How Much Does Hollywood Really Lose to Piracy?

There is an interesting video of a recent TED talk regarding something the speaker calls Copyright Math. In it, he comically destroys the numbers that Hollywood uses to scare Congress into doing its bidding via ill-conceived laws like SOPA. He demonstrates how if the numbers the media industry pedals around as its “losses” due to … Read more

Posterous Bought By Twitter

I had completely forgotten about my Posterous accounts until the company announced it had been acquired by Twitter. Now, I like Twitter as much as the next tech-savvy guy, but it’s never been as useful for me as it has been for others. I wonder if the integration between Twitter and Posterous will change that? … Read more

Easy Software Installation Online

Ninite is my favorite service on the entire internet. Essentially, it is a software installation service, but in reality, it is so much more. For some reason, the auto-update feature of many software programs fails from time to time. On my computer, the number one culprit is the Thunderbird email client. I don’t think it … Read more

Black Friday Sales Scams

It happens every year like clockwork. Big retailers generate sales ads with “unbelievable” savings on items that shoppers want to buy. Then, why do so many customers end up burned on Black Friday? Black Friday Tricks The oldest Black Friday scam in the book is the super-limited inventory scam. This is the same scam that … Read more

Google Abusing Monopoly Power?

Recent Senate hearings focused on whether or not Google was abusing its power as a de facto monopoly in internet searches. Google executives testified that they do not cook the search results that the Google algorithm generates to favor their own internet properties, nor do they punish those with competing web services. While Google’s hands … Read more

Primary Election Stupidity

In 2008, it was the Democrat’s fault. Some states sought to bolster their impact in choosing the Democratic Presidential nominee by moving up their primaries to become one of the “early” primaries. The most dramatic and meaningful of these decisions was Michigan’s move up so early in the calendar that the state was penalized by … Read more

Sprint LG Optimus Gingerbread Update Makes Volume Too Loud

Like many others, I had an issue with the in-call volume on my Sprint LG Optimus being too loud after updating to the latest version of Android. Sprint pushed the new Gingerbread Android OS to LG Optimus S phones in late September. The good news is that Sprint is supporting its low-end cell phones with … Read more

Blood Runs Blue BYU Comic

A buddy of mine, and professional cartoonist, Aaron Taylor has launched a very funny BYU webcomic dedicated to the BYU Cougars. While aimed squarely at BYU and BYU athletics, there is plenty of funny stuff about college athletics in general, including the nature of college sports fans, the drama of conference reorganization and some of … Read more

Sprint LG Optimus Android Update

My phone was switched off this morning and drained of battery. I have a mid-level / low-end, depending upon who you talk to, Android cell phone from Sprint. It is an LG Optimus S ; although, from what I understand, the S is pretty much the same thing as the Optimus M except for tweaks … Read more

Google Search Update or HubPages Improvement ?

I occasionally publish a page or “hub” on the free content publishing platform called HubPages. There is no editor to submit to for approval. On the other hand, there is no payment, although you can collect a revenue share from Google Ads via an existing Google AdSense account. Also, HubPages now has an in-house advertising … Read more

Patent Reform Fails in Congress

Officially, Congress passed patent reform legislation, and officially, President Obama will sign patent reform into law. However, the reality is that nothing of the sort has happened. A couple of very minor tweaks to how the U.S. Patent Office is funded were passed and one patent law reform was included. That reform is not even … Read more

Denver Olympics – Where Bad Dreams Won’t Die

Most Americans don’t know much American history, let alone the local history of areas they don’t live in, so let me help those of you not from Colorado out. Denver, Colorado was awarded the Winter Olympics in 1976. If you are familiar with your Olympic history, you might be thinking, no, the 1976 Winter games … Read more