Category: Analysis

If you're not familiar with it, the HeliOS project is an effort to get computers into the hands of kids who might not otherwise be able to afford them. To date this year, they've distributed over 300 machines. Apparently that's not enough to keep them from making an enemy. A middle school teacher named Karen observed one of her students demonstrating the abilities of his Linux-powered laptop to ...

I just can't take it any more. I don't understand how people actually use their computers like this, but they do. Just take a look at Kaspersky's figures for August 2008. I look after a lot of computers for friends and family, and a dozen machines at work - and none are infected. Then again, all of them are well-protected and used responsibly. Now, it's not my intent that anyone actually follow ...

I've decided once and for all that I'm going to make a serious effort to make Linux my primary operating system. Am I dissatisfied with Windows? No. In fact, I'm quite happy with it. It's just time for a change, that's all. This isn't my first attempt to switch. I've made several others before with various distros: Ubuntu, Mint, PCLinuxOS, Mandriva, Fedora, Slax...There's always been something ...

Considering the Google brand in the popular vernacular and the launch of Chrome, I went to web marketing poster boy Seth Godin to get his perspective. Seth wasn't particularly loquacious (no doubt he's a bit busy) but here's the conversation: Me: Would you be willing to take about 10 minutes to talk to us about your take on Google Chrome? While the tech is neat and pretty and awesome, I think ...

Like most of the rest of the Internet, I jumped on the Google Chrome download as soon as it went live. So far, I'm not really blown away. Maybe I need to use it for more than a couple of hours. Maybe the blogosphere hype machine pushed my expectations to the point of being unrealistic. Sure, Chrome looks nice. It does render some pages a hair faster than Firefox - for example, Google Docs, ...

OK, I'll admit I own an iPhone. Thing is, I refuse to pay AT&T's completely ridiculous rates. Why are iPhone data packets at a premium, exactly? Anyway, I use the thing as more of a PDA, and I like the mic, speakers and camera. Sure, my Palm has two of those, but that camera is great for sending shots while on the go (and within a wifi hotspot). If I had the dough I'd get a Nokia N95, however. ...

While you're busy flicking and pinching and shaking your iPhone, watching apps crash and getting a white screen of death, I've been busy editing Office docs and playing Insaniquarium. What, you can't do that on your precious touch-screen of joy? Pity. And yes, Palm OS 5.whatever, aka "Garnet" is pretty old. So what? Let's change the name to "Helen Mirren." See? Infinitely sexier. I wrote about my ...

Sure, the iPhone is a flashy, iconic gadget. It's the crown jewel of the iPod family. It features a slick touch-screen, a slim form-factor, a whole library of new applications, and the MobileSafari browser. Do you know what I say to that? Forget about it. There's a device that has all of those same features, without the burden of a monthly fee to your favorite monopolistic phone-service ...

The age-old battle of copyright and artist freedom keeps clanging away in the distance, and are we any better off than we were when DAT machines were castrated in the 80's? I read a report this morning about a UK band called "Show of Hands" who claims they are dependent upon so-called pirates who download their music and share it with friends. This isn't much different than Trent Reznor making his ...

I download and install a lot of applications, and if you're a regular reader you probably do too. Like anything else that's free, downloading tends to some with some unfortunate perils. I'm not talking about trojans or malware, just regular run-of-the-mill annoyances. Capping download rates. Asus...Oh, Asus. Some days I just want to fly over to Taiwan and slap you right in the mouth. Do they not ...

I'm a Windows user, and it has served me well. That being said, I play with a lot of Linux distributions and there are some applications that are just so much better than anything Windows can offer that I find myself wondering how long it'll be until I make the switch. For starters, there's the APT and the Synaptic Package Manager. Microsoft has been promising updates and installs without ...

If you frequent our site (and you do, because you're cool), you've probably read this article about the 5 most annoying apps on your PC. Well, it's time for another installment - this time with alternatives that offer the functionality you want without the annoying, fetid bloat that you don't. Note: before the gripes start, to compare apples to apples I'm only offering apps that need to be ...

Today we're committing blasphemy. Okay, technically we're not. We're not saying that any one system or way of doing things is the only right way. Face it, the only place there was only one right answer to a question was eighth grade math class. So while it may seem like it's blasphemy for us to suggest that Linux may not be for you (or your girlfriend, or your boyfriend, or your uncle), it might ...

Ubuntu has become so popular, so quickly, that it is almost synonymous with the word "Linux". Common wisdom holds that it is the easiest to use, simplest, and most stable Linux based OS out there, and that it is the best hope for "Linux on the Desktop". This reputation is a well earned one, but after trying out the latest beta of Ubuntu Hardy, due out this April, I can't help but wonder if they ...

While Grant and I been having a great time at SXSWi, meeting lots of great people and learning about really cool services, Sunday's keynote/interview with Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg was definitely a low-light. I would write up a humorous transcript of what actually happened, but someone else already did (and frankly, better than anything I could have achieved). Suffice to say, the most apt ...