All Blog Posts from Tech Talk

Remember blogs? Oh, sure, there are still plenty of active and beloved blogs rippling through the interwebs. But as many of us find ways to compress our lives into 140 characters or less the traditional blog (seems odd to use the word "traditional" next to "blog" but there you go) seems to be losing some steam. It used to be that the media would quote politicians who posted on their Web site or refer to what a celebrity wrote on their blog. Blogs were (and can still be) THE place to find unfiltered analysis. These days, if you want to find a following or spout your observations to the masses, then you likely head to Twitter. But is all this linguistic distillation making people more concise or less thoughtful?

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First, full disclosure: I fall smack in the middle of Gen X. You can do the math (that was never my strong suit). So while I'm not that far removed from Gen Y, as I pointed out yesterday I'm more of a "digital immigrant" (or "digital nomad") than a "digital native." There are many terms for this generation -- Gen Y, millenials, digital natives -- but the point is that someone born after 1980 likely grew up with a mouse in their hand. Using a computer came naturally, and the transition from school to the workplace didn't involve learning new ways to search for information (Dewey Decimel System vs. Web browsing) or adopting different methods of communicating (faxes vs. instant messaging). Bottomline: exactly what has this lifelong immersion in technology done to Gen Y's social skills? Admittedly, it's a broad question, but we try to answer it (at least in part) tonight on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.

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It got off to a blockbuster opening, but software and network glitches have plagued the iPhone 3G in the past six weeks since its launch. Now, before all the Apple fans flip out, there's certainly no way to measure the exact extent or scope of the reported problems. But the blogs and news sites continue to be abuzz about dropped calls, a slower network, and connectivity issues among other things. And anecdotally I've heard from several people who are frustrated by its less-than stellar performance, especially since the 3G network is such a key selling point. AT&T has simply encouraged people to download the latest Apple software updates, and because the problems seem to be occurring worldwide analysts aren't pointing the finger at AT&T so much as Apple.

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I was amused and impressed by some of the comments to my article on “The High Price of a Well-Wired Life ".

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I've been at the Apple store in Palo Alto, Calif. all morning watching the crowds snap up the new iPhone. Some people spent the night in line but there weren't nearly as any people as there were on June 29, last year when Apple released the original iPhone.

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It’s ironic. On the 25th anniversary of my start as a newspaper columnist, the very newspaper that gave me that start laid off 250 people, including 150 editorial positions. The layoffs didn’t affect me, I stopped writing for the LA Times in 2002 but it’s still sad to see colleagues lose their jobs and to see likely further erosion of quality in one of the world’s best media outlets.

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Science research can really build an appetite. At least that's partly the motivation behind "The Hungry Scientist's Handbook," published by Harper Collins in September.

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I'm in Istanbul Turkey this week where I got a chance to test out the Lingo Navigator, a $70 pocket-sized gadget that translates and speaks out-loud in Turkish and 11 other languages. You can hear the Lingo itself and my comments on my podcast .

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That PC on your desk could be a major energy hog. It’s not so much the electricity it takes to use it, but the fact that it might be wasting energy while you’re not using it.

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I'm back! Yes, I was on vacation for about two weeks in sunny Hawai'i (Kaua'i and Maui, to be exact) but I've returned to rather chilly New York. I was hoping that spring would arrive a little early here, alas, it's only warmed slightly. Anyway, enough about the weather. Happy St. Patrick's Day! And what's with this? (There has to be a better way to get free cable.) Rest assured I'll have more to say here in the coming days, so stay tuned, and stay connected.

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