This past weekend I had the pleasure of serving as a judge at a FIRST Lego League robotics competition. It was a blast!
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As a technology writer, I find that there are some things I enjoy writing about and some things I just find painful and do everything to avoid. It’s not my fault that something is painful to write about. Instead, it’s probably due to poor design more than anything happening in my head. Take the Windows Task Scheduler, for example.
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Remember this ad?

PCs, but not Macs? Apparently not so anymore.
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You’ve probably heard about Black Friday. It was last Friday (November 28). That’s the official starting day of the Christmas shopping season, when many stores finally turn a profit for the year (they go “into the black,” hence Black Friday). But what about Cyber Monday?
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Finding that perfect gift for your nerd friends is probably not a problem for you. What is a problem, however, is how to get the “I want this” message across to your non-technology-obsessed friends and relatives.
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I’ve heard that they had a limited lifetime, but this past weekend it actually happened. The Secure Digital media card I used in my digital camera took a final, fatal dump.
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An AP article this past weekend revealed that the US Department of Defense has banned all USB flash and thumb drives from the Pentagon. And this was just as USB drives are getting deplorably kitchy.
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Most of my work day is spent trying to avoid work. During one of my anti-work adventures, I stumbled across a necessary task that many of us often avoid more than we avoid work. Yet it’s avoided because few people remember to do it: Cleaning up your e-mail address book.
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There is no reason that computers take so long to start. In fact, the only reason it takes up to a minute (or longer) to start Windows Vista is because having a faster boot time is not a priority for Microsoft. It should be, as the ASRock Instant Boot program proves.
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While the spam I receive in my e-mail inbox is down from the flood levels of years past, there are still a few web sites I specifically block in my e-mail program. One of the big ones is Classmates.com. Apparently I’m not alone.
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