Growing up geeky

April 13, 2012 1 Comment

On March 26, a piece called “Dear Fake Geek Girls: Please Go Away” appeared on the Forbes Web site. It excoriates those who adopt the “geek” mantle frivolously or as a positive descriptor to get attention.

Over the next couple days, The Internet at large (and other columnists at Forbes itself) came down hard on the sentiment, proclaiming geek culture to be open, welcoming, and delighted to be moving ever more into the mainstream. We’re the cool kids now! Everyone wants to be like us! How could that be bad? Read more of this post

Filed under Random, Writing

New Hippo Techie: 5 free Mac antivirus programs

April 12, 2012 1 Comment

Get a Mac, they said. Macs don’t get viruses, they said.

What they meant was, “Apple Macintosh computers are much less likely than Windows computers to be affected by malicious programs, partly because the operating system is generally more secure and partly because its market share is so much lower and therefore not as appealing a target.” They absolutely didn’t mean, “Macs are not capable of being infected by a virus.” Because they absolutely are.

Read the full column at The Hippo.

Filed under Uncategorized

New Hippo Techie: Future past

April 5, 2012 Leave a Comment

I’ve spent the last couple weeks addicted to Words With Friends and Lexulous, Scrabble clones that I play online. Both have Android (and iOS) apps, so even stepping away from my computer provides no relief from the addiction.

It’s sort of weird that I can get so wrapped up in a digital version of a game I have in an armoire in my house that’s been taken out maybe once or twice. But the online version, and especially its mobile app extension, offers a fundamentally different experience. Most of my opponents are distant friends I haven’t seen in person for years. Moves can be made hours or days apart, so we don’t even have to be free at the same time. I also have a dozen games going at any given time.

That same-but-better feeling drives a lot of apps and gadgets. Developers have taken a few different tacks in the quest to replicate one of the most ancient and useful inventions ever: paper.

Read the full column at The Hippo.

Filed under Hippo Techie, Writing

Laptop fans should be removable

April 3, 2012 2 Comments

Computers slow down over time. One cause applies much more to Windows than other operating systems; as software is installed and removed, the registry and file system get cluttered up and disorganized, and while there are ways to minimize and reverse some of this effect, the only real solution is a complete hard drive wipe.

The second cause has to do with heat. As advanced and space-agey as they are, computers still rely on airflow to keep their hot ‘n’ spicy chips from melting themselves. That means vents. And fans. And dust. Read more of this post

Filed under Random, Writing

Dandy Scotch Brawlers theme music

March 31, 2012 Leave a Comment

There’s this podcast where a bunch of guys get together and discuss the burning topics of the day, while also simultaneously reviewing exotic liquors. Yes, that gets exactly as silly as it sounds. They call themselves the Dandy Scotch Brawlers, and for their 50th show I recorded a weird little ditty for use as their opening theme song. (I don’t say I “wrote” it because I mostly improvised in front of microphones and kept what worked.)

Unlike on my recent EP, there was no MIDI utilized here. Instruments are my trusty guitar, a pair of bongos, the Etherophone app on my Droid Bionic cell phone and a Korg Monotron.

Filed under Music

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