Social networking

Pandora on Wednesday announced the arrival of some new sharing features for the service. In the past, you have been able to share Pandora stations, but you were forced to do it via e-mail instead of taking advantage of one of the modern social networks. Now, Pandora is enabling station and song sharing via much more efficient means: Facebook and Twitter.

These features work pretty much exactly how you would think they would. Clicking on the Facebook icon pops out a Facebook window, allowing you to share either the current song or station. The Twitter integration works in much the … Read more

Perhaps you were one of those who voted for your favorite corpse to be one who will participate in the Tweance.

The Tweance? Yes, the Halloween seance to be performed upon the heavenly medium that is Twitter.

Famous and entirely reliable psychic Jayne Wallace is to tweet her way to and through heaven and hell this Friday, between the hours of 10 a.m. and midday British Thoroughly Awful Time (3 a.m. to 5 a.m. Pacific)

We, the grieving earthly leftbehinds, were asked by the organizers--some folks called Angels Fancy Dress--to vote for our most cherished and lost … Read more

Art knows no boundaries. Neither does the level of emotion inspired by an assault on the culture of Apple.

Just last week, Verizon's Droid attempted to offer a hearty dose of spittle to the iPhone, so one upset Apple aficionado has decided that the Good Empire must strike back.

He has created a YouTube rebuttal that, he believes, offers some perspective.

He says: "iDon't need scare tactics." He says: "iDon't need to imitate." And he declares that the force is with him because "iDon't need a Droid...unless it's R2D2.&… Read more

Perhaps, like me, you always turn to your left when you board a plane.

Not because first class is that way, but merely to take a quick look at the pilots to see what they're doing and whether there's the faintest whiff of spliff or Johnny Walker wafting from their cabin.

So I am fascinated beyond excitement at what two Northwest Airlines pilots might have been doing on their laptops Wednesday night.

You see, these experienced men, Richard Cole and Timothy Cheney, were piloting a red eye from San Diego to Minneapolis when they seem to have forgotten … Read more

I feel fairly confident that Windows 7 will turn out to better than its predecessor.

I feel fairly confident that it will not turn hairy users bald, nor cause sane users to enter institutions of mental restructuring.

However, I have been watching these two pieces of film from Japan with some small prick of concern.

In each we see a television personality attempting to enjoy the touch screen facility and, well, finding the screen as frigid as a beer in a Reykjavik bar.

I don't speak Japanese quite well enough beyond "watashiwa kekong shtemasen" (no, I am … Read more

Perhaps you might be one of those who believes that there should be a very remote and unremitting island, somewhere in the Northern Baltic Sea, reserved for all those who act in an utterly inconsiderate manner.

You know these people well: those who sneeze and don't cover their mouths; those who come to your house for dinner and don't bring a bottle or a smile; and those, at least for members of the rescue services, who have bought a personal locator beacon.

According the the Associated Press, as these beacons have become cheaper, there appear to have been … Read more

In many countries around the world, there are people who have come out and claimed Windows 7 as being their idea.

Microsoft chose to reveal in its new advertising that the operating system is one that came about because the people demanded it, because the people created it.

And in the process, they hope Windows becomes the people's brand rather than their injury-prone Elton brand.

Yet, as the week of the launch winds down and the hard graft of daily selling begins, it seems instructive to examine just a couple of nuances in the campaign.

Here are two spots, … Read more

I have a theory about folks who appear on TV. Those who seem very nice are probably not so nice in real life.

And those who seem like those mindless, destructive winds that blow through small towns and make a lot of people miserable and destitute are probably rather charming when the red light isn't on.

On this basis, I would like to invite Fox News' Glenn Beck to dinner.

One of the things I hope he will chat with me about over a fine glass of Miner Family viognier is why he reportedly is continuing with legal action … Read more

Was Apple going to keep quiet about the launch of Microsoft's Windows 7?

Do raccoons know how to get at the leftover spaghetti in your garbage can?

So, indeed, here is an immediate retort starring Messrs. John Hodgman and Justin Long.

Apple's appeal is a very simple one. It is one that you have heard this before, often late at night, often inebriated, sometimes over the telephone.

Surely you remember the script: "Your lover let you down before? You went back to her. She was unfaithful again. And still you went back to her. Now she comes … Read more