Okay, some time ago I posted an entry about what MP3 player to get. There was some flak about my ideas on ripping music to place on your MP3 player, so I thought I would make an attempt at the end-all-be-all rip guide.

In case you’re wondering, “ripping” MP3s (or other audio files) is the act of pulling the audio information off of a standard audio CD and creating compressed (or in some cases, uncompressed) audio files on your computer. This is a very common activity these days as practically no one has a computer that doesn’t use it …

So, the iPhone 2.0 software upgrade has brought mixed feelings across the board… here are a few things that have happened to me.

I have to rail on AT&T a bit. Sometimes, this stuff just doesn’t make sense. When they say more bars, sometimes I think they mean “more different signal levels per minute than any other cell carrier.”

It started last year when I was traveling a lot. I was on a contract in Weehawken, NJ, which Google Maps will show you is right across the Hudson River …

Despite what our mothers told us, sometimes being popular is better.

A good friend of mine and I have an ongoing rivalry about many geek things. We argue incessantly about things like Macs vs. PCs, what games are better, etc. I scored a major victory when I convinced him that a Macbook Pro was the best 15″ gaming laptop for a reasonable price. He actually bought one! Of course, he runs Windows on it exclusively, but still, I consider it a victory.

In any case, our largest …

Rumor has it that everything Apple does and the way they do it is based on what Steve Jobs thinks is best.  Well, it’s obvious that ol’ Stevie-boy only owns one Mac because it’s impossible to keep more than one in sync.

I am convinced that there is a lot of money to be had for anyone who can come up with the solution to this problem.  It is nearly as prevalent on the Windows platform as it is on the Mac, but I think the problem is worse on the Mac.  And if anyone can help me with a solution …

Over the course of my geek life, I have collected and used many gadgets.  Some have been good and some have been bad.  To shed light on what makes a gadget good in the eyes of a geek, I give you “The 10 Commandments of Geek Gadgetry.”

I. Thou shalt use a standard plug (preferably USB).  I cannot tell you how convenient it is to have gadgets that use standard plugs for power and to interface with a PC or other piece of hardware.  It just makes life so much better when something fails or if you have to, God forbid, …

Okay, I broke down and got an iPhone, against my better judgement.  But I played with it at the store and it was just so slick and fun to use, I couldn’t resist.  But there are caveats, my friends!

Well, my Windows Mobile phone ticked me off for the last time on Saturday.  Add to that the fact that I live a mere 565 yards from the Apple Store, and the next thing you know, I have an iPhone.  There are goods and there are bads.  Here are my thoughts.

iPod: Apple says this is the best iPod they’ve ever produced.  Malarkey!  …

Why can’t anyone come up with a decent iPod interface for cars?

If you read my previous post, you probably suspect that I went ahead with the purchase.  Yes I did.  The Acura RDX is indeed geek nirvana.  And understated in my prose was the voice command capability of the vehicle.  Oh, it’s awesome!  So far, my favorite commands are “XM 41″ for some head-banging tunes, “passenger temperature 32 degrees” to freeze out whoever is riding with me, and “find nearest fast food restaurant” for righteous eats.  The whole system is very seamless and it seems like pretty much every function …

I believe I have found my next car.  The Acura RDX!  And for all the geek reasons!

Right now, I have two cars: an Isuzu Rodeo Sport (affordable, but bad mileage) and a Honda S2000 (testosterone nirvana!).  Neither is blessed with an abundance of geek goodness.  Heck, the interior of the S2000 is very spartan.  Some S2000 afficionados even feel that the car is so purely a race car that it shouldn’t even have a radio!  But I digress.

As such, I have decided that my next automobile purchase will be based on geeky goodness.  That means all the creature comforts I …

As a road warrior, I have struggled forever with finding the best method for getting my recorded TV programs to travel with me.  Here is the journey so far.

The number one solution has always been to throw money at the problem.  But I have tried desperately to avoid that solution.  In the end, it may be the way to go.  From what I can tell, it would be easy to get a Windows Media Center Edition PC (also called MCE, around $1,000 minimum for an MCE PC) and a compatible portable player ($200+).  But there are reasons not to go …

With all technology getting smaller and smaller, it should seem obvious that everything should fit in the palm of our hands.  But that just isn’t a reality just yet.

Cellphones are getting smaller and more powerful, but yet most of the more powerful ones are still larger than ideal.  The chief factors for this are that certain elements of our tech interaction simply cannot be miniaturized without loss of true usefulness.  At least not yet.

Take my cellphone (please).  It’s a T-Mobile MDA, which is a Windows Mobile Smartphone.  Basically, it’s a PocketPC with phone functionality.  I love it because it allows …