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Saturday, May 25, 2013
Tech customer satisfaction measured (05/22/13)
According to a new report released Tuesday by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), Verizon Wireless had the highest customer satisfaction ratings for wireless telephone service, followed by Sprint and then AT&T and T-Mobile. Smaller companies had higher ratings, with the category for "all others" having a customer satisfaction rating of 78, well above any of the big four providers...
Giving...and receiving much more (05/16/13)
A few times in recent years, I had participated in the annual "Read Across America" day held in schools around the date of Dr. Seuss's birthday. I always had fun, being a ham actor with a fondness for Dr. Seuss, and so when United Way of Bedford County started its participation in the "Raise Your Hand Tennessee" program, I thought it sounded like fun, and -- being a former United Way board member -- I wanted to support it...
Aereo could change TV forever (05/15/13)
A TV service called Aereo is offered in New York City and Boston and will soon be offered in Atlanta. It doesn't sound like it's of any local interest -- but in fact, Aereo could have a big impact on the future of television, especially for any of you who watch over-the-air TV using an antenna...
A tuneful asset to Bedford County (05/12/13)
The Nashville Symphony has been performing in Shelbyville annually (with only one or two exceptions) since 1989. All but one of those concerts were in Calsonic Arena; the first one wasn't, because the arena was still under construction at that time, rising in the background as the symphony performed in the big open Celebration arena. I remember covering that concert for the newspaper...
Tech toys for Mom (05/08/13)
Sunday is Mother's Day. Today's tech-savvy moms may be delighted by gadgets that help make their busy lives easier. Verizon Wireless sent me a news release for some tech-related gifts for Mom, and I've used that as a jumping-off point and added a couple of my own ideas...
The booklet that takes you places (05/05/13)
I'm waiting on a new passport to arrive. It doesn't seem possible that it's been more than a decade since my first foreign mission trip, to Nicaragua in January of 2003. I went on eight trips in eight years, five of them to Kenya. I had taken a little break the past few years. ...
Cancelled soap operas find new lives online (05/01/13)
"One Life To Live," in bold defiance of its title, is getting a second life -- online. This week, "One Life To Live" and "All My Children," daytime dramas cancelled by ABC, will make their debut as online-exclusive productions, available through Hulu and iTunes...
HTC One a beautiful and powerful smartphone (04/24/13)
When I heard I was going to get to try out a review model of the HTC One, I was excited -- not only for the chance to try out another top-of-the-line mobile phone, but because I knew the HTC One was to be one of the first phones capable of running Facebook's new "Facebook Home" application, which I was curious about...
State-of-the-art, but still too late? (04/17/13)
I've seen very few negative comments on the BlackBerry Z10. Based on a few days playing with a review model supplied by AT&T, I, too, can say it's a well-designed, capable device. The question is, is it too little, too late? The Canadian firm formerly known as Research In Motion (RIM) created a pager under the BlackBerry name in 1999, but it was the smartphone introduced in 2003, with its physical QWERTY keyboard, that revolutionized mobile phone use in business -- and politics, too. ...
On stage: Your community! Don't miss it! (04/14/13)
There's nothing like the thrill of being on stage when a play is going well. Of course, when bad things happen, that joy turns into a peculiar kind of terror. I enjoy community theater, although it's been more than a year since I've been on stage. I'll get back eventually; it just has to be something I want to do at a time of year when I have time to do it...
Committee members are not 'dummies' (04/04/13)
An online poll at the T-G web site on the development of a new industrial park drew a few comments related to existing buildings. "How 'bout using the EMPTY Walmart balding or the EMPTY Krogers building...dummies," wrote one. I understand that one of those two buildings recently changed hands and may not be empty much longer, but setting that aside for a moment, let's talk about that idea. ...
Joke's on us as search engines mark April Fool's Day (04/03/13)
April Fool's Day was around long before the Internet, of course, but there's something about the Internet that seems to lend itself to e-mail pranks. Google, in particular, seems to relish the holiday, and various Google divisions worldwide fielded no fewer than 12 April Fool's pranks on Monday, including a video based on the presence that YouTube had been some sort of contest and, now that all of the entries had been submitted, the site would be shutting down as judges worked on the decade-long task of judging all of the millions of entries.. ...
Preliminary school budget is legally public record (03/31/13)
We in the news media take open meetings and open records laws very seriously, and we try to stand up for them whenever possible. They enable us to do our jobs, and to serve you better. Sometimes, when local governments violate such laws, it's simply a matter of a misunderstanding or carelessness. ...
T-Mobile cuts cell phone contracts (03/27/13)
Most people buy cell phones under a contract plan. The mobile phone provider either gives you an inexpensive phone for free or sells you a nicer phone for considerably less than the real price, but in order to get the phone you have to sign a two-year contract for service with that provider. The provider makes back the subsidized cost of the phone over the course of the contract. If you try to get out of your contract early, you may need to pay a hefty early termination fee...
Kickstarter helps launch movie from TV show (03/20/13)
The TV series "Veronica Mars," starring Kristen Bell, ran for three seasons, from 2004 through 2007. It was about a young woman (initially a high school student) who learns how to be a detective from her father. I never saw it, but it has a number of devoted fans -- fans who raised more than $3 million in three days last week towards the cost of a proposed "Veronica Mars" movie...
Dad designs damsel without distress (03/13/13)
The web site SlashGear had a great story this month about a tech-savvy father who created a special modified version of the original "Donkey Kong" video game for his daughter in which it's the princess who must save Mario, not the other way around. The game was inspired by the fact that in Super Mario Bros. ...
Many printer choices, but check them closely (03/06/13)
Week before last, I was preparing a sermon that I was to deliver that weekend at Concord UMC in Rockvale. (I'm a United Methodist lay speaker, a non-ordained volunteer who occasionally fills in for sick or vacationing pastors.) I went to print out the sermon and was dismayed to discover that the first part of about every fourth line of the double-spaced manuscript was missing...
Wearing our feelings on our sleeves...literally (02/27/13)
Between Google's Glass project and all of the rumors about Apple working on a high-tech wristwatch, wearable technology seems to be the Next Big Thing. Of course, that doesn't mean it will be accessible, affordable or that all of the kinks will be worked out any time soon. Various companies tried to market tablets for years before the iPad hit the sweet spot and created a true market for them...
Oscar voters often ignore true gems (02/24/13)
The Oscars are tonight, and I'll almost certainly be watching, more for the fun and spectacle than because of any connection to the nominated films. I haven't seen a single one of the best picture nominees, although there are several on the list that I meant to or wanted to see. I just haven't been to the movies that much this year...
Charged-up smartphones can save lives (02/20/13)
Tiffany Deluccia, a PR spokeswoman who for Verizon Wireless, noted my coverage of Severe Weather Awareness Week, and passed along some technology-related severe weather tips. In severe weather emergencies, you should: l Limit non-emergency calls to conserve battery power and free up wireless networks for emergency agencies and operations...
A matter of paying, not blaming (02/14/13)
On Tuesday night, I covered a meeting of Bedford County Board of Commissioners at which, among other items of business, the county's attorney, John T. Bobo, reported on the wage and hour lawsuit against the county by former sheriff's department employees...
Samsung ATIV Smart PC is tablet -- and more (02/13/13)
The official name of the product is the "Samsung ATIV Smart PC," and in fact you can buy it with a removable keyboard that makes it function much like a laptop. But the AT&T review model I tested was just the touch screen portion of the product; in that form factor, it's clearly a tablet. It's part of a class of products called tablet hybrids, which can behave like tablets or like laptops depending on how you use them...
Shared fun becomes more rare (02/07/13)
Where were you when the lights went out? The Super Bowl is one of the few things left that falls into the category of shared experience -- something watched and experienced by most Americans at the same time, such that you can, the next day, confidently ask people of any age or gender, "What did you think about the game?" and get some sort of response...
A market leader versus a great value (02/06/13)
When Cathy Lewandowski of AT&T brought me some products to review recently, included in the selection were two Android-based smartphones: the HTC One X+ and the Pantech Discover. In some ways, that turned out to be bad news for HTC. It's not that the One X+ is a bad phone; far from it. It's a terrific high-end Android 4.1.1 (Jelly Bean) smartphone, with a lot to recommend it...
Wireless home phone base could be a moneysaver (01/30/13)
Many young people -- and some older ones, too -- are choosing to forgo traditional landline telephone service, using their mobile phone as their only phone. For families, though, there's certainly something to be said for a home phone -- a phone number tied to a place rather than a person, a central contact point for whichever combination of family members happens to be home at the time...
The golden past, the golden future? (01/24/13)
I recently finished reading Stephen King's novel "11/22/63," which was released in 2011. I thoroughly enjoyed it -- but it's probably a wee bit too late to do a book review for the newspaper. Instead, I want to use it as a jumping-off point for something else...
Windows 8 arrives, and it's definitely an adjustment (01/23/13)
Out of curiosity, I downloaded the Microsoft Windows 8 Consumer Preview last February, uprgrading it to the Windows 8 Release Preview when that came out later in the year. The official version of Windows 8 came out last fall. I knew that the release preview would only be supported through this January; I intended to buy the new version in a few more weeks, or perhaps roll back to Windows 7. ...
NoiseTrade offers free way to discover new music (01/16/13)
While the heavy use of downloadable music tracks gives music listeners more control of their music choices, it sometimes leaves them with fewer ways to discover new music. NoiseTrade ( http://noisetrade.com ) is a site that allows free music downloads (you can leave a tip, which is suggested but not required). ...
Fitbit monitors almost every move you make (01/09/13)
A lot of people are working through health-related New Year's resolutions this month, and one such resolution might be to be more active -- apart from going to the gym, simply to walk more as part of your regular routine. Toward this end, some people take to wearing a pedometer -- an inexpensive little device that you clip to your belt or waistband which counts the number of steps you take each day. ...
Revisiting the e-reader (01/02/13)
Back in April, I wrote a column about how much I was enjoying my e-reader (a Kindle) and pointing out some of the places from which books can be downloaded. That was less than a year ago, but judging from some of my friends' online activity there were a number of people who got e-readers or tablets for Christmas this year and who are therefore getting into e-books for the first time. So perhaps the topic bears revisiting, with an apology to those of you for whom it's old news...
Both sides of gun issue must listen (12/27/12)
I hesitate to even mention the issue of firearms, because it provokes such strong, divisive and entrenched responses on either side of the issue. But I think we've reached the point where we've got to have some sort of conversation -- "conversation" in the sense that each side actually listens to what other people are saying, something that rarely happens on this particular issue...
Enhance new tech gifts with these great additions (12/26/12)
Christmas Day has come and gone, and with it may have come the tech gifts you were hoping for. If so, here are some things to look for: Protect them: If you got a new phone or tablet, be sure you keep it protected. A case can help prevent damage to that valuable item, What kind of case depends on any number of factors, including your budget and how you like using your device. ...
Colorful legislator will be missed (12/23/12)
I can never think of the late Clarence "Pete" Phillips without thinking of Doris O'Neil. Mrs. O'Neil, who I think lived in Nashville, was the secretary-receptionist for Rep. Phillips and two other state representatives at the Legislative Plaza in Nashville. ...
Galaxy Camera: A solution without a problem? (12/19/12)
As smartphone cameras get better and better, more and more casual snapshots -- Uncle Ted blowing out the candles on his birthday cake, that sort of thing -- are being taken with phones rather than point-and-shoot cameras. The snapshot can easily be uploaded or shared...
Help Santa see those letters on time (12/13/12)
Each year, the Times-Gazette newsroom processes hundreds of letters to Santa. A few come in by e-mail; even those require some work to be properly formatted. But most of the letters have to be typed by hand, and we all pitch in to do that. It's a labor of love; we enjoy reading the letters and often comment to each other here in the newsroom when we run across one that's particularly funny, or sad, or unusual. ...
'Tis the season for streaming (12/12/12)
Spotify, about which I've written in this space before, is an online music service. There are both free and paid versions. With the free version, you can simply go online and make up playlists from Spotify's huge music library, and listen to them through your computer (interrupted by the occasional ad) whenever you please...
NORAD Tracks Santa returns for 2012 (12/05/12)
Over the weekend, the NORAD Santa web site, http://www.noradsanta.org, went live for 2012. I've written about the site each year for several years, but what's Christmas if not a time for traditions? Although the site's reason for existence -- which we'll get to in a moment -- is Christmas Eve, it's got fun activities that can be enjoyed by kids of all ages between now and then...
Lumia 822 shows off new operating system (11/28/12)
My current phone, a Samsung Focus Flash, uses the Windows Phone 7.5 operating system. I've been very happy with the operating system -- although it's frustrating that so many apps available for iOS or Android aren't yet available for Windows Phone. I'd been anxious to try out the new Windows Phone 8 operating system. ...
Turn your smartphone into a canvas (11/22/12)
You wouldn't think that drawing with a finger on a tiny little smartphone touchscreen would be much fun. But you'd be wrong. The game Draw Something ( omgpop.com/drawsomething ), a sort of online Pictionary, was a sensation earlier this year, with 20 million downloads in a matter of weeks. The result was that the game and its maker, OMGPop, were purchased by online gaming giant Zynga. The fad subsided after a while, although the game is still available and still being played...
School vouchers require caution (11/15/12)
A business, or a non-profit that acts like a business, has two different types of costs: fixed and variable. Imagine a fast-food restaurant selling hamburgers. The cost of the ground meat would be a variable cost. The more hamburgers you sell, the more ground meat you need to buy -- but that's OK, presumably, because you're bringing in extra revenue from all those extra hamburgers you're selling. The cost is, for the most part, linked to revenue, and so it's self-supporting...
Take time to talk about The Rules (11/14/12)
I was at a birthday party over the weekend for a 13-year-old whose parents got him a mobile phone for his birthday. He was thrilled with the gift, and his parents were thrilled that he was thrilled. But it was made clear that later, after the party was over and friends and family members had gone home, there would be A Discussion About The Rules...
Political attacks solve nothing (11/08/12)
What have we learned? Reading the highly-emotional Twitter and Facebook posts of the past couple of weeks, I have to say we haven't learned much. America has a strong and vibrant political system. There are places for many different voices, and that's a good thing. Frankly, I don't think either the Democrats or the Republicans (or any of the alternate parties) have all the right answers...
Teamwork a must for progress (11/01/12)
I imagine that you were just as disgusted as I was at the story in Wednesday's newspaper about the two different groups of downtown merchants, whose feuding means that the city will probably miss out on a state revitalization grant. I have no idea whose fault the situation is, or who's been difficult to work with, or who did what first and who responded...
Writing exercise an example of web community (10/31/12)
It goes without saying, or should, that online relationships aren't a substitute for our in-person relationships. But it also goes without saying that the web can, at its best, be a powerful tool for connecting us with others. Years ago, when not everyone had Internet access or was good at searching the web, I helped a local couple find an online message board related to a rare condition their son was facing. ...
The worst of it is behind me (10/28/12)
The call came while I was at work Thursday, and it was an hour after I got home that evening before I even thought to check the answering machine. "This is Dr. Hood's office," the voice said. "The biopsy on your polyp came back benign. The doctor wants you to have another colonoscopy in five years."...
Galaxy S III a sleek and powerful smartphone (10/24/12)
Although I get good feedback on this column in the community, I'm under no illusions about my status in the world of tech columnists. So it was a delight and a surprise when the PR firm for Verizon Wireless contacted me with the opportunity to try out one of the top smartphones, the Samsung Galaxy S III, for two weeks...
Political arguing threatens unity (10/21/12)
I have to admit that I haven't been keeping up much with the presidential and vice presidential debates. Of course, if you're on any form of social media on the night a debate is taking place, you can hardly help but hear about it. Unfortunately, this type of debate has lost a lot of its usefulness, in part because of the ways in which all of us (the media, and various politically-oriented viewers) react to it...
BarCamp: Technology, networking and fun (10/17/12)
I won't make it to BarCamp Nashville this weekend, but that doesn't mean you can't. If you're at all interested or involved in topics like online marketing or technology, BarCamp is a great deal -- a free technology conference with lots of opportunity to network. The only costs are downtown parking, the optional catered box lunch, and the cash bar, if you're so inclined...
New device could have security market locked up (10/10/12)
Pre-orders are now being taken for Lockitron, a new gizmo that turns your home's existing deadbolt lock into an electronically-controlled lock. The device mounts over the knob that lets you open the deadbolt from the inside. Supposedly, it can be easily installed and removed, and can be used even by renters without damaging the pre-existing door or lock...
Sidewalks: Walkways to health (10/04/12)
Last week, I covered the Tennessee County Commissioners Association regional meeting at Henry Horton State Park. I've covered this particular gathering for many years -- Paul Parker was county executive when I first started going, if that gives you any idea -- but this year's gathering was unique...
Header images change Twitter's appearance (09/26/12)
Twitter has reworked its interface a bit to include header images, not unlike the big header image on your Facebook timeline page. In the past, it was the background image on your profile that made your profile page distinctive, but now your header will be the most noticeable feature. I also noticed that when Twitter switched to this new design, it for some reason left my old background image untiled, and looking a little forlorn sitting there in one corner of the screen...
Schools are an investment (09/20/12)
It's always easy, when you're not happy about some tax-related situation, to say that there's wasteful spending going on. The truth of the matter is that, yes, I'm sure there is wasteful spending going on. Any organization, large or small, has waste and inefficiency. There are always ways to keep improving, to do things better for less money. That's true of government, or business, or household finances...
How to lead GPS maps in the right direction (09/19/12)
A year and a half ago, I told a story in this column about being on a family trip to the mountains. Coming back through Sevierville on the way home, there was a newly-constructed bypass, and a flashing warning sign which announced that "YOUR GPS IS WRONG" and directing you to take the bypass for the best access to I-40...
'Windows Service Center' calls are scams (09/12/12)
If you get a call from someone claiming to be the "Windows Service Center," hang up. I heard this week from one of our readers whom I've known for some time and who got one of these calls, telling her that her computer was at risk. She quite rightly smelled a rat and started asking the person on the other end for information...
Find pavers with help from new website (09/05/12)
Bedford County Veterans Service Office and the county's information technology (I.T.) department have developed a website which visitors can use to help find inscribed pavers at Bedford County Veterans Memorial on the square. The memorial, unveiled in 2006, has as its focus a sculpture by Russ Faxon of a service member holding hands with a young child. ...
School system benefits all of us (08/23/12)
On Tuesday night, county commissioners discussed the possibility of a wheel tax. My purpose in this column isn't to say anything about whether a wheel tax should be enacted or how the proceeds should be divided. But there was one statement made Tuesday night which needs a response -- I've heard it many times over the years...
'Sharing' your favorite videos takes more than a click (08/22/12)
For better or worse -- and I'm sure some people find it annoying -- Facebook works with various apps and other web sites in ways that make it easy to share what you're watching, reading or listening to with others. If I'm using the online music service Spotify, for example, and a song comes up that I really, really love and want to tell my friends about, I can, with a couple of clicks, share a post about it to my Facebook account. ...
Brain surgery, and Richard Simmons (08/16/12)
Some random observations rattling around in my brain: l The more Olympics coverage you watched, the sicker you got of some of the commercials. I was born at the old Saint Thomas Hospital and have nothing but respect for Saint Thomas as an institution, but if I heard about their revolutionary new brain surgery technique one more time I might have needed brain surgery...
New mobile products could be game-changers (08/15/12)
It's a time of change in the mobile electronics industry, with a number of potentially game-changing developments in the air: Apple is reported to be introducing a smaller, 7-inch tablet, which would compete with the Google's Nexus 7 and with e-reader/tablet combos like the Amazon Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble's Nook Color. ...
U.S. still has horizons to conquer (08/09/12)
In 1997, U.S. citizens were polled about how much of the federal budget they thought went to support the space program. The poll respondents thought that the space program made up about 20 percent of the federal budget. The actual number? Less than one percent. And, with recent cuts, I'd guess it's probably lower than that today...
A time for coming together (08/02/12)
In 2004, on my first trip to Kenya, I and half of my teammates stayed at the townhouse of the Rev. Paul and Grace Mbithi in Nairobi. It was quite a change from my previous mission trip; a year and a half earlier, I'd been staying in a dirt-floor shed in Nicaragua, with no running water, showering by dumping bowls of cold rainwater over my head as I stood naked in a little backyard stall that was open on one side, for any livestock that wanted to look...
Warning: Spoilers are lurking everywhere (08/01/12)
Spoiler alert! Those words have become more and more common in recent years, as digital video recorders (DVRs) and online video make it easier to time-shift TV programming, while at the same time Facebook and Twitter make it easier to comment on programming while it's taking place...
Attack politics and Facebook (07/26/12)
A few months back, Facebook started giving users the option of unsubscribing to most or all someone's status updates, without actually de-friending them. It's a useful option as we approach election season. I have to admit, I've unsubscribed from a few people who were going overboard on the political postings...
New program reads web pages to you (07/25/12)
There are various text-to-speech add-ons, and text-to-speech is even included with some operating systems. But SoundGecko ( soundgecko.com ) is a service that lets you plug in a web page address and receive, by e-mail, an MP3 file of the text being read aloud. The MP3 file can be saved and listened to at your convenience, on your computer or your MP3 player, phone, what have you...
Consumers watch as TV providers battle (07/18/12)
Last week, DirecTV customers like me lost access to a number of Viacom channels, such as Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, Spike, TV Land and Nickelodeon. Earlier in the summer, Dish Network customers lost access to AMC, IFC and We, all owned by a parent company called AMC Networks...
Chronicles of a broken cell phone (07/11/12)
For the second summer in a row, something happened to my mobile phone while I was away at camp. I'm a long-time volunteer in, and former board member for, Mountain T.O.P., a short-term missions program that operates up on the Cumberland Plateau. In 2011, while I was spending a week at a Mountain T.O.P. ...
Microsoft vs. Apple: The battle rages (06/20/12)
I watched with great interest Microsoft's announcement Monday of its new tablet, Surface. But I was even more amused by what happened later, after I posted a link to the product web site on my Facebook feed. Two comments were left: one from a former college roommate of mine, the other from an online-only acquaintance. I'll call them Person 1 and Person 2:...
Combined data plan may work for some (06/13/12)
One unhappy side effect of the growth of devices like tablets has been the increasingly complex package of data plans which some people must purchase -- a data plan for your smartphone, another data plan for your tablet, maybe even a third data plan if you have a 4G USB receiver for your laptop...
Windows program switch teaches an important lesson (06/06/12)
Last week, I made the switch from Windows 8 Consumer Preview -- which I'd been running -- to Windows 8 Release Preview. These are both beta test versions of Microsoft's next new operating system. They're free to try out -- but they won't last forever, and once the actual product is released you'll either have to buy it or else reinstall your old operating system...
Roku opens a new world of TV net streaming (05/23/12)
I got a Roku box, along with a three-month trial of Netflix Instant Streaming, as a birthday gift this month, and I'm already hooked. Roku is a device which makes it easy to display various Internet-based video services on your TV. Some top-of-the-line modern TVs have Roku-like features built in, as do some modern gaming consoles. But if you don't already have this capability, Roku (www.roku.com) is affordable, easy to use, and works like a charm...
Tech advances may limit giants' power (05/16/12)
As Facebook rolls towards what is projected to be a gigantic public stock offering, CNN's website published an essay by British-American author Andrew Keen ( bit.ly/L2qegG ) complaining about the growing power of three tech companies -- Facebook, Apple and Google. He compares the company to the fictitious Weyland Corporation from the upcoming "Alien" prequel "Prometheus."...
Symphony's Shelbyville concert is always a classic (05/13/12)
The Nashville Symphony had been coming to Shelbyville for two or three years when there was a change in sponsorship, and the late Scott McDonald -- whose bank was the new principal sponsor -- decided to form a local steering committee for the event. ...
Microsoft steps into readers with investment in Nook (05/02/12)
In the e-reader and reader/tablet market, Amazon Kindle has, according to most of what I've read, been outselling Barnes & Noble's Nook. But this week, Barnes & Noble gained an important new partner: a little Redmond, Wash., company called Microsoft. Perhaps you've heard of them...
Warning: Your computer could be infected (04/25/12)
Computer virus and malware warnings have become sadly common in this day and age, but Steve Mallard at Tennessee Technology Center at Shelbyville suggested that one of the more recent ones was a significant enough threat that I ought to pass something along to you about it. Steve knows what he's talking about, so when he's concerned about something I pay attention...
E-reader rekindles a love for good books (04/18/12)
I used part of my tax refund this year to buy the basic, $79 Amazon Kindle e-reader. The Kindle, which is optimized for reading books, has a black-and-white, easy-on-the-eyes "e-ink" screen, and it's different from the $199 Kindle Fire, which has a backlit color screen and which lets you not only read books but watch movies, listen to music and so on...
Using dumb phones to create smart kids (04/11/12)
One of the things that surprised me the first time I visited Kenya was the proliferation of cell phones. It actually makes sense; there are plenty of places in Kenya where traditional telephone service has either never been run or is prohibitively expensive...
Google revises non-profit guidelines (04/04/12)
Christianity Today's website reported this week that Google changed its policies in February and is now allowing churches to qualify for its Google For Nonprofits program. While basic Google services are free to use, the company has a variety of premium services, such as buying more space for your GMail account or setting up a large, multi-user installation of its Google Apps program. ...
Electronic devices in air may fly if FAA approves (03/21/12)
According to the tech website TG Daily (no relation to the T-G!), the Federal Aviation Administration is going to reconsider the total ban on electronic devices during takeoff and landing of commmercial aircraft. A rigorous testing procedure will be tried, and if certain types of devices are shown to have no impact on the plane, it's possible that the FAA will allow them...
Tech 'toys' prove incredibly useful (03/14/12)
Two of my co-workers have new tech toys to play with. Tracy Simmons has a new LiveScribe ( www.livescribe.com ) pen, which seems like an incredibly useful tool for reporting and note-taking and which we might all be looking at eventually. The pen has a digital audio recorder built into it. ...
New Windows 8 takes a mobile approach (03/07/12)
Some people are more comfortable with using beta software than others. Any new, or newly-updated, PC software has a number of hurdles to leap. If the program is used by 100,000 people, those people are going to have thousands of different hardware configurations, and I doubt any two of them will be running exactly the same combination of software. And yet your newly-written program is expected to be compatible...
E-snap junk mail to cyberdeath (02/29/12)
Some people are more annoyed by junk mail than others, but I think we can all agree that it's a waste of paper and postage to send junk mail to someone who's not interested in the product or service being offered. Well, a new service -- available as an app for the iPhone/iPad, Android and Windows Phone operating systems -- claims it will help you do something about it...
Window to the world wasn't always wide open (02/22/12)
I stole the telescoping antenna from my world band radio a week or two ago, to replace a damaged antenna on my weather alert radio. I went through a phase where the world band was one of my fondest possessions. But I haven't used it for its intended purpose in several years; most recently, it was sitting on my desk here at work, serving as an AM radio. (We don't get FM signals very well inside the building.)...
Bringing MySpace back (02/15/12)
Actor and singer Justin Timberlake, who once released a song called "Bringing Sexy Back," is now bringing something else back: MySpace. Timberlake, with investors Tim and Chris Vanderhook, bought the social networking site last summer. MySpace (myspace.com) had once been Facebook's biggest rival. In fact, MySpace was once the dominant social networking site and Facebook the scrappy upstart...
Online calendar keeps families in Cozi harmony (02/08/12)
I use my smartphone, synched up to Google Calendar, to keep up with my appointments and meetings. But I'm just one person, living by myself. In today's world, families have additional challenges as they try to coordinate with each other's schedules...
Permanance within the electronic revolution (02/01/12)
Best-selling author Jonathan Franzen, speaking at a conference in Columbia, was quoted this week by The Telegraph as saying that electronic books are damaging society, by removing the permanence of the printed word. "The technology I like is the American paperback edition of Freedom. I can spill water on it and it would still work! So it's pretty good technology. And what's more, it will work great 10 years from now...." said Franzen...
Amazon competes with itself in Kindle apps (01/25/12)
Even if you don't own an Amazon Kindle, you probably own an Amazon Kindle. Let me explain. Amazon.com's Kindle e-reader (for purposes of this discussion, we're talking more about the dedicated e-readers than the multipurpose Kindle Fire tablet) is a product, but it's also a service -- and Amazon has made that service available on a wide variety of devices: desktop and laptop computers, phones, tablets and what have you. ...
Serious Eats whets appetite for more (01/18/12)
I first heard about the web site "Serious Eats" (seriouseats.com) a month ago, when its founder Ed Levine was interviewed on Jesse Thorn's terrific radio show/podcast. (Jesse's long-running show was then known as "The Sound of Young America," but since the first of the year been renamed and slightly reformatted as "Bullseye.")...
Windows Phone deserves a serious look (01/11/12)
So far, Windows Phone 7 and its updated version, Windows Phone 7.5, have been the distant also-rans in the battle between Google's iPhone / iPad operating system, iOS, and the open-source Android operating system backed by Google. Many tech commentators have praised Windows Phone even while expressing skepticism that it can compete with the two much larger and well-established platforms...
SOPA legislation center of heated debate (12/28/11)
You may never have heard of it, but the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, could if passed have a huge impact on the way the Internet operates. The act has a commendable goal -- stopping the trading of illegally-copied music, movies or other copyrighted content, as well as other inappropriate content, such as advertising for counterfeit medications. It's backed by major entertainment industry companies and other key players...
New Kindle Fire needs kid-friendly settings (12/14/11)
Well, the one person to whom I've spoken in person about her new Kindle Fire is delighted with it. However -- and this isn't unexpected for a new product launch of this magnitude -- Amazon's $199 cross between a tablet and an e-reader is drawing some criticism, and the company says it will push out a software update to address some of the problems...
Carrier IQ revelations may be just a tempest in a tea cup (12/07/11)
Last week's big technology story was that of Carrier IQ, a company whose software was revealed to be on many cell phones. That software records a large variety of specific information about how those phones are used, including capturing keystrokes. There are differing reports over whether the software records keystrokes in text messaging mode or only in dialing mode...
AT&T, T-Mobile merger in jeopardy (11/30/11)
There are a variety of reports, analyses and speculations about the decision by AT&T, T-Mobile and T-Mobile's German parent company, Deutsche Telekom, to withdraw their petition to the Federal Communications Commission for AT&T's purchase of T-Mobile...
Google may announce new music download service (11/16/11)
Google has scheduled a press event for today, reportedly to launch a new music download service. By the time you read this, details should be available, but supposedly one hook of the new service is that if you buy a music track from Google, you can post a link to it on your Google+ account which your friends can use to sample the song once. ...
Sunshine law just fine the way it is (10/20/11)
A proposal by the president of Tennessee County Commissioners Association to loosen the Tennessee Open Meetings Act, often called the "Sunshine Law," was first reported on by the Times-Gazette back in September, after a TCCA regional meeting held at Henry Horton State Park...
New iPhone 4S seeks converts (10/12/11)
There's not a whole lot I can add to the discussion of Steve Jobs over the past week, so I'm not going to try. I will say that the intensity of the coverage, and of people's reactions to Jobs, positive and negative, only confirms the important role that technology now plays in all our lives...
'Here's killing you' -- with laughs (10/06/11)
It would be difficult for me to do an objective review of "Here's Killing You, Kid!", the first production from the South of Broadway Players, since I was the lead in a production earlier this year with the same director and several of the same cast members...
Kindle Fire gambles by upping ante for tablet/e-reader market (10/05/11)
Here's what I wrote in this space on August 31: "Tech commentators speculating on Amazon's tablet plans wonder if Amazon might use a variation on the cheap-razor, loss-leader model similar to the one it's tried with Kindle -- selling tablets for a price less than $250, or even $200, but building in advertising or e-commerce features that would drive traffic to the Amazon site, resulting in additional revenue for the company going forward."...
Like it or not, Facebook dominates (09/28/11)
When I was a child, one brand of cigarettes had advertisements featuring smokers with black eyes. "Us Tareyton smokers would rather fight than switch!" was the brand's defiantly un-grammatical slogan. Today, computer users would rather complain about Facebook than switch to some other social networking service...
A little DAB'll do ya: Daily Audio Bible (09/21/11)
A few weeks ago, I took a weekend course which was required as part of my status as a United Methodist lay speaker (an un-ordained person who, among other things, can fill in as a preacher when called upon). One of my classmates that weekend works in information technology. ...
'Enough Already' device mutes annoyances (09/14/11)
Brilliant. A report by John D. Sutter on the technology pages of the CNN web site alerted me to the work of Matt Richardson, a do-it-yourselfer in Brooklyn, N.Y., who works as a video producer for Make mazazine. Richardson got tired of hearing saturation news coverage about the celebrity-of-the-moment -- he mentioned Charlie Sheen, Sarah Palin, Donald Trump and Kim Kardashian as his examples; each person may have their own particular annoyances. Richardson, however, did something about it...
John I. Carney
Loose Talk / Charge Complete
John I. Carney is city editor of the Times-Gazette.