Edge of Tomorrow: Having Your Cake and Obliterating It Too
Within the last couple weeks I’ve reviewed two different films that both deal with some kind of futuristic war and time travel. X-Men: Days of Future Past is all about a soon-to-be someday where mutants and humans are locked in a deadly winner-takes-all war. And just before losing everything, good ‘ol Professor X and pals […]
Do You Know Where Your Smartphone Is?
I’ve got a quick question for you Plugged In readers: What would you say is the most precious thing in your life right now? If you automatically thought of your house or, maybe, your car, that would make sense. Those tend to be big-ticket items for most everybody. But if you instantly thought, “My smartphone,” […]
A Win-Win Web Chat
I’ll admit it. I’ve groused and grumbled from time to time about our all-too-connected, time-sucking techy world—a place where just looking up from your screen tends to take some serious discipline. But somebody in Brazil came up with a simple idea that makes me want to thank Mr. Al Gore for dreaming up the Internet […]
Hey, Hey, Hey, 50 Years of the Cos
You may or may not have heard that comedian Bill Cosby will receive The Johnny Carson Award for Comedic Excellence at the American Comedy Awards this year—tomorrow, in fact. It’s a ceremony that honors comedians who have impacted the entertainment industry. And boy, has Cosby. Here’s a guy who’s been around making America laugh about […]
How Long Before it’s Dead and Gone?
They may not quite be dead yet, but it’s time we all admit that the old school ways of getting our music, TV and movies are changing quickly. Remember when you used to have to go to the local cinema to see a new flick? Or you needed to amble over to the record store […]
The Old Music Player in Your Future
Let me share a tidbit of trivia with you: Did you know that the first commercially available vinyl long-playing record was produced in 1931 by RCA Victor? Yep, that old vinyl LP has been with us for a long time. Why am I bringing that dusty random fact up? Well, it just so happens that […]
Drop 15 Pounds For a Dollar
The above title may sound like an ad you’d find in the back pages of a comic book or pinned to a corkboard at your local Laundromat. But it’s true folks: There’s a way to lose up to 15 pounds for only a buck … in your selfies, that is. Robin Phillips and Susan Green, […]
A Virtual Facebook
In the last two years, something called the Oculus Rift has taken the techy geeks by storm. What is that, you ask? Oh, only something that gamers and sci-fi fans have been dreaming about for the last 40 years: a real, live, workable virtual reality headset. Yes, there have been attempts at the “immerse me […]
Make Me Smell Dead, Please
I want to smell dead! Given the right set of circumstances, who wouldn’t? OK, let me back up a little. See, zombies are big these days. They’re everywhere—in our movies, on our television screens, in our games. I figure it’s only a matter of time before they lurch out of our entertainment and into our […]
The Internet Tool That’s Killing Itself
If you’re like me, then at least at some point over the last 20 to 30 years of the Internet’s existence you stopped briefly while surfing the World Wide Web to think, “I wonder how much of this has never been seen, read or heard before and has no purpose other than to take up […]