Cell Phone SOS

The tragedy of James Kim's disappearance and ultimate death sparked a number of stories on how cell phones communicate location, acting as an important lifeline for those in distress and danger. The disappearance of a few intrepid yet fool hearty climbers on Mt. Hood during a snowstorm increased that interest, and led me to an appearance on the Fox News Channel this evening.

Better Tech Through Design

The full embrace of design by the high-tech world is fascinating. It's easy to speculate that the neat looking iPod is the root of it, but that's just not true: For at least six or seven years now, many high-tech firms have been realizing that customers value the overall look and feel of a product to a high degree, and that they can potential charge a bit more for something if it looks neat.

I've heard that companies like Sony and Samsung will lock a team of engineers, designers, and marketers together when they need to come up with a new product quickly, letting them all work together rather than separately. Cool! We discussed this issue at length on the most recent PCMag Radio--take a listen!

The Definitive, Extraordinary, Superlative Guide to Gifts for Geeks

Find the edge, go past it, and keep on running. Run down the block, and through a wide-open meadow, and on the other side of the pasture, you'll find stuff so crazy, so ridiculously expensive, you'll just have to drop everything and rob several banks to be able to afford them. Each justifies its price by being the biggest, the best, or the finest money can buy. Presented in order from cheapest to most expensive. How much do you love your geek? Read my whole story at PC Magazine's Web site.

Who Wants Vista?

Over the weekend, I was interviewed by JC Lamkin for her radio show Technically Speaking on WURD-AM (Philadelphia). With the release of Windows Vista mere days ago, she wanted to discuss the advantages of the new operating system, particularly for people that aren't so technically savvy. Vista looks great; I'm eagerly anticipating upgrading the home PCs. Calling in to an AM radio station from my cell phone wasn't something I looked forward to, however. I've had sound quality issues with my Samsung T-509, a nice looking phone with some audio quality issues.

Anyway, the quality is a bit grainy, but you can hear the entire show online here.

Technical Excellence

For what seemed like months, I was wrapped up in PC Magazine's Technical Excellence awards. The what, you ask? Well, the biggest breakthroughs of the year aren't products like a new laptop or a cooler-looking phone. They're new chip architectures, integrated gyroscopes, and new types of memory chips. I spent weeks picking out those prize-winning products, before writing up the entire story. You can read the whole thing at PC Magazine's Web site: go.pcmag.com/techex.

I think my favorite part was a few sidebars I wrote on technical excellence beyond the PC. There were three, one on art, one on cars, and one on physics--I know, an unusual selection. The art one was particularly fun to research.