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On balance, there may be worse things in life than sending someone pictures of yourself in your underpants.

However, there may be fewer more ill-advised things, especially if you've never met the recipient and you happen to be a politician held in some regard.

For his intimately twittered transgression, Anthony Weiner paid a certain price and that price was what, in some media, is defined by the word "disgrace." It seems odd that this word might be damning, as it is one so often used to describe politicians.

Some might have imagined that Weiner would seek a quieter, more contemplative life after events which saw the Democratic Representative for New York resign in 2011 for his socially networked unseemliness.

A decent amount of time has passed, however, and Weiner seems to be girding his loins for a run at the mayor's office. With this perhaps in mind, he has returned again to the place of alleged disgrace, Twitter. … Read more

I understand that one of the main joys of parenting a toddler involves keeping the little one amused.

Amused, as in quiet.

Ever since the iPad came along, with its bright colors and infinite range of games and pictures, it has seemed like an ideal tool to keep baby happy. This happiness, however, is one that baby does not want to ever, ever stop. So much so that some toddlers are now said to be iPad addicts.

This curiously adult affliction seems to involve baby undergoing seven aspects of demented ranting, should her iPad be taken away.… Read more

It seems so obvious now, but taking pictures of models outside of a studio was something of a revolution in the 1940s and 50s.

For Norman Parkinson, the British photographer who would have been 100 years old today, it offered an opportunity for an additional elegance and simplicity.

"I never work in studios if I can help it, because working in a studio is such hard work," he told one interviewer.

A studio is merely an attempt to simulate daylight. Why not just plump for daylight in the first place?

Many think of Sir Norman (as he became) … Read more

There's something about the plastic nature of Samsung's phones that make them slightly less attractive.

To me, that is.

I know that there are millions to whom it doesn't make a difference. There are even many, no doubt, who believe -- in some idiosyncratic way -- that plastic says now, rather than, oh, six months ago.

Some of these people are 13 years old.

However, not all of these people work for Samsung. Indeed, the SamMobile blog last week revealed that it had heard whispers from South Korea that some at Samsung believe plastic isn't quite … Read more

In a week of more news than seemingly could be printed, the media garlanded itself in praise.

The outside world, however, was troubled by some of the media's rather impulsive excesses -- which were not entirely confined to the New York Post.

Amid the pressure to give the insatiable public what it wanted -- more insatiability -- mistakes were made.

Perhaps the most bizarre may have been perpetrated by someone (or some auto-correct machine) at a Fox affiliate, at least if a picture posted to Twitter is to be believed.

Closed captioning isn't an always easy business. Those … Read more

Since Google announced the names of those who would get the first exemplars of Google Glass, I have been barely able to focus for wondering what Newt Gingrich is doing with his.

I await his new and vital perspective on Washington with rapt excitement.

However, others have resorted to more mundane activities, posting their little Google Glass movies for all to see (and so all can feel their eyes glaze over).

Perhaps the most mundane activity to which some have resorted is to try and make money out of their gadgets.

Before the winners of #IfIHadGlass were even announced, one … Read more

If you rob a bank and get away in a driverless Prius, will the owner be indicted as the driver? Or will Toyota? Or maybe Google?

If your driverless car decides -- as so many machines do in movies -- that it has a mind of its own, will you be responsible when it decides to mount the curb and plow straight into your favorite donut store? And what if someone hacks into your driverless car and you suddenly end up in Alaska, with an instruction to mow down moose?

You'll tell me this will never happen. I will point you to the fine profits regularly earned by the world's insurance companies.

I suspect that not everyone has the answers yet for all the ramifications of ceding your steering wheel to Google's machines.

Thankfully, though, all those who have the deepest knowledge of the self-driving future will be meeting in June to have a freewheeling exchange.… Read more

It's not often you see a bearded Princess Leia. At least not in the circles I normally run in.

Yet when Harrison Ford appeared on Wednesday's "Jimmy Kimmel Live," he was confronted by the sight of people who had taken their "Star Wars" devotion to places where Captain Kirk would not be so bold to venture.

Ford explained to Jimmy Kimmel that he couldn't, positively wouldn't, answer questions about the new "Star Wars" movie -- yes, the one that George Lucas hinted Ford might appear in.

Still, Kimmel politely wondered … Read more

Some things I still can't come to terms with.

You know, like the members of Senate being all millionaires.

Then there are people who use their iPad as a camera. I know you can do that, but it doesn't mean you should, any more than you should drive your F-150 through the front door of a drive-through McDonald's.

The iPad as a camera feels like the shoulder pad as an expression of style.

I am, therefore, in some shallow sense, grateful to Busted Coverage for directing me to this video of a women's softball game at the University of Northern Iowa.… Read more