrive-powered library lending, and it looks like any books they are making available have an extra requirement-you must download them to a computer, then sideload them to a Kindle (or NOOK, or Kobo, etc.) It doesn’t sound too terrible until you read this email from a Gear Diary…

News & Features

Tales from the Apple Store

(image courtesy Macrumors) The other day Judie and I were in Manhattan for the Dell/Intel create work inspired event and we decided that we needed to make a pilgrimage to the Apple Store at Grand Central Station. If you have not been there you should make a point of stopping in the next time you are in Manhattan. The place is amazing. To have such grand open spaces as the terminal and then to have the Apple store fill in the different rooms on the balcony is nothing short of impressive. Traditional grandeur filled with the most innovative new technology –…

Reviews

Eton Axis Self-Powered Radio Review

This past year Sarah and I have been very lucky. While our town did flood, it only necessitated the power being out for around 15 hours. Many of my coworkers and friends north of us had it much worse, with power outages lasting anywhere from 24 hours to 5 days! Unfortunately, the modern world isn’t really conducive to going off-grid. Cell phones need juice, you need access to the news, a clock to see what time it is, and of course, an alarm clock if you plan on heading to work! That’s where having a radio like the Eton Axis…

eBooks

Should PayPal Be Allowed to Dictate eBookstore Content?

Now here’s a slightly unusual, and extra sticky, case of censorship. Smashwords sells all sorts of self-published works, from regular old fiction to instructional works, to erotica. It’s that last category that has Paypal’s metaphorical undies in a bunch, and in a really upsetting turn, they’re using their position as a payment processor to force Smashwords to pull titles. (Warning: Some of the links below are NSFW) According to The Digital Reader, Smashwords made this announcement over the weekend:

Editorials

Scientists Give “Fake Meat” a Whole New Spin

I was a vegetarian for 7 years, so I have eaten my fair share of veggie burgers and fake bacon (actually, fake bacon is why I stopped being a vegetarian, but that’s a whole other story). So the idea of “fake” meat doesn’t bother me most of the time, but this latest news is truly creepy-scientists are working on making “meat” using stem cells and Petri dishes. According to the BBC: Scientists in the Netherlands hoping to create a more efficient alternative to rearing animals have grown small pieces of beef muscle in a laboratory. These strips will be mixed…

eBooks

Amazon’s Ban Hammer Gets Itchy

Despite my spirited defense of Amazon a few days ago, I go back and forth about supporting them sometimes. It’s not that I feel guilty, it’s just that they tend to lean on the same tactics to get what they want, mainly their leverage based on market share. That’s what’s happened this week with Independent Publishers Group. Amazon and IPG had a contract dispute, and Amazon pulled their ebooks from the Kindle Store. There are two sides to every story, and Amazon is being typically tight-lipped, so all we have to go on is the IPG account (via Teleread and…

News & Features

$199 NOOK Tablet Rumored

B&N has been selling the older NOOKcolor for $199 since the NOOKTablet burst onto the scene. Now it looks like B&N is aiming to retire the NOOKcolor and (hopefully) face off against the Kindle Fire with a NOOK Tablet for $199-the only catch is that it will only have 8GB of memory, and not 16GB like the original NT.

eBooks, Editorials

Is Amazon Evil, or Is It Just Business?

With all the upheaval in bookselling, there seems to be a growing distrust and backlash towards Amazon. Borders imploded, B&N is struggling with their physical stores, independent bookstores are disappearing, and Amazon is waiting with open arms for any lost consumers. The anti-Amazon discussions boil down to two main arguments; the idea that as convenient as Amazon is, buying “local” is worth the higher costs, and the idea that Amazon is just plain evil. I understand the “buy local” argument, but the “Amazon as an evil entity sent to suck the life from the competition” argument is, to put it…

eBooks, Gear Bits

Kno, Cengage, and Why Digital Textbooks Are Failing

Digital textbooks are a bit like alchemy. Everyone wants to find the magic formula, but the experiments just come out as useless lumps, rather than shiny bits of gold. Even iBooks 2 has many skeptics, despite Apple’s deep pockets and impressive publishing contacts. But the best illustration of how tangled and inefficient the eTextbook market is can be seen in the fight between Cengage (a publisher) and Kno (one of the 49,000 services trying to cash in on digital learning).

Gear Bits

$30 off Eyeglasses at Costco

Despite my reputation of being very clumsy, I have worn glasses for over 20 years without breaking them. Until last week’s vacation, when I left them on the bed and smashed them. Oops. To be fair, being at sea apparently exacerbates my natural klutziness, since I also went flying off a water tube, fell off a chair, and walked head first into a tree branch. So I guess I should be happy my glasses were the main victims. However, this did mean I needed new ones, and I apparently picked a good month for it! Costco has a coupon for $30 off…

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