Oh, So Vine

Posted on May 22, 2013 by metrospirit

New social video app is not kid- or grandparent-friendly Recently, Twitter released its latest creation. It’s a social video app called Vine. The best way to think about it is Instagram for video. The app allows users to create and…

An Obvious Solution

Posted on May 15, 2013 by metrospirit

iPhone? Great. But there’s a little problem with Siri. A couple of weeks ago my phone died. It wasn’t the pixelated-screen or scratchy-sound kind of dead. It was the ain’t-no-way-I’m-working-ever-again kind of dead. To their credit, Verizon was wonderful. I…

Internet Sales Tax

Posted on May 8, 2013 by metrospirit

Local senators vote to cripple small businesses When I was growing up, I always dreamed about how I could help change the world. I suspect that’s not uncommon. We all want to make a difference. The politically correct thing was…

Sales Tax Cometh

Posted on May 1, 2013 by metrospirit

If you don’t like it, you’d better start yelling now If you look at American history, I’m sure you could point to a time period and say that was the golden age of innovation and small business. Whatever that time…

CISPA Is Back

Posted on April 24, 2013 by metrospirit

And so are the aliens… on SyFy at least The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, or CISPA, is back for another run through Congress. To review, this proposed law would facilitate the sharing of cyber information between private organizations…

Fighting Terror with Tech

Posted on April 17, 2013 by metrospirit

Social media helps in the aftermath of the bombings in Boston The big news of the week is the terrorist attack in Boston. Our thoughts and prayers are with those whose lives were lost or otherwise forever changed. And our…

Judgement Day?

Posted on March 26, 2013 by metrospirit

Remember the Terminator, people! Every once in a while, you come upon a headline that makes you scratch your head. No, I’m not talking about the wired.com article this week, “Want to Make an Alligator Angrier Than Normal” (uh… why?)…

Freedom 1, NSL 0

Posted on March 19, 2013 by metrospirit

And which is better: laser or phaser? It’s pretty easy to close your eyes and imagine a Nazi or Communist Party official presenting a letter to a business owner and saying (with a sinister accent), “You would provide a great…

Next After ‘X’

Posted on March 12, 2013 by metrospirit

And the unlikely star of SXSW Even after two and a half years, I still love my Droid X. It was the first phone that I owned that I didn’t have to do a battery yank every day. The picture…

The Maker

Posted on March 5, 2013 by metrospirit

Minions, Robots and World Domination Ever since the movie “Despicable Me” was released, each member of my family has expressed an overwhelming desire to reign over an army of minions. Let’s face it — who wouldn’t? With just a few…