Extras > Editorials Home > Extras > Editorials Articles Imagine if George Washington was God Computing Unplugged Magazine - February 2007 Imagine if George Washington was still alive today. Imagine that even though he was born in 1732, he was still hale and hearty and large and in charge 275 years later. Unrealistic? Farfetched? Frickin' crazy? Well, of course. Nothing like this could ever happen. Or could it? Real-world privacy implications of RFID Computing Unplugged Magazine - February 2007 Over the past few weeks, we've been very fortunate to enlist the help of Martyn Mallick, one of the leading experts on RFID technology. This week, we'll discuss the real-world implications of RFID, including privacy, tracking, embedded tags, and more. This is truly a fascinating conclusion for a very informative series. Looking forward to 2007 Computing Unplugged Magazine - December 2006 Another year is coming to an end, which of course means another year is about to begin. Funny how that works. As the new millenia turns one year older, our thoughts turn to the happenings of the past year and wishes for the year to come. Cheap and disturbing gifts under $50 Computing Unplugged Magazine - December 2006 Couldn't find a Wii? No one going to buy you that fancy laptop? Someone else is going into space with Virgin Galactic? There's no need to fret. No matter how down on your luck you are, we can find a fun, inexpensive, or completely weird and possibly insulting gift for you. Nice gifts for givers on a $50-500 budget Computing Unplugged Magazine - December 2006 Bummed that the WestBay yacht is going to someone else this holiday season? Dejected that no one would share Alienware love with you? Perhaps you're still moderately worthy. Here's our $50-500 gift guide. Expensive (but worth it) gifts for the truly worthy Computing Unplugged Magazine - December 2006 So, no one's going to buy you that Bugatti Veyron you're dreaming of, eh? Well, perhaps you're loved enough to merit a gift that's just expensive ($500-$5,000), rather than something in the millions. If you're looking for geek toy love, you've found the right place. Super-expensive gifts for the rich and excessive Computing Unplugged Magazine - December 2006 This year, we're doing things a bit differently. Rather than just the dull recitation of popular products, we've turned to the ZATZ editors, to a bunch of experts in the Internet Press Guild, and to a bunch of tech gaming enthusiasts, my own gaming buddies in the Iron Phoenix gaming community. Together, we've put together a series of articles that take you from the wildly super expensive to the incredibly cheap. From the taste and style of a Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR to the incredibly sad $1.99 English Soldier Mini Massager Vibrator (yep, it's sex toy). To feed your inner Bill Gates, we defined the super-expensive category as anything from about $5,000 up to, well, absolutely no top end. You ain't gettin' it, but you can dream. Privacy, not machines, was the big voting issue last week Computing Unplugged Magazine - November 2006 Last week, I discussed my personal dismay at the privacy violations I saw at my voting place. I asked readers to tell us about their experiences, and we got a number of fascinating comments from here in America and as far away as Australia. Read on to the end, because Bernard Bolch's comment about mandatory voting in Australia is fascinating. Is voting security in Florida still a problem? Computing Unplugged Magazine - November 2006 Today is Election Day here in the United States. As a registered voter, I did my duty and went down to my local polling place, and cast my vote. It was, without a doubt, the most disturbing voting experience I've ever had. In particular, we had issues of both inappropriate electioneering and a complete lack of privacy. Our interest here at Computing Unplugged was initially the touchscreen machines, since this is a computing technology that touches on our coverage areas. However, we're also interested in the optical-scan systems, since they, too, are managed by computers and computing technology. Preparing for the impending IE7 release Computing Unplugged Magazine - October 2006 Like a hurricane on the horizon (which, fortunately, we've managed to avoid this season), Internet Explorer 7 is getting closer and closer. In fact, if reports are to be believed, IE7 is about the make landfall in the next few days -- and it's coming to your PC whether you want it or not. In this important article, we show you how to prevent it from automatically installing. Red state vs. blue state software for your PDA and laptop Computing Unplugged Magazine - June 2006 For whatever reasons (and they're twisted), we didn't manage to kill this article. So, it's in this spirit of newly discovered brotherhood (and grits, did we mention the grits?) that we bring you our review of red state vs. blue state software for your PDA. To be fair, we've discovered we really love grits, and, frankly, there's been no really good hate mail for months. And, with all the warmth made possible by a sunny Florida summer, we bring you Red vs. Blue, state edition. Save yourself some tech support hassles with Computing Unplugged Computing Unplugged Magazine - May 2006 It's a holiday weekend here in the U.S. We all know what that means: extra work doing family tech support. Mom and Dad, Grandma and Aunt Lucy have all saved up their dumbest and most annoying tech support problems, just waiting for you to arrive and fix them. But, in the spirit of the Memorial Day, we'll take pity on all our readers who are in the trenches of the tech support war. For a short time, we'll waive our usual site-license fee and sign up your company, group, school, or organization en mass to Computing Unplugged at no charge. Treo 700p, E3, Halo 3, PS3, and taking a Wii Computing Unplugged Magazine - May 2006 Hang onto your hats, boys and girls. We've got one heck of a ride for you. So much has happened this week in the world of gadgets that you're going to need to keep your tray tables up and your seat belts locked to hang on through our whirlwind tour. Introducing the Computing Unplugged RSS feeds Computing Unplugged Magazine - March 2006 By now, you've probably noticed the little RSS icons that appeared all over Computing Unplugged in the past month or so. In this article, we explain what it all means. How to protect yourself from identity theft Computing Unplugged Magazine - January 2006 This month, Editor-in-Chief David Gewirtz had the opportunity to conduct a follow-up interview with Wade Callison, discussing many of the more scary aspects of identity theft -- and what you can do to protect yourself. This is a must read interview. An in-depth interview with Sprint Nextel and the future of GPS telephony Computing Unplugged Magazine - October 2005 Nextel's a very interesting firm, especially now that it's merged with Sprint. Editor-in-Chief David Gewirtz recently had the opportunity to interview Rob Consolazio, a senior executive at the firm, about business applications of mobile GPS telephony. You'll notice that most of the company references in this interview refer to Nextel, rather than Sprint Nextel. That's because the interview took place just before the firm's name changed to Sprint Nextel. The continuing mystery that is Palm, Inc. Computing Unplugged Magazine - September 2005 So, Palm is going to produce what is essentially a Pocket PC phone. Palm also sold off the Palm OS, which was its primary differentiating factor. Does that mean the Palm OS is dead? Should you stop buying Palm PDAs? Should you stop developing software for the Palm OS? Read Editor-in-Chief David Gewirtz' analysis to learn what we think. The man behind the microchip Computing Unplugged Magazine - September 2005 As Stanford historian Leslie Berlin tells it, she once set out to write a history of Silicon Valley. Soon, she realized that one name kept coming up: Robert Noyce. Figuring that it'd be a good idea to read a biography, she discovered there wasn't one available. After years of work, she's completed that biography and has written an original article for Computing Unplugged about the "man behind the microchip". From New Jersey to Palm Bay, Florida Computing Unplugged Magazine - August 2005 Over the past week, we've gotten a number of concerned emails and voice mails, most of which we haven't yet been able to return. No, we haven't been swallowed by a sea monster. Instead, we've been moving -- from North Brunswick, New Jersey to Palm Bay, Florida. For the exciting story, read this article. Let's play taps for Tapwave Computing Unplugged Magazine - July 2005 .SUMMARY How Elvis entered the building and CES went out the window Computing Unplugged Magazine - January 2005 As always, your esteemed ZATZ editorial staff was on the case, prepared to cover CES in full. Unlike in previous years, uh, something happened on the way to the convention center. You see, Denise Amrich and David Gewirtz -- the two co-founders of ZATZ Publishing -- got married. And, yep, CES went out the window. To make things even more interesting, Elvis is part of the story. Try your hand at the Computing Unplugged Tapwave Hype-a-palooza Computing Unplugged Magazine - September 2004 Welcome to Hype-a-palooza. This, our first ever Hype-a-palooza, is designed to promote awareness of the underappreciated Tapwave Zodiac (and get you a ton of cool prizes). Why hype the Zodiac? The reason is pretty simple: we think it's a great product, a real innovation in the handheld market. In the future, we will likely hype-a-palooza other products that we feel are deserving of added attention. Geek out the vote! Computing Unplugged Magazine - September 2004 When you think about technological innovations, you might think about computers, cellular phones, or even rockets. Yet none of these innovations have changed the world like the simple concept we've grown to know as voting. No matter who you support or what your cause, that single, simple action of voting connects you to free people throughout the world, back through history, and forward into an unknown, but hopeful future. This article announces a special program that should encourage you to get out, register, and vote. Are you into robots? Computing Unplugged Magazine - September 2003 Are you into robots? If so, and if you can write, consider submitting an article to Computing Unplugged. We want to add more coverage of robotics to the magazine, but we need some serious "robot geeks" to help get us started. A quick call for writers Computing Unplugged Magazine - June 2003 Wanna be famous? Consider writing for Computing Unplugged. Details are in this article. Let's try this again Computing Unplugged Magazine - June 2003 Imagine, if you will, working for months and months to launch a brand-spankin' new publication. You work hard, but it's worth it because once it's launched, you can sit back and look proudly at a job well-done, read all the letters of encouragement and support from readers, and take a well-deserved break. That was the way it was supposed to happen with Computing Unplugged. The reality was a bit different. PalmPower is now Computing Unplugged Magazine Computing Unplugged Magazine - May 2003 Welcome to Computing Unplugged, the magazine of untethered technology, the magazine of unwired wonders, the magazine of unplugged possibilities. PalmPower Magazine is now Computing Unplugged Magazine. Read this editorial by Editor-in-Chief David Gewirtz to learn more about what waits those who pull unplug and connect. Analysis: handheld market share PalmPower Magazine - November 2002 On October 28, 2002, Gartner Dataquest released third quarter 2002 market share results for the PDA sector, revealing that PDA shipments for the first three quarters of 2002 are down 8.3 percent from the same period last year. Meanwhile, Palm retained only 30 percent market share in the third quarter, down from 70 percent a year or so ago. For the complete results of this report, read on. CelloGrrl's techscapades PalmPower Magazine - October 2002 When regular contributor Janine Sutphen informed us she would be taking her Palm handheld to fiddle camp this summer, we just had to learn more. In response, she offered this lovely article describing her time there. While it's not something you'd typically find in PalmPower, we thought it'd be fun to share, nonetheless. The morbid fascination that is Palm, Inc. PalmPower Magazine - September 2002 David Gewirtz compares his long-standing morbid fascination with Apple to his more recent morbid fascination with the mystery that is Palm, Inc. Palm reaches out to enterprise market with new ad campaign PalmPower Magazine Enterprise Edition - June 2002 Palm's new ad campaign, designed to highlight the company's latest handheld releases, has been running recently. In this article, Steve Niles takes a closer look at the details of this campaign. News analysis: growth in Palm market PalmPower Magazine Enterprise Edition - May 2002 2001 was a rough year for everyone. However, there are signs that things are starting to pick up, which is undeniably positive. Steve Niles, who does our daily news updates, shares the good news that came out of some recent Palm announcements.