Category: Tech

  • Can Haswell-based MacBook Airs last all day?

    Dear Walt Mossberg, Like you, I just love my MacBook Air. (I know, I know…officially you don’t have a bias towards Apple products. The fact that you’ve never seen an Apple product you didn’t give a glowing review to doesn’t change this “fact.” But, all is redeemed by your life-long commitment to Red Sox Nation.)…

  • How to buy a BMW via European Delivery

    Tips for negotiating BMW European Delivery price, ordering your BMW and delivery in Munich

  • Verizon FiOS support to customers: plug it in, dummy

    I was looking at a FAQ today on Verizon FiOS’s website on 3D TV (which is, apparently, prematurely dead) when I ran across this ditty in the sidebar. Yes, thank you, I did know that plugging the STB, router and DVRs into a power source could fix the problem of them being unplugged in less than…

  • How to display PDFs in any WordPress post or page and on any browser or device

    I’ve been using WordPress a long time. This blog alone dates back to 2006. And in all that time, I’ve always been frustrated with the WordPress handles PDFs. Until now. PDFs (and other graphics formats) really add to the content of your blog. In my work life, they are one of the main formats we…

  • How to get SSL working in WordPress

    If you, like me, trust no one on the Internet; if you know Internet and security are two words that never really go together; if you really understand the cesspool of danger that the Internet is, you would never fill in a web form that doesn’t use SSL. Having just completed the new Zixi website,…

  • How to change the name of Outlook calendars on iPhone, Mac and Windows

    How to change the name of your Office 365 calendars on Windows, Mac and iOS

  • A prescription to curb mental cobwebs after general anesthesia: ER22x

    I blogged recently about my excitement at the prospect of participating in a massively open online course at edx.org called “ER22x: Justice.” The course, which started on March 12, has been joined by thousands all over the world. An exploration of political philosophy, this course is ideal for the online environment and, being about morality, has already begun to generate…

  • Why MOOC has me deeply excited

    My last role at Lotus, ending in 2000 (so long ago!), was in distance learning. Having lost the leadership of the growing messaging and collaboration market as a result of a withering competitive battle against Microsoft that lasted most of the 90s, we were seeking ways to leverage the Notes/Domino application platform in areas where…

  • Still recovering from Drupal: one year later

    It’s time to build and write another website — something I do about once a year, it seems. After my last (self-inflicted) debacle with Drupal (here and here), there was no question that I’d use WordPress for the new website I am developing for Zixi. And when I decided today to write (yet another) love…

  • A PowerPoint 2013 mea culpa on wrapping text

    Every now and then, a human touch comes through in a software product that is otherwise devoid of any human touch. And it’s always a little bit of a surprise because we don’t think of software in the same terms as we do things that claim to be “handicraft” or “hand-made.” Software seems somehow divorced…

  • How to improve Office 2013 performance in a virtual machine

    Increase performance in Windows virtual machines

  • The FCC kowtows to the cable industry (yet again)

    These days, I am fortunate to be working in a company that serves the broadcast, cable and entertainment markets. This unites my long interest in these industries with my love of deep-geek technology. (My company, Zixi, makes a video transport platform that allows these companies to develop new applications for high-quality streaming video.) Since I…