Mothers are great for reminding us to clean our rooms or eat our vegetables, but when it comes to the tech tasks we ought to be on top of, we’re generally on our own. Unfortunately, if you’re like most tech users, you probably procrastinate, pushing off that list of maintenance tasks as long as you

With the Superbowl just around the corner, all I cay say is GO GIANTS! But aside from reveling in my idealistic daydreams of Tom Brady sobbing like a kid who just got ice cream face-smashed by a 300-lb linebacker, I’m here to talk cameras, folks. Some of you may be heading to that Superbowl next

The long awaited Timeline revamp for the Facebook profile has arrived, but for some odd reason the popular social networking site hasn’t exactly made it intuitive in how you turn it on. For those of you just dying to know and want to get to the nitty gritty, you need to head to http://www.facebook.com/about/timeline and after

The aperture is one of the primary sources of consternation for most photographers. It’s bad enough that we have to compute shutter speed/aperture ratios, but understanding the mathematical principals behind an aperture and how it works is like decoding hieroglyphics to any beginner. I’m here to break it down for you, to the best of

In this edition of the world renowned Mastering Camera Controls series, we’re going to focus on one of the most neglected camera controls in the consumer photography world: The Mode Dial. I’m here to tell you that there’s nothing to fear—the Mode Dial is your friend. Think of the mode dial as your Starship Enterprise

As that avalanche of white stuff approaches the holiday season, most of us will be dreaming of sugarplums, dradels and getting as far the heck away from that menacing white stuff as geographically possible. Many Northern residents will be seeking refuge in warmer climates at some point in the frosty season, vacationing in tropical paradises

Thursday evening, thousands of people marched across the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan to Brooklyn as part of New York City’s arm of the #Occupy protests. As the masses made their way from the streets of lower Manhattan onto the pedestrian walkways of the bridge (a route I know well from my days of yore bumbling around

The thing about computer technology – and consumer electronics in general – is that today’s silicon powered goodies tend to physically outlive their “soft shelf life.” In other words, even though you’re ready to upgrade a smartphone, laptop, or settop TV box, more often than not the device you’re itching to get rid of still

Continuing my quest for a low-cost, low-power, iTunes-compatible media server from Part One took me to the classified ads. I first looked for a G4-powered Mac mini but quickly got caught up in wanting to spend “just a little more” to get a newer, more powerful and energy efficient Intel powered machine. Suddenly I was

A few months back I decided to cut the cord. Tired of giving $150+ per month to Comcast, my wife and I decided we could live without cable TV for awhile, a decision made easier by the NBA lockout. As it turns out we didn’t cut the cord entirely, as the infinite wisdom of Comcast’s

When the iPhone 4S was released, it rang in 4 million launch-weekend activations (and pushed iOS up to 61.64 percent of the global mobile-OS market last month). With all those new handsets in the wild, it was only a matter of time before users began noticing some quirks. Battery life is a chieffy among them.

Some of Facebook’s recent changes have been met by a torrent of criticism from those who don’t like Zuckerberg and co. messing with their favorite social network. However, one feature that people seem to be very keen on is Timeline — a new layout for your profile that looks awesome. Facebook has promised to roll

It’s hard to be a smartphoneenthusiast these days. You stay up on the news, maybe even rumors, and make what you think is an informed choice – only to find your chosen handset less than spectacular in person. Or worse – you love it like no other for about four days, i.e. when a new

File types. They’re everywhere these days. But what’s a photographer to do? Take heed to my File Extension Guide for all of your capturing, printing, and web publishing needs. JPEG (Novice to Intermediate Amateur Photography) The JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) file is a lossy format that is the most popular file type for most

Part 1 of “Roommate Relations” offered some tips for dealing with roomies. Those bits of advice will do wonders if the other person is a rational, level-headed person. But sometimes, you get saddled with someone who just defies logic. Maybe the school matches you up with a walking nightmare, whether because of bad attitude, bad

Ideally you’ll go off to school, meet a fantastic roommate or two and live in happy bestie-hood forever, watching each other’s backs. Unfortunately things don’t always go down like that. It’s bound to happen when you stuff people from all walks of life into one big dormitory. Everyone has different habits and proclivities, and that’s

Although university life can be exceedingly overwhelming, there are times when the homework well dries up and menacing free time taunts you with video games, frat house parties, and streaking. Well, someone’s got to document it, right? Maybe you have plans to be a photojournalist for the school newspaper, or just want to compile shots

With new BlackBerry handsets coming fast and furious over the next few weeks (and months depending on your carrier), you may be tempted to get latest leaked or official OS on your shiny new touchscreen.  Installing a new operating system is extremely easy, and relativity painless if you follow a few simple steps.  As the

Ever since Nintendo announced the price drop and the consolation prizes for Nintendo 3DS early adopters, I’ve been getting pinged with emails, text messages, phone calls and comments involving the same question: “How do I know if I’m a Nintendo 3DS Ambassador?” Before I get to the answer, let’s run down exactly what being an

Welcome to the second installment of the critically acclaimed “Mastering Camera Controls” series. Today’s main entrée is composed of three primary ingredients: Exposure, White Balance and Metering. While the first edition of MCC homed in on Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO, this next trio of controls will add more versatility to the way you interact

Enough is enough. In my house we have cable TV with a few hundred channels, two DVRs, and a monthly bill that – when you figure in HBO/Encore and cable modem Internet service – pushes into three figures. Frankly, that’s just too expensive. Subtract for the Internet service and we’re still looking at $80 or

With the exception of a few yahoos, when most of us think about searching the web, we’re thinking about Google. While Mountain View may be able to fulfill the bulk of our search-related needs, there’s no harm in mixing it up a bit. When looking for an alternative to Google, you could do a lot

Father’s Day is this coming Sunday. Last week Mike hit you with some cameras that are great for dad (that can probably still grab BTW), and today we thought we’d offer some suggestions for quick-and-easy geek gifts you can pick up on your way home from work or school today that are likely to be

Stop motion is one of the most magical forms of video on the planet, but it requires oodles of time. I’m going to walk you through the basic steps of stop motion so you can get rolling right off the bat. Then, if you send us links to your stop motion videos, I might just

Are you ready to transcend Auto mode and dive into the vast ocean of manual controls? I’ve rounded up three of the most common Photography tools that will take your snapping and rolling to the next level. This is the classic triforce of photography artillery. Aperture The aperture refers to the lens opening of a