Back at the Desk, 1,000+ Unread
First day back at the desk after the holidays, staring down a thousand-plus unread RSS items, a squeaky chair, and the usual pile of resolutions I probably won't keep.
Looking Ahead to 2012
A New Year's Eve rundown of half-baked guesses about 2012: Siri, Android fragmentation, cheap tablets, the SOPA fight, and Apple without Steve Jobs.
A Year of techpad, More or Less
A look back at a year of running techpad: what got read, what flopped, and the weird month of December that closed it out.
My Actual Top Gadgets of 2011
A personal, opinionated ranking of the gadgets that actually mattered to me in 2011, from the Kindle Fire to the iPhone 4S, plus a rant about Carrier IQ.
Boxing Day Deals and the Great Gadget Return Shuffle
A Boxing Day recap of doorbuster deals, what to do with your new (or unwanted) gadgets, and some grumbling about Carrier IQ, Siri, and SOPA along the way.
Last-Minute Tech Gifts (You've Got One Day Left)
Still shopping on the 23rd? Here's what's actually worth grabbing this week, from Kindle Fires (if you can find one) to why an Amazon gift card isn't a cop-out.
JavaScript Closures, With Actual Examples
A practical look at JavaScript closures using two real examples: a private click counter and the classic loop-variable bug that trips up almost everyone at some point.
A Holiday Gift Guide for Developer Friends
A last-minute holiday gift guide for developer friends: mechanical keyboards, a couple of books worth actually giving, and gadgets to be careful with.
Ubuntu 11.10 and Unity, Two Months In
Two months after Ubuntu 11.10 shipped with Unity as the default, checking back in on whether the complaints actually faded or people just found other desktops to run instead.
Setting Up Self-Hosted WordPress (Finally Wrote This Down)
A walkthrough of moving to self-hosted WordPress: picking a cheap host, the actual install process (five-click or manual), and choosing a first theme.
Finally Turned the Junk Closet Into a Home Theater PC
I finally turned a milk crate of old computer parts into a working home theater PC this weekend, complete with a dying hard drive, an Ubuntu detour I regret, and a remote that worked way too easily.
Live-Blogging the SOPA Markup Hearing
Live-reaction notes from today's House Judiciary Committee markup hearing on SOPA, DNS provisions, awkward tech questions, and all.