Finding the best case and wallet for your new phone

I get a new iPhone most years and I tell myself it's for the photography aspects, but honestly, I'm ok buying a new pocket computer each year, especially one that is used more than any other computer I own. I usually get the iPhone Pro in

How to share your access to media with family and simultaneously sweep the annual nerdy nephew of the year awards

A couple months ago I was hanging out with my aunt, and she mentioned her cable+internet bill was around $250 per month. I thought that was insane and that I should do something about it. She's a 75 year old retiree that watches baseball and the hallmark

The best sketches from SNL's 49th season

I've watched Saturday Night Live from a frighteningly early age—I bet I've seen almost every episode live from about 1979 onwards, when I was barely 7 years old staying up late on Saturday nights to see some comedy. Before NBC launches into their 50th season

August 2024 in photos

Here are some highlights from the month of August: We went to Disneyland as a one-last-trip-before-college thing as a family, then we saw Sir Mix a Lot and Smashmouth play our county fair. I did some wheeling and then the Portland Bridge Pedal where they close half the freeways to

Richard Haughey (1944-2024)

My father passed away today. It was a shock to get the call that he was "code blue" at his nursing home and the news that followed came as a surprise. But it was also something that hopefully gave him some relief after struggling with a long recovery

The most surprising win at the Olympics: Peacock streaming

Right before the pandemic hit, I moved into a new house that was just outside of cable TV coverage. And while I'd dabbled in streaming apps for years, this was the first time I was forced to become a full-time cord-cutter. (note: I briefly considered getting DirecTV but

A recap of bike stuff from the first week of the 2024 Olympics

I spent the first 20+ years of my life on a BMX bike, then later did some mountain bike and cyclocross racing. I follow bike events to this day, so here are my quick thoughts on bike-related events from the Paris Olympics so far. BMX Freestyle (park) BMX freestyle (known

My long strange trip into home automation

Over the past few years I've written about things I've done around my home, like putting in a five-acre wide WiFi network or tapping a NFC tag to unlock the front door, and I think I've finally figured out a novel setup for home

Happy Birthday, MetaFilter!

It's pretty incredible that MetaFilter turns 25 years old today. Barely anything on the internet sticks around for this long. MetaFilter predates LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube. It's older than Wikipedia and Blogger. Other similar sites sprang up after it like Digg, then reddit, then Quora, but

24 unexpected hours in NYC

I'm almost done with research work on my upcoming guidebook as my wife and I review the final 14th stadium up in Seattle on Sunday. This past weekend we visited the fields furthest from Oregon, flying to Washington DC to catch a Spirit match on Saturday then an

I love seeing car YouTubers drop their networks

There's been a trend lately in car-youtuber-land, one where you hear a host on camera say they're going to start a new channel of their own, and later they post a detailed video on how they quit their former employer, which was usually a car-related YouTube

When convenience becomes a liability

In the Summer of 2003, I bought my very first Mac of my own, with my own money. Previously, I was a Windows guy that occasionally dabbled in Mac stuff using hand-me-down powerbooks. But my new Mac would be my new full-time, daily driver computer. I kept a Windows computer

The coolest tech video I've seen in ages

The most interesting tech video I’ve seen in a while is this one and I’ll tell you why: For background, this YouTube channel is run by a tow truck guy from Bend, OR. I like the guy and his channel because in the past I learned a bunch

It's been…

Eight years after the crime was committed, six years since most evidence came to light in Michael Cohen's trial (where he plead guilty when the paper trail they tried to hide was exposed and Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison). This verdict doesn't mean

The final XOXO is a go

About 15 years ago, I'd say I was at my high point of weird internet fame, where a few thousand people online knew who I was. When you run a big community website, you get to know thousands of people and they got to know me too. The

How to enjoy retro Nintendo games on your iPad

The Delta game emulator was recently released for the iPhone and it's pretty great. But it takes some setting up to get it working best on an iPad, so I wanted to cover how to do that here, so others don't have to make the same

Remember "free" airport WiFi? Also: LAX has always been a trash fire

I flew though LAX yesterday and forgot how hostile free airport WiFi used to be in the mid-2000s.  LAX uses Boingo Wireless (aka Earthlink dialup's follow-up venture) which first tries to sell you a $15/mo plan (that used to be adopted by other airports). To get wifi

Apple's message falls flat

You've probably seen the tone-deaf ad from Apple about their new super thin iPad (update: they apologized for it). I get the concept they were going for—it's like a thousand devices rolled into one, but the way the ad was shot revels in destruction of

family

Dear Fiona…

The thing I remember most about your first few days on this planet was the anxiety. The actual birth was an ordeal in and of itself, but barely 24 hours later nurses were shoving us out of the hospital, giving two young adults with the least amount of experience around

My new book project is officially a go

I mentioned a book I was planning to write in my "Embrace the weird" post a couple weeks ago. This book idea is definitely weird, as it's a super niche one. I'm writing a guidebook to the fourteen stadiums that host National Women'

Even more CMS talk

After writing my previous post about my dream blogging content management system, the folks over at Shop Talk asked me to come on and discuss it more. It’s on their site here and I’ve uploaded the episode MP3 directly here as well. Shoptalkshow 6120:00/3743.55591836734671× I

Feeling duped by Amazon's "magical AI" bullshit

Back in the Summer of 2019, I was in Seattle doing customer interviews for work, and I stopped by a friend's apartment in downtown Seattle. I spent a few hours there while using his wifi along with a spare desk. Nothing was too unusual until I went to

Embrace the weird

The other day I was complaining to a friend how I've been spinning my wheels lately, having trouble finding any projects or gigs I could work on. He came back with a quick, short, smart response: Who cares? Just make weird shit. It hit me like a ton

A sandwich so good I nearly wept

I'm a big fan of food and I'm always looking out for new places to eat, especially in Portland, Oregon where lots of new food places regularly spring up in food carts and restaurant pop-ups. Over the past few years I've also grown fond

Everyone should try and experience a total solar eclipse at least once in their lives

Today's total solar eclipse features four minutes of totality stretching from Texas to Vermont, but I didn‘t make travel plans to head out to the midwest this time around. I wish I could see it but I feel ok missing it because I got to live it