“Our ship is broken. Can you make it go?” – the Pakleds, Star Trek the Next Generation, episode ‘Samaritan Snare’ Every now and then in our exciting world of technology, we pause amidst the rapid pace of change to notice those technology innovations that don’t seem to catch up. The what-ifs, the might-have-beens, and the [...]
There’s a society in our future. The bright, glistening future! Full of crystal spires and togas, and ivory tower experts, building a castle in the clouds. It’s coming! Any day now! Bloody oath, it’s true! Yeah, and I’m a bunyip. The semantic web has long been a vision in the eye of Sir Tim Berners-Lee, [...]
I am a freelance programmer and web-designer, so I get to work with people in many different industries with many different needs for hardware and software. Consequently, I get to work with a variety of gadgets this fill every need you can imagine. Recently, I was hired to write a desktop program for an engineer [...]
I recently decided to purchase a GPS system for my car. I travel often for business and personal reasons, and needed something easy to use with good coverage. After inquiring on several forums, I decided to go with Navman, as I have been told that they have the best coverage in Australia. After comparing features [...]
The 21st century has seen the notebook revolution take hold. It seems like the whole world was waiting for the technology to get powerful and inexpensive enough that portable computers could be slim, light, and robust. No college or school experience these days is complete without one, even to the point that the famous OLPC [...]
Only a few years ago, gaming on mobiles was the domain of Tetris and Bust-A-Move, and that was about it. Some solitaire and Mahjohng in there too – nothing to get excited about. But recently the smartphone and PDA platforms have gotten powerful enough to play games with a little more meat on them. And [...]
We’re of course talking about Google Android! Not to be confused with whimsical characters such as ‘Data’ from ‘Star Trek the Next Generation’, Google Android is the new open source operating system and software platform for mobile phones. Google has enjoyed the kind of celebrity and popularity across the World Wide Web that makes people [...]
Frequently, you’ll see a tech site – just like this one – tout a feature of some smartphone, PDA, tablet, or other mobile device by talking about what’s under the hood. “It runs Java.” or “It’s based on Webkit.” or “It’s developed using the Python standard library.” And at least some of you are out [...]
Let’s remove some stigma from encryption. It is not the domain of the so-called “tin-foil hat-wearers”. It is not the least bit paranoid to want privacy for your communication. It is, instead, a basic human right. Also, to desire that your communications, be they in the form of email, text messaging, or voice calls, to [...]
Way back in 1973, science fiction author Larry Niven wrote a short story called “Flash Crowd”, which examined the social consequences of a society with instant transportation and instant communication. The people of this future already have the mobile media access that we have today; the catch is that they also have teleporter booths where [...]
