Another App You’re Not Supposed to Know About
In our ongoing effort to let you know about apps that fall under the category of “Teens Would be Pretty Ticked if Their Parents Knew They Existed,” let me tell you about the Hide It Pro. This little sneaky wonder shows up on your smartphone screen as a couple colorful music notes and declares itself […]
Ms. K. and the 6,000 Selfies
There was a time, back when I was a youth preparing to face the world, when learned sociologists worried about the American masses and our priorities. They decried the fact that we had created a society that glorified silly things such as being No. 1 and earning A’s on school papers. The experts felt that […]
Barbie’s French Connection
You’ve come a long way baby … er, Barbie! Mattel’s little plastic doll has found herself embroiled in many a controversy over the years—from some racial miscues to Tokidoki the tattoo-covered Barbie to Happy Family Midge, Barbie’s pregnant best friend with a removable tummy and baby insert, etc., etc. And even if you never spotted […]
A ‘Nightmare’ Too Close to Home
It’s not even close to Halloween, but I have a horror story for you—scary enough to curl the toes of your footy pajamas. It did mine. It involves a number of Internet twists and turns, a webcam and a pair of little girls. And it could be happening to you and you don’t even know […]
Batman v Superman, the R-rated Version
Hey there, superhero movie fans! With the jumbled, confused and generally rather messy Suicide Squad just hitting theaters, and with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice topping the video sales charts, it only seemed right and timely that I should take a quick look at the “Ultimate Edition” of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice […]
Age 9 and on the Scoop
Earlier this year, a young female reporter broke the news of a suspected murder in her hometown. And pretty quickly she started getting hammered online for her reporting. But it wasn’t because she had done a bad job. No. It was because she was, like, 9 years old. Hilde Kate Lysiak, the precocious little investigative […]
Selfie Elbow, Everyone Has It’
There’s tech pain flaring up everywhere. And I’m not talking about the agnsty pain of not having the latest tech. I’m talking about the actual physical pain you get from having it and using it. Surely you’ve heard of people suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome from too much computer keyboard use. And you may have […]
Busting Crime with Your Phone
Way back in the 1800s, some brilliant folks in Europe came up with the idea of using fingerprints to bust criminals. They realized that those unique little swirls and patterns on our fingertips could be used to pinpoint who had been where and touched what. Not long after, the good old U.S.A. jumped on the […]
YouTube’s Evolving Cultural Influence
Ah, YouTube. Of all the things that the Internet has given us, few have impacted our world as much as that little post-a-vid venture. I mean, before it came along it took quite a bit of effort to find ways to waste your time on the Web. But then three former PayPal employees—Chad Hurley, Steve […]
A New (Old) Way to Write
About a year ago, my youngest daughter came in excitedly carrying a funny little contraption that she and her boyfriend had found at a thrift store. She knew it had something to do with writing in days gone by, so she picked it up for me for a few bucks. Of course, being in the […]