Did you see the Apple press conference last Friday? It was His Steveness himself trying to explain to the lowly public how the reception problem on the iPhone 4 is all good, we’re going to give you free cases, it’s really no big deal! Well, actually it is a big deal or you wouldn’t have called a huge press conference. In typical Apple fashion, they tried to brush it off  for as long as they could, then when major blog sites started posting videos of the easily reproducible problem, and more importantly, the share prices started dropping, then they decided they’d better sort it out and show off how cool they are for doing so. The press conference was not a pretty sight. Yes, they are doing the right thing by offering free cases and full refunds, but I really didn’t like Jobs’ whiny tone in the presentation. He reminded me of George Bush defending one of his bad decisions. “It’s not like Apple had its head in the sand for three months on this, guys.” Look at our competitors, he said, BlackBerry, HTC, Samsung all have the same issue. It’s not just us – everyone went to that party dad! Look at the awesome testing facilities we built, he said, do you think we could try any harder? I don’t know. All I know is that I got my iPhone 4 today finally, and the reception definitely drops off fast when gripping the phone in a normal everyday way. This was not the case with the previous models. Steve admits that they were aware of the issue, but they didn’t think it would be a problem because “all smartphones have this problem.” It is much more plausible that they discovered the issue after...

So maybe you read my initial review of the iPad, and for whatever reason you’re still on the fence, with questions like: Can it replace my laptop when I travel? Can it replace my laptop all the time? What CAN’T it do that my laptop CAN? Is it better than a Kindle? Should I get one for my Grandma? After having used the iPad extensively for about 2 months now, I can answer some of these questions. Can it replace my laptop when I travel? The short answer is Yes. The longer answer is yes, but if you are a content creator – someone who makes web pages, graphics, movies, scripts, etc – then you need some extra tools if you want to leave the laptop home. I learned this lesson the hard way the first time I went away for a long weekend with the iPad instead of my laptop. I found myself with a need to make a minor edit to a web page on my company’s website, and all I had was the iPad with no web editing software and no access to my computer at home which could have done the job remotely. So when I went to NY last week, I got my iPad prepared this time. I installed: LogMeIn for remote access to my Macs and PCs at home; Gusto for a web page editor; Air Sharing for downloading files and documents from the web and email; and Boingo so I can buy Wi-Fi credits in 1-hour increments at the airport. The result was great. I didn’t have to take anything out of my carryon going through security at LAX (They did require I take it out at JFK however). I got my work done in the airport and...

Duh. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is the biggest natural disaster in our country’s history, and it is still happening. The effects on wildlife, economies, and quality of life in the region will be devastating and long-lasting. If that is not enough to make you cry, here’s the worst part – it probably could have been avoided. If we could have reduced our appetite for oil enough that we would not need to drill offshore, if we could have produced more energy using sun, wind, and water, we could have prevented the destruction of the south coast. I’ve been wanting an old classic car for as long as I can remember, but more and more I am filled with an overwhelming guilt about gas powered engines and perpetuating their use. I’ve heard that the best way to vote for change is with your money – buying products that you would like to catch on in the mainstream for a better tomorrow. If that’s true, then my next car should be electric. It’s my responsibility as someone who gives a damn. Up until recently, that wasn’t possible unless you had $100,000 for a Tesla Roadster, or you wanted to convert an old car to a weak electric motor for a bunch of time and money. That’s finally about to change in the the next few months. Here are some upcoming options: — Nissan Leaf — I’ve talked about this before. A full EV from a real car company for about $30,000, this December. Not the cutest hatchback ever, but it could be the first EV to market. — Tesla Model S — This is the drool-worthy sedan from the makers of the electric super car. Recent news here is that Toyota is partnering with them on this...

It’s that time of year again when Apple announces a “revolutionary” new device that will “change everything” and send hipsters and preps alike into credit card debt to buy it. I’m referring of course to WWDC – Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference in SF – and you’ve surely heard by now that there’s a new iPhone. Here’s a cheat sheet so you can talk about it with your Mac geek friends. First, the hardware: —- FaceTime video calling. Front facing camera means your grandpa finally gets the videophone he was promised in 1950, as long as he has Wi-Fi. —- Faster, Stronger, Longer. New A4 processor, new casing made out of some alien glass and steel, larger battery meaning less dying. —- HD Screen. 4 times as many pixels as the current iPhones means slicker graphics and smoother text. —- 5 megapixel Camera with flash. No, not that Flash. Finally, you can take pictures in the dark – which always look terrific. Now the software. This is not limited to the iPhone 4. Most or all of it will be available as a free update on the iPhone 3GS: —- iOS 4. Formerly known as iPhone OS 4, probably re-branded due to the introduction of the iPad running a version the same OS. —- Multitasking. Now you can run apps in the background while running other apps. Best use case is Pandora Radio running while you play Angry Birds. —- App Folders. I’ve had this in beta on my iPhone for a while now and let me tell you, hell yes. Think “all my apps on one page!” —- Unified Email Inbox. If like me you have more than one email account, no more going back and forth and forth and back to read your email in multiple accounts. There’s an All...

There’s been a lot of concern in recent weeks about Facebook’s changing privacy policy. For example, the EFF has created this timeline to demonstrate how Facebook has decreased user control over personal information over the years. For a more visual representation of this devolution, check out this interactive graphic by Matt McKeon. Basically, Facebook has set it up so that if you don’t change the privacy setting from default, they employ your Internet “self” as a marketing tool, and pay you nothing for the service. The question is, Do you care? Chances are, if you do care, then you have already adjusted your Facebook settings so that your profile picture, birthday, education, relationship status, and all that other junk can only be viewed by “friends” or “friends of friends.” If this is the first you are hearing about it, and you do want to have some control over who sees what about you on the web, click here to edit your privacy controls. Now, if your answer was “I don’t care,” and you’re still reading this, here’s why maybe you should care. Facebook pummeled Friendster and MySpace to become the uncontested champion of social networking, and everyone is hooked in nicely now. My dad’s on Facebook. But as with any empire that got too powerful too fast and too easily, Facebook wants more. CEO Mark Zuckerberg looked around the landscape of the web and said to his minions, “We have over 400 million users averaging 4 hours a day with us, what can we do with all this power?” Well at the f8 conference last month, Zuckerberg announced the “Like” button going global. They believe they can change “links” into “Likes” and thereby route most Internet traffic through Facebook by way of these social...

a blogumn by Justin Time This is a test. I’m composing this from the BlogPress app for iPad. As someone who thought the iPad could potentially change the computer you put in your carry-on, the computer you buy for your grandma, and the computer you use when you are not working, I felt it necessary to give it a shot at writing an article. And you know what? It’s not half bad.* So after about a week with the iPad, I have to say it’s not everything I’d hoped for, but I’m not about to return it either. Here’s the skinny on the “magical” device, and hopefully this will help you decide if the features available right now are worth it to you. Good: • iBooks is awesome. I haven’t used a Kindle, but I have bought Kindle books for the iPhone, and the iBooks shopping experience is light years better. It’s like iTunes for Books, so of course it looks great, and you can download samples to read (about 60 pages worth). You can also download a fair amount of free books – public domain scans of classics from the likes of Henry James and friends. I bought Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, and I’m enjoying it. The ability to search for anything within a book, define words on the spot, and highlight text for bookmarking mean this thing is going to be huge for students. I wish I was back in college with digital access to all the books in the library. • Games are amazing. There aren’t enough good options yet, but after spending many hours playing Real Racing HD, Flight Control HD, and CastleCraft, I have a feeling I will be using the iPad more for games than for books. •...

a blogumn by Justin Time Hi. My name is Justin. And I’m a Tivoholic. I’ve been using TiVo since 2004. So I’m not the earliest of adopters, but still we go way back. And I love TiVo. I had a Series 2, then when we went HD, I got the Series 3 when the prices finally came down from outer space. Still, I overpaid and the extra cost of service was hard to stomach. But it was so much fun to use, easy to program, and the software was so intelligently designed from the beginning. And I had tried the cable company DVR. It was awful. So when my first Series 3 box broke down (hard drive failure), I was quick to replace it. I was out of warranty, so I had to pay some fee, but hey, it’s TiVo, whatchagonnado? Then when the next box suffered the same fate 3 months later, I was annoyed, and argued with customer service until they gave me a replacement box for free. Then when the next box again broke down, I thought there may be something wrong with my environment. Being in an old house, I suspected the wiring was frying the hard drive. So I got them to give me another free replacement, and this time I bought a respectable surge protector to prevent the same thing from happening again. Well, the same thing did not happen again, but nonetheless, the TiVo failed me yet again. This time it was the cable card decoding, which basically means we got basic cable but none of the higher channels, like ESPN, Comedy Central, or Cartoon Network. The latter two I could live without, but it’s March Madness baby – I need my ESPN. After about 12 man-hours over...

. a blogumn by Justin Time I’d be remiss as a pretend tech blogger if I didn’t talk about the iPad this week. You may not want to hear another word about the latest prophecy from his Jobs-ness, in which case, watch the MadTV video. At the risk of sounding like a zealot or, even worse, an Apple fanboy, I believe that this device will change everything. But here’s why I defend my reputation against being a brainless fanboy who will buy anything Apple just because it’s shiny and emits a pulsating glow… Apple didn’t invent anything new here. 1) Tablet computers have been around for about 5 years. 2) It’s really just a giant iPhone… without a phone… or a camera. 3) It’s just like an Amazon Kindle, but with a real actual hardware company behind it. 4) The low price with built-in Internet access is the reason why netbooks have done so well the past two years. So if it’s no huge innovation why do I think it will change everything?  First, some evolutionary history. Desktop computers used to tie us to our desks. When I was a kid, you went to the computer lab or the library to use a computer. You carried your data with you on floppy disks, which hopefully didn’t get exposed too much sunlight or warmth or liquids, otherwise you could lose three years of research. Notebook computers and large hard drives set us free. We went out into the world, bought a latte, and surfed the web on our lappies. The drawback was carrying around 6 pounds of metal and glass is tiresome and we tend to break things by repeatedly dropping them on hard surfaces. Then came the iPhone, not just a phone but a...

a blogumn by Justin Time I’m a little worried. I’ve been working in the tech industry for ten years, and I’ve tried to be security conscious to a certain degree, but it often feels like more effort than it is worth. Sure, my credit card number has been stolen from online sources a few times, but in the end I always got my money back so no harm no foul. That’s what bank fees are for, right? But in light of the news last week that Google’s servers were hacked and Chinese human rights activists’ email accounts were compromised, I feel a little less safe in the world this week. It’s been talked about for awhile, and there have been problems in eastern European nations with cyber attacks, but this is the first time that an attack has hit so close to home and was so politically charged. Also, the fact that mighty Google was hacked is disturbing. We all have gmail accounts, and many of us store sensitive documents and data on Google’s servers. Google controls more information flow than any other company in the world. If Google is not safe, who is? Google announced they are ending their voluntary censorship of search results in China in light of the server attacks. This is expected to lead to a ban on Google from China for not adhering to the censorship laws, which prevent Chinese citizens from seeing politically charged news and websites on topics such as Tibetan religious persecution. It is probably for the best that Google pulls out now before things escalate any more. Hopefully, free information will win in the end, but it does seem that the cold war has taken on a new face. The scary thing is that many companies...

. a blogumn by Justin Time My wife and I spent the holiday break in British Columbia, which I found to be far more British than Colombian. We skied a few days in Whistler-Blackcomb where the Olympics will be hosted next month, and I wanted my iPhone to be snow-ready. So I downloaded a handful of trail map and snow report applications from iTunes to try them out, and now you get the benefit of my wasted dollars. Some of the apps available are free, and in my tests, the winner in the free category was REI’s Snow Report. It has a slick cover-flow based UI, and it’s really easy to find and add a bunch of different ski resorts to your favorites. It even offers push notifications for condition changes at one mountain. The downside (as I learned in Canada) is that it requires internet connection, and that’s no good if you leave the country and don’t have Wi-Fi access. I usually prefer paid applications, since they tend to cost 2 bucks or less (which is like free) and generally are way better quality than free stuff. But I was surprised at the junk that developers are getting away with charging for in the snow sports category. I could tell you the names of some real stinkers that I paid for, but instead I’ll give you two solid winners – iSki Trail Maps and SnowReports. Trail Maps ($0.99) does use an internet connection to download maps, but it only needs to download the map once, so you can do that at home, then go to the mountain and use the already downloaded map. And they seem to have great customer support and update the maps often. SnowReports ($1.99) is more basic than the...

. a blogumn by Justin Time Just as the smartphone put powerful computers in your pocket, this revolutionary idea from Pranav Mistry may just do away with the concept of a stationary computer altogether. Basically, you wear this computer like an amulet, a la Flavor Flav, and wherever you are, there is your computer. It projects a video screen onto any surface, including your hand, and it has a built in camera that watches your fingers as you type, click, pinch, etc and uses these actions to interact with the computer. It’s kind of hard to explain, actually, so watch the damn video. Watch it to the end, because he starts small but by the end he will blow your mind. 13 minutes well...

. a blogumn by Justin Time In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I thought it apt to take a look at kitchen technology. All geeks eat food, most enjoy it, and there are even some who pry themselves away from their computers and other devices long enough to cook a meal in a real life kitchen. Once a geek starts spending more time in the kitchen, they will quickly realize how many gadgets there are for food preparation, and consuming obsession will ensue. To that delicious end, here is a list of gadgets you should buy immediately before hosting Thanksgiving dinner. 1. Turkey Cannon – To quote the product description, “Think beer can chicken on steroids.” 2. 2 In 1 Kitchen Scale With Wallclock – Just the yesterday we needed a kitchen scale, and had none. It would have been impressive to pull it off the wall and put it back up there to tell the time when we were done. 3. Bugatti Espresso Machine – After dinner, to prevent a tryptophan-induced coma, you will probably want a strong caffeinated drink. To your rescue is this work of art/coffee maker. 4. Vortex Cocktail Maker – After you get your second wind, it’s time to start drinking again. Part lava lamp, part cocktail shaker, part tornado, this will liven up your Martinis & Greyhounds. 5. ChefStack Automatic Pancake Machine – Yes. It exists. And for only $3500, you too can go watch TV while a robot makes your pancakes. This would be the best way to kick off Black Friday. Are you still reading this? Ok, just for you, here are some iPhone apps for Thanksgiving. These are in the App Store’s Thanksgiving feature, but these are the only ones that looked good enough for me...

. a blogumn by Justin Time Since etc and CH bought a new car, it seems only fitting that I bring it back to electric cars this week. Lately, I’ve been drooling over early Porsches, as the ultimate sports car, they have an important place in my heart. Even though restoring an old car is a form of recycling, the emissions and crude oil consumption aspect is in sharp contrast to the future of automobiles that I want to see. Many industrious Porsche owners have converted their old cars to electric, like this one, but it’s expensive and labor intensive. A new electric car would be a dream come true – brand new parts, a warranty, and mechanics to handle the trouble spots – but how much longer do I have to wait?! Here are some things to look forward to in the next couple years: 1. Mini Cooper is already testing electric cars here in LA – why didn’t they pick me? Here’s a review. 2. Honda just showed off the EV-N (pictured), aka the most adorable concept car ever, at the Tokyo auto show. If you are more inclined to 2-wheel transport and a lower budget, they are also planning an electric version of the best selling Moped ever – the Honda Cub. 3. Nissan is showing off the Leaf this weekend in Santa Monica and Glendale. You can be sure I’ll be there to check it out. These should all be cheaper alternatives to the Tesla Model S that I’ve mentioned before. Let me know if I’m missing any other good ones. Me Want Electric...

a blogumn by Justin Time As you may have heard, President Obama recently declared H1N1 (aka Swine Flu) a national emergency. What really got my geek attention, however, was when I noticed in the headlines that Microsoft has posted a website where you can go to self-diagnose your flu symptoms to see if you are likely to be sick with H1N1 or just the regular flu: H1N1 Response Center – from Microsoft Actually, it was created by Emory University and Licensed by MS, but still I am impressed to see a huge corporation with little to gain taking up the charge. I’m even more impressed that H1N1 has the media power to get the attention of the software giant. So basically, you get the flu, you worry it is the swine flu and you might die. So you go to the website above to find out. They ask a series of questions about specific symptoms and the path that they took, and if your symptoms don’t match up with typical H1N1 symptoms, you are free to go about your usual crappy flu-infected business. If your answers indicate that you may be infected with H1N1, a helicopter will be deployed to your location based on your IP address and you will be swept away to a quarantine facility in an undisclosed location. (You’ve seen or read Blindness right?) Just kidding – you will be advised of your best options for treatment and you will be asked for your consent to share the info so that larger virus tracking systems can be updated, like CDC maps such as: CDC H1N1 Flu Map You may have also heard that vaccines are in short supply, if you are into that sort of thing. In any case, here is a...

. a blogumn by Justin Time Not a company to rest on its laurels, Google has yet another “something new” coming from its labs in Mountain View these days – Google Wave. In their words: “Google Wave is a new online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. A wave can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using text, photos, videos, maps, and more. Learn more at wave.google.com.” Suggestions for use include: Meeting Notes, Organizing Events, Group Reports and Writing, Brainstorming, and Photo Sharing. Basically, it’s like Gmail hooked up with WebEx or GoToMeeting and had a baby. In typical Google fashion, however, it’s free and requires no software installation. You create projects called “waves,” invite people to join, add documents, photos, videos, whatever, and have a real-time chat conversation about it. Real time means when you type text, it is displayed in the conversation window immediately for whomever has the wave open. Designed to be an improvement on email for project collaboration, where half a dozen people are copied on an endless string of emails that are only occasionally relevant, you would just check in on the Wave when you need to. Will this be the next big thing in social networking? It certainly seems like a potential boon for project managers. Will it be confined to the workplace or will it catch on with party planners everywhere? If you are interested, you can request an invitation...

Well, you might have noticed a change in my mood (picture) and yes, that means that I’ve finally finished my big HarperCollins rewrite. I could not be happier about this, and I’m super-excited to get back to the second novel, even if I’m not sure it will sell, since it’s way outside of my first novel’s genre. Ah well, at least I have the stability of your comments here on FaN. Check out our best of from below: HELLO FRIDAY Best Line From A Post You Should Have Read: [If] you look at a pair of tomatoes a certain way, and you cup them in your hands, and you’re maybe a little hard up, you might possibly think of breasts or testicles.  The French did call them “apples of love.” — Roya Hamadani, Fierce Foodie: Nice Tomatoes PHILOSOPHICAL MONDAY re: The Great Wide Betty, in which I wondered what Betty will be like when she grows up. Polly: You can discover a child every single day as they change and grow into a citizen of the world. This is one of the great joys of having a child in your life. Just knowing them is an adventure. OH, IT’S TUESDAY re: NewlyNested: $300,000 For A Miniature House, in which Debra Goykhman lamented shopping for a house Southern California. DebraB: We just bought a house in the LA area and, yeah, it is super expensive. I don’t know where your hometown is, but mine is in middle of nowhere Texas. Yes, I could have gotten a mansion for the price I paid for my modest one story here, but then…I’d be living in middle of nowhere Texas. So, first, you have to stop comparing the market here to anywhere else. Pay more attention to the...

a blogumn by Justin Time If being a gadget/software geek is my day job, then being a bike geek is my secret passion. I’ve held off discussing bikes here as long as possible, but since Interbike (the MacWorld of bicycles) was held last week in Vegas, I think the time has come. There are always a lot of cool things that come out at Interbike, but here are are the Technically Geeking highlights: • Bike Fitting App for iPhone – It takes photo-based measurements of your body to determine what size bike you need. • Gyrowheels – Make learning to ride a bike even easier because the bike rides itself, making Dad even more obsolete. • Streetwrapz – Hipsters rejoice! Fashion decals for your whole bike. Only $50. • Keen Bike Sneakers – Shoes, capable of accepting bike cleats, that actually look nice. • Dahon iPhone Bike Mount – Waterproof and shock-resistant, so you can really show off your geek cred while riding. In other bike news, David Byrne is on tour with his new book, Bicycle Diaries, and will be in Los Angeles this Friday discussing bike politics with a Civic Leader, Urban Theorist, and a Bicycle Advocate (from the Bicycle Kitchen): Los Angeles, CA: 2 October 2009 @8pm, Aratani Theater. Let me leave you with a short list of my favorite bike builders. You can tell I am a fan of classically designed lugged steel bikes (because they last forever and look fantastic). If you like pretty bikes, you will want to click these links. • Rivendell Bicycles – Walnut Creek, CA • Vanilla Bicycles –  Portland, OR • Mitch Pryor Bicycles – Portland, OR • Mariposa Cycle – Toronto, ON • A.N.T. Bikes – Holliston, MA Please let me know if you have any suggestions for custom bike builders that I...

a blogumn by Justin Time Last week saw a huge spike in tech news largely due to the attractive 9/9/09 date for launching new wares. To summarize, in order of importance: iTunes 9, iPod Nano, Palm Pixi, Zune HD, Motorola CLIQ, and The Beatles Rock Band. Okay, now that those things are out of the way, let me say that I was glad to be on vacation last week, so that I didn’t have to bite my nails while I poured over all the specs on these products. Fellow geeks, you know what I’m talking about – a week of vacation means a week without computers, gadget news, and constant emailing and social networking. You might even read a real book, not that I did (I think I’ve forgotten how). Better yet, a week in Hawaii takes you even further out of the technocracy. While I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Big Island had widespread cell coverage with 3G, I was equally satisfied with the discovery that the Wi-Fi in our rental house was not working, providing a welcome respite from our computers.  Here is some of the Hawaiian technology I did spend a little time with instead: •  Ukulele – a Hawaiian interpretation of a small Portuguese guitar… easier than it looks •  Surfboard – known as Papa he‘e nalu in Hawaiian… harder than it looks •  Snorkel – breathing apparatus for breathless views of fish, coral, turtles and stuff •  Flashlight – used to find your way through pitch black lava tubes •  Outrigger Canoe – Okay, we only rowed in its distant relative, the kayak •  Mai Tai – actually invented in Oakland, but it sure is at home in Hawaii (and my belly) Perhaps the best example of awesome low-tech is pictured...

. a blogumn by Justin Time In my last entry, my wife and I were navigating the pitfalls of car buying. Well, we got through it ok, and here are some lessons we learned: –> Research prices extensively to make sure you pay only slightly more than the dealer paid. –> Negotiating over email with a dealer can be efficient, convenient, and it keeps the details in plain sight. –> Factory navigation systems, while impressive, cost an arm and a leg and may have hidden costs. We opted against the nav because it was $2500 plus the $2500 we would have had to pay to get the minimum required trim package. For five grand we could buy another car. –> Don’t buy any of the up-sells during the financing portion of the deal. They will try to convince you that you need it all and it won’t cost you much over the life of your loan, but you don’t and it will. Now that the shiny new car is in the driveway, ash from the Station Fire is raining down and covering it in an off white dusty coating. Luckily we live far enough away that a sore throat and itchy eyes is the most we can complain about, but this is one gigantic fire, currently having burned over 160 square miles and still out of control. In addition to two heroic firemen who lost their lives battling this monster, many structures have burned already. 10,000 homes are threatened. One of the areas that firemen are working hardest to defend is Mount Wilson, which is home to many television, radio and cell signal towers, as well as the Mount Wilson Observatory. What’s so special about this observatory, you may ask. Well, for one thing it is over...

Whatta week, and is it me or has this summer going by incredibly fast? How is it almost Fall already? Anywho, I’m a little too exhausted today to think up a good transition, so I’ll just say, here are the best comments of the week: HELLO FRIDAY re: FIERCE ANTICIPATION: August 14-16, in which Ryan compared Madden 10 to Oedipus. With a straight face. He also claimed his out-of-work roommate of watched Jerry Springer and Steve Wilkos all day. His roommate shot back with libel accusations. Joe: I have NEVER watched Jerry Springer or Maury Povich in the apartment. And I don’t know who Steve Wilkos is. Ryan’s just wants to protect the stores of Diet Coke in the apartment. I have to walk past him to the kitchen to get a drink, and I feel like Bilbo Baggins sneaking past the dragon Smaug to burgle something from his hoard of jewels. PHILOSOPHICAL MONDAY re: Single White Nerd: Wherefore Art Thou Creepy, in which Michael Kass asked readers to explain the motivations of aggressive creepy guys — so that he can avoid becoming one himself. AmyQOTWF: The creepy guy is like that because every so often a lady is so drunk or creepy herself that it works out for him. I have watched, in shocked amazement, at least a few times as the guy who was lean-y, aggressive and inappropriate with me earlier in the night, left the bar with a female. Creepy desperate chicks exist too and they aren’t helping the cause to chase off the creep. OH, IT’S TUESDAY re: NewlyNested: The First Rule of Book Club, in which Debra Goykhman goes from being an academic snob to a book club afficionado. Anne: I started a book club at our last house...

. a blogumn by Justin Time First off, I’m proud that my blogumn pressured China to change its policy about censoring computers. Nice job, self. The timing was fortunate, since I now have to turn my attentions to a much more difficult task – buying a new car. I’ve avoided it for the most part my whole life. I remember going with my father when he bought the Merkur XR4Ti that would later be my car in college. It seemed exceedingly painful for him. First, he went and looked at the car, test drove it, thought about it, told the salesman he was interested, but we left after hearing the offer. A tormented week of investigation passed – looking at other dealers, reading up on the car, comparing it to other models in the same class. A lot of nail biting. He wanted the car from the original dealership, so we went back. That’s when things got ugly. I sat there in the showroom, trying to entertain myself while my father haggled endlessly with the salesman, questioning everything, arguing constantly, raising his voice, and at one point storming out of the showroom to stand outside and brood. He eventually came back in and closed the deal, but I never understood if he got a good deal or not. One thing I was sure of – buying a car was hell. Now that my wife and I are in the buying game ourselves, I feel slightly more comfortable and in control. Armed with ConsumerReports’ New Car Price Reports I feel confident that I will get a fair price when the time comes to negotiate. And shopping for cars is fun. But deciding which car you want is tricky for a geek. Most people just go for what they like (Beetle), follow the trends (Prius),...

Hey guys! Whatta a week. And of course the comments were wonderful as usual. Check out our best of… HELLO FRIDAY re: Fierce OR Nerdy: Aliens vs. Ghosts, in which slpc asked us to compare the scariness and sexiness of ghosts and aliens. JessicaH: Not so scared of ghosts – not so believing in aliens (at least not in their having been to earth)… But ghosts I bet can be pretty sexy (i.e., Ghostbusters)…. Maybe. Can I switch my vote to robots? PHILOSOPHICAL MONDAY re: Single White Nerd: Love in the Time of Twilight, in which Michael Kass feels sorry for the boys that have to compete against the Edward Cullen ideal in order to get laid. (Thought) Chuck: I don’t know about wanting to be a 200-year-old adolescent pretty boy – but to me the whole TWILIGHT thing is all about the boy NOT biting (i.e. kissing or screwing) the girl – which is why straight males are doomed if their girlfriends want guys who emulate the characters portrayed in the movie. Who wants to have a girlfriend or boyfriend who is all about tortured yearning & aching without any kind of relief of all that teen “angst” or “pressure?” Yet perhaps the biggest irony in all of this is that, despite all this so-called “abstinence marketing appeal,” teens (and especially teen girls) are having more & more sex at younger & younger ages. So perhaps there IS hope out there for you underage horndogs! OH, IT’S TUESDAY re: The Short of the Matter, in which I lamented being told I would be tall … and then ending my growth spurt at 5’3. DebraB: I’ve always wanted to be 5’6″. I’m hoping my daughter makes it there. Based on her father’s height, she...

. a blogumn by Justin Time It used to be Ferraris, Jags and Porsches. Now it’s Teslas, Volts and Priuses. I come from a long line of car-obsessed men. My grandfather would buy a new car even when he had 3 others and could barely drive. My father can’t drive on the expressway without pointing out every car that is the slightest bit uncommon. He passed the sickness onto me, by both nature and nurture, taking me to car shows, subscribing to car magazines, and buying me diecast collector cars. Growing up, I had a poster of a white Testa Rossa over my bed.  It was the 80s, ok? Now that my boyhood frivolity has all but vanished, I have moved on from Ferraris to things I could maybe afford and that wouldn’t make me feel like a complete jackass driving around. And then there is the environmental heroism appeal of hybrids and EVs. But at the root of this passion for cars and interest in fuel-saving technology is a big geeky revelation… Cars are the ultimate gadgets! You climb inside and become a high-speed machine with gears, dials, sensors, and of course computers. And you can add more geek crap – GPS, audio systems, CBs, radar detectors, jammers, and LoJack. So here is a list of my favorite geek cars available now or coming soon: 1. Tesla Model S – Hot EV sedan – now taking 2011 orders – $49,999 2. Chevy Volt – Please please please survive to finish this, GM. $35,000? 3. Optima Joule – Funky electric 6-seater with leased batteries (South Africa). 4. Bee One – British EV on the cheap – $17,700 5. 2010 Toyota Prius – Had to be mentioned. The 800 pound gorilla just got better.  6. Tata Nano...

a blogumn by Justin Time Photo Credit: Francesa Tronchin Camping is supposed to be cheap fun, right? Just you and a couple friends, communing with nature – roughing it. All you need is a tent, a fire, a sleeping bag, and a clearing. Right? Turns out, if you are a gear head like me, this is just the very beginning of a long list. We’re going on a four night camping trip in the Sequoias, and what you see listed below is only some of what is going in our kit. It starts when you go on your first big backpacking adventure, and you want to be sure you’re prepared. You buy the coolest, lightest, most waterproof stuff you can afford, and then you get out in the mountains and discover you are carrying 50 lbs of crap that weighs 80 lbs when it rains. So next time, you buy even lighter stuff, that packs even smaller, and costs even more. And then you discover what a pain it is to pack some of that stuff back up to its unnatural diminutive size. A little while later, you settle down some, and you do mostly car camping, which is way easier and comfortable — especially for drinking. So then you need a different set of items, like a big cooler and folding chairs. And then you watch a lot of medical dramas on TV and become acutely aware of your own mortality, so now you need a fat first aid kit. And then you get a puppy, and you need another set of gear for the dog. And don’t forget about the bears or marmots. So, here is a list of items we are bringing, for both education and entertainment purposes. Feel free to have a snicker at...

a blogumn by Justin Time My post is late this week. I know you have been waiting with bated breath for my steaming-hot tech ramblings. My timing is off because I have changed time zones traveling back east to visit the wife’s family. I figure this is a good time to give you some unsolicited tips on how to travel without losing your geek mind. 1. Bring your power adapter. No doy. But will you bring your wife’s too? I usually do, but this time I brought the wrong one. This is only partially my fault, however, because I did bring a BlackBerry plug, just not the NEW BlackBerry plug. So it is also RIM’s fault for changing to the mini-USB to a micro-USB or whatever it is called now. It can be more convenient to bring a wall plug with USB port, like the iPhone’s, and just bring a USB cable that fits your companion’s phone as well. May I also recommend a travel checklist, so that you don’t forget the USB cable (or bring the wrong one). One other handy gadget is an APC backup power pack to keep your gadget humming on those long flights. 2. Get online. If you are like me, the phone is not the greatest place to get work done, and you need to get your laptop some internet. Since tethering is not yet on the iPhone, I have to bring along a second phone that can share its cellular data connection with my laptop in a pinch. For me, this is a Samsung BlackJack with Bluetooth sharing to my MacBook Pro. No extra charges. A lot of people pay for wireless cards, which are a lot more convenient, but very costly. A lot of airlines are rolling out Wi-Fi on planes,...

Warren Beatty, Clive Cussler, Darth Vader, and OKKKKKKKKKK-lahoma all showed up in this week’s comments. Check it out: HELLO FRIDAY re: Fierce OR Nerdy: Bank Error in Your Favor, in which slpc presents us with the ethical dilemma of whether we would run off with millions of dollars that were accidentally deposited into our bank accounts or return it. Of course she used a picture of Bonnie and Clyde to illustrate all of this. (Thought) Chuck: You have to admit that, scruples aside, given the opportunity to escape with a young, totally gorgeous Warren Beatty at the wheel of a hot 1930’s vintage car to the tune of “Foggy Mountain Breakdown,” who WOULDN’T run?!?!?!?! PHILOSOPHICAL MONDAY re: Single White Nerd: The Break-Up Bookshelf, in which Michael Kass puts forth the theory that putting a lot of bad books on display might be a great, no-conflict way to get a girl to break up with you. SeaKat: I really think you should throw in a series of Clive Cussler novels. Nothing says “RUN from this man” like a little Dirk Pitt. One or two could be passed off as a gift, though, so you’ll need to invest in at least a dozen. Don’t worry, I’m sure you can get them for pennies at the local used book store. OH, IT’S TUESDAY re: NewlyNested: Looking for a Father’s Day Gift? in which Debra Goykhman gives a bunch of suggestions for fun F-Day gifts. Sadly, one of our commenters had already been burned by one of her picks: the Carnivorous Bug-Eating Garden. Josh Grelle: I got that bug eating garden for my brother, but it didn’t work…. : ( WOW! IT’S WEDNESDAY re: Buy Me This: Death Star BBQ Grill, in which CH geeked out over a...

. a blogumn by Justin Time Hot on the heels of news that the Chinese government is blocking its citizens from viewing websites containing stories related to the 20th anniversary of Tiananmen Square, yesterday the government unveiled plans to require all new PCs sold in China to have pre-installed censorship software. The software can be remotely updated to block access to certain websites, and the software developer is a government-backed company, so basically they can block any site they decide is unfit for the people to see. Today that means sites related to the Dalai Lama and Tienanmen Square, but what comes next? I know censorship and China go together like chocolate and peanut butter, but this news astounded me in this day and age. China has the largest population in the world and may have already surpassed the US as the most powerful economic force. It is shocking that such a great and powerful nation could have so little respect for the intelligence of its people. Chinese netizens can get around the filters by talking in code, but just imagine if you wanted to say you disapproved of *water boarding* of *detainees* in a public forum here, and you could not, so you had to say, I don’t like *cheesecake* on *Thursdays*.  It does make me realize how much I take my freedom for granted.  I don’t deserve these freedoms any more than the Chinese people do. Of course, it’s all done under the guise of protecting children from pornography. C’mon… People can install their own parental control software that does not call the secret police when you google “Tibet.” I am not sure what to do about this horrifying case of gargantuan-scale censorship, other than call out a few code words to...

TGIF. I don’t know about you, but this week has been super-exhausting. Lots of work, lots of worry, and lots of sadness about the court’s decision not to overturn Prop 8. But at least we had great comments to keep us warm at night. HELLO FRIDAY Photo by Ariel Boston re: Fierce Antipation: May 22-24 (Robot Edition), in which Ryan Dixon says that he’s looking forward to a (near) future shared with sentient robots. KyleB: I think that you are underestimating the potential and complexities of the human body and the human mind. Why do you and so many others think that we can create in 5000(giving the benefit of the doubt) years of improvement what nature made in millions of years of improvement? Our mind keeps track of an almost infinite amount of cells/neurons/movements/actions/thoughts in an incredibly complex mechanism that we barely understand. My body can actually defend and recover and replace many vital parts without my conscious work. And when i take medication to supplement what my body does, there are lists of problems that it causes at the same time. My computer breaks down and needs serious and expensive repairs in a 3-5 year window. I keep my information spread out across many computers in case I lose it to a bad hard drive or something brakes down. Do you believe that in only 41 years robots will be able to do all of that? Don’t get me wrong, I want to have a house robot to help me clean, garden, cook, and serve guests intelligently and smoothly. But I expect that I will have to have a repair man over to fix it, and I expect that I have it sell itself on craigslist and order a replacement every 3-5 years....

Last time, I gave you some iPhone app recommendations. Now it is time for a look at the possible next-gen iPhone and its sworn enemies from Palm, BlackBerry, Microsoft, and Google. First, let’s get the next iPhone out of the way. WWDC is less than 2 weeks away, and Apple is expected to drop some kind of bomb there as usual. Considering the huge success of the iPhone as-is, there won’t likely be any drastic changes. But here is what you can see for sure: iPhone OS 3.0 released with copy/paste, MMS, and push notifications. And here is what you might see if you’re lucky: light-up-Apple-logo that doubles as a flash, rubberized shell so you don’t drop it all the time, OLED display for better battery life.There are also rumors that Apple will launch a new tablet Mac based on the iPhone OS to have an 8-inch touch screen. You know, for those of us who need yet another Apple product in our lives. Buying advice, iPhone: If you are on AT&T, get the next iPhone. In other news, we have the Palm Pre. Almost forgotten by the bleeding-edge geeksters, Palm Inc. has had more to do with the genesis of the smart phone than any other company. They were the first to sell a phone that was an effective internet device – the Handspring Treo. Problem was, it hardly evolved in 7 years. But it’s a fresh start for Palm on June 6 when they release a new device with a new operating system – the Palm Pre. It’s as small as a BlackBerry Curve, but it has both a touch screen and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. WebOS, as they call the new system, is focused on being entirely wireless. No desktop cable...

Whatta week, whatta week! Spock, Rats, Responsible Procreation — you know, there’s an app for that… HELLO FRIDAY re: Fierce OR Nerdy, in which slpc asked you to choose between Fierce (Wolverine) or Nerdy (Spock). cybele: I’m not sure how I feel about sci-fi movies/tv’s belief that all members of a species must have the same haircut (and clothes) all the time. Vulcans live for something like 200 years … do they all always have that shiny bowl/bangs cut? PHILOSOPHICAL MONDAY re: Rat-A-Cutie, in which I posted one pic of a sleeping rat that was actually cute and two that were supposed to be cute but completely skeeved me out. WonderfullyAwflRobin: I had a pet rat, too, and she was an adorable and sweet little thing. When you live in an apartment that isn’t dog or cat-friendly, rats can be a good alternative if you want to have a pet. The problem is that they live long enough for you to grow attached, but don’t live much longer than that. But yeah, if I found a rat in my kitchen drinking Dr. Pepper, I would most certainly freak out. OH, IT’S TUESDAY re, Political Physics: To Birth or Not Birth, in which Monique King-Viehland asked whether it was fiscally or socially responsible to bring children into the world right now. AmyQOTWF: As a woman who is choosing not to procreate, those types of thoughts have about 2% bearing on my decision. They are so negative and just stinkin’ thinkin’. I totally agree with Ernessa, awesome people should bring more awesome babies into the world! Sure there is a lot of madness with this whole global warming dealie, wars, repressions, etc… but hey, we don’t know what the world is going to be like in...

. a blogumn by Justin Time No doubt you have seen the Apple commercials for the iPhone and its apps: “Say you’re a coal miner. Your canary dies and the entrance to your mining shaft collapses. There’s an app for that.” My wife joked last week that it should become the new catchphrase to replace “That’s what she said.” It has not caught on yet. So to promote it, and because this is an easy topic for me, I am giving you some App Store recommendations. I make software for iPhones and other less successful mobile devices (ever heard of BlackBerry, Palm, Windows Mobile?), so I routinely download apps to research for my job. I am constantly adding and removing apps but here are some that I like having in my pocket right now. I won’t shamelessly promote any of my company’s stuff, as much as my boss would like that. Productivity — iTranslate – Free – Easy to use pocket translator with 42 languages — Memory Info – 99 Cents – Frees up 40mb of RAM when your device gets slow or crashy — ConvertBot – Free – Beautifully designed unit and currency converter Lifestyle — Guitar Toolkit – $9.99 – Worth it. Tuner, Chord Charts, Metronome, Fret Board — Seafood Watch – Free – Monterrey Bay Aquarium lets you know which fish are OK to eat — Kindle – Free – Why buy another device for hundreds of dollars when this is free? — Drinks – $1.99 – Because researching through 35,000 apps is more fun with a buzz on Games — Lux Touch – Free – Classic Risk game. Great way to kill 10 minutes — Field Runners– $2.99 – The best tower-defense game for iPhone. — Flight Control – 99...

Hey guys! Make sure to stop in next week when one, possibly two HUGE announcements will be made re: your dedicated FaN editor. Oh, and if you haven’t weighed in on which photo I should get made into Michel Gondry sketch, please do so here, as I’m going by your results and sending in the photo this weekend. Til then we had a doozy of a week in comments. Let’s revisit some of our faves: HELLO FRIDAY re: Wagner vs. Coachella, in which Evil E and Kasey Bomber brave a 5-hour Die Walkure and the Coachella festival respectively. So many good comments on this post, but this one actually made me want to sit through a 15-hour Ring Cycle. Howard L: If you’ve never seen the whole RING [in] one go, I highly recommend it. Take the week off. Do it. Immerse yourself. You will never regret it. In my 20’s i was lucky enough to work on a production of it at Seattle Opera, so saw it 7 times in one summer. It remains one of the great experiences of my life. PHILOSOPHICAL MONDAY re: Crazy Cat Ladies Are Good Marriage Material, in which we put forth the theory that having a cat might not render single ladies undateable, based on a study which found that the cat-friendliest cities in America all had more single men than single women. kim: ok I am not a social scientist but this study disproves nothing other than there are more single men than single in cat friendly cities. it didn’t measure WHO owns the cats. and as someone who lives near San Francisco I think I can safely say although there may be more single men than women, that doesn’t mean that the single men are...

. a blogumn by Justin Time Spam, Spam, Spam… No, I’m not referring to “America’s favorite canned meat.” Sadly, I am talking about spam: everyone’s least favorite email – also known as unsolicited commercial email (UCE). This kind of spam is back to 94% of all email on the internet, according to Postini data (Google’s spam filter service). “Back to 94%?” you ask. Yep – last fall a security firm discovered that a certain ISP, San Jose(CA)-based McColo Corp, was facilitating as much as 75% of all junk email. The ISPs connected to them promptly pulled the plug when they found out, and spam was instantly cut in half. That was nice for a few months, but now spam is back, and it’s mad as hell. “What’s the big deal ?” you say. “Either my spam filter catches it or I delete it and move on.” Well, the big deal is that 94% of all email translates to a huge percentage of the bandwidth on the internet being wasted on this garbage. For now, the internet can handle the bandwidth demands, but there is concern that the growth rate of internet usage is outpacing the capacity. That could mean that soon your favorite YouTube video will grind to a halt as high speed internet becomes a sad joke. Also, there is the personal productivity perspective: if you spend 1 minute of every hour deleting spam, that means that over 33 hours of your 2000-hour work year are lost to this demon. Over the course of a 40 year career, you lose 55 days. “What can I do about spam?” you wonder. As someone who has made a living over email for about 10 years, I have seen more than my fair share of spam....

I think this week’s FNotB comments can best be described as gross, metaphorical, hypothetical helpful and informative. HELLO FRIDAY re: Procrastinate on This!, in which we directed you to a post about two sisters not only eating placenta, but converting into a panini placenta sandwich and a pasta sauce. Seriously, skip to “Philosophical Monday” if you don’t want to be completely grossed out. And definitely don’t read this while eating. slpc: i was *almost* convinced by the author of the placenta article (and the sisters who cooked and ate the placenta). i thought, maybe it’s a cool and healthy tradition, a once in a lifetime opportunity kinda-thing, and maybe not as disgusting as it first seems… until i read this part: “The ‘recipe’ was pretty simple, but preparation was very fun! First, I washed off any clots and snipped/tore away the membrane. Websites suggested this, and I imagine it’s because it’d be chewy. The umbilical cord required a pair of scissors to cut through and I had to marvel at how incredible tough that piece was!” haha. nope. not doing that. PHILOSOPHICAL MONDAY re: Single White Nerd: The Harshest Mistress, in which Michael Kass rekindles his love affair with theater, even though their relationship ended really badly the first time around. stubbie: Oh, sure, she’s lovely now. Alluring. Willing to overlook things – like you never put your dishes in the dishwasher, or you leave little dark hairs all over the bathroom, that you always read the paper first and leave it totally disorganized. None of that matters now. But let me tell you, as a guy who’s been there, it all goes to hell. 15 years into a loveless marriage, it’s all we can do to grunt at each other and resist the...

. a new blogumn by Justin Time I’m a geek. And I like cars. That’s why last week I was captivated by a story about the geekiest car of all – the Google Street View Car. If you don’t know what this is, it’s a regular car onto which Google straps a camera and drives around taking pictures for their Street View feature on Google Maps. This tool comes in handy for prospective home buyers who use these images to get an idea of what a real estate listing looks like in the real world. I’ve used it when browsing Craigslist rentals to check out the surrounding neighborhood. Google began photographing the world in 2001 — first by satellite, then by car. Along the way, there have been a few complaints and failed lawsuits, filed mostly by individuals inadvertently caught doing embarrassing things, but the red-handed, red-faced citizens never managed to slow Google down. Until last week, that is, when the good people of Broughton, England, made a stand and actually chased the Gcar out of town. Evidently, the concerned Broughton residents felt their posh homes would be more in danger of crooks figuring out the best ways to sneak in and steal their potted meat if the Street View images made their way online: “This is an affluent area,” resident Paul Jacobs told The Times of London. “We’ve already had three burglaries locally in the past six weeks. If our houses are plastered all over Google, it’s an invitation for more criminals to strike. I was determined to make a stand, so I called the police.” Now I’m not opposed to protecting privacy, but this is just plain silly. Wouldn’t it be more effective for a burglar to properly case the joint in...