The Beckman Blog

What are those funky geometric patterns that appear next to the comments on each post? Read on to find out.

Why go to the Internet, when you can have the Internet come to you?

Ever since Google launched its Gmail service four years ago, the company has been quietly yet consistently extending the functionality of this terrific online app.  Both Cassia and I have Gmail accounts, as do many of our friends. Well, now they’ve gone and done it again.  If you log into your Gmail account today, you’ll […]

Here’s another fairly old article, but highly amusing. Jennifer Saranow in the Wall Street Journal writes (08/17) about the various ways tech-savvy inventors are turning the tables on subway gropers, road-ragers, and incessant barking dogs, among other annoyances. A luminescent screen that is mounted in a car’s rear window and flashes one of five messages […]

Walt Mossberg writes a follow-up article to last week’s rant on new PCs being bogged down by useless trial programs ("craplets," in his words) in the 04/12/07 edition of the Wall Street Journal ("Ways You Can Avoid Getting Junk Programs On Your New Computer"; Page B1). In it, he addresses the issue I raised in […]

I love my online Wall Street Journal subscription, but the newspaper makes it nearly impossible to share its articles with a large audience for free. However, its resident technology guru Walt Mossberg was able to distill the major points of his latest column ("Using Even New PCs Is Ruined by a Tangle Of Trial Programs, […]

When it comes to computers, I’m an organization junkie.  I hate having icons clutter up my Desktop. It ruins the pretty view of my backgrounds! In the past, I used to have shortcuts to frequently-used programs in my Quick Launch toolbar (the space immediately to the right of the Start button). But as the list […]

Lest we forget:   Visit The Joy of Tech site for more geeky comic fun.

Ever since I received my bright and shiny new laptop at the end of November, the question of whether or not to upgrade to Windows Vista has been lurking in the back of my mind . . . not the least of which because every time I look down at the bottom-right corner of my […]

Well, I figured it’s high time I concluded the little cliffhanger tale I spun nearly a month ago regarding my Dell laptop ordeal. (Click here to read Part One.) Anyway, after receiving three consecutive non-operational motherboards from Dell, I decided to call Dell Customer Service to complain about the sorry service I was receiving and […]