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  • Great Tech Gadgets: When Spouses Collide

    Great Tech Gadgets: When Spouses Collide

    by Dan Tynan and Christina Tynan-Wood

    And Never the Twain Shall Meet... 

    Rudyard Kipling was spot on when he noticed that in some instances two sides can never agree. And where do woman and men diverge more than in their opinions about what makes tech gadgets and gear cool?

    He (on the west side of the photo at left) wants the biggest, loudest, geekiest gear he can find. She (on the east) wants something that won't disrupt the décor or disturb the neighbors. As equal as the sexes may otherwise be, men and women think and shop differently--especially when it comes to electronics.

    The authors, who are married techies, should know. In their gadget-rich household, they often wind up getting two of the doodad du jour--one for her and one for him. Fortunately, there's great stuff to be had for either vision of tech paradise. Here are a few choice items that they have their eyes on this year. Read on and you may begin to suspect that their choices reflect fundamental differences between women and men. Christina speaks first.

    Christina Tynan-Wood is author of How to Be a Geek Goddess (O'Reilly Media 2008). She writes the  GeekGirlfiends blog and the "Family Tech" column for Family Circlemagazine. When not bickering with his wife over which gadgets to buy, PC World Contributing Editor Dan Tynan tends his geek humor empire at  eSarcasm. Neither actually played a stunt double in Into the Blue.

  • So you think you know Skype?

    So you think you know Skype?

    by Tim Greene

    With Skype's legal troubles now cleared up, it's a good time to learn more about the company than just what features it offers. Here 10 questions designed to give you a better understanding of the peer-to-peer VoIP vendor.

    Related stories:

    Skype for Business sounds the all-clear on legal pitfalls

    Skype for Business Too Risky?

    Quiz: So you think you know Apple?

  • 15 free downloads to pep up your old PC

    15 free downloads to pep up your old PC

    by Preston Gralla

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  • 10 Blu-ray Titles That Show Off Classic Movie Formats

    10 Blu-ray Titles That Show Off Classic Movie Formats

    by Lincoln Spector

    Cinema Showcase

    Ready to enjoy a classic? Each of these ten titles demonstrates how Blu-ray's high-definition image and sound can re-create a bygone cinematic experience, from epics designed for 80-foot-wide curved screens to a comedy originally accompanied by live music. This list is in reverse chronological order of when the films were released. Half of them come from the 20-year period starting in the early 1950s--when Hollywood saw television as a threat instead of a market, and the industry created new film formats that TV couldn't match. Today, with Blu-ray, your TV can at least come close.

  • The $2 Britney Spears iPhone App and 5 Other Ways to Waste Money

    The $2 Britney Spears iPhone App and 5 Other Ways to Waste Money

    by Jared Newman

    sizcache="1" sizset="101">Why can't Apple's App Store overlords exercise more discretion when it counts? A $2 Britney Spears app has just approved is available for the iPhone. I thought the app called "It's Britney!" may have been some clever lip-syncing or karaoke app, but it's not. According to Britney's Web site "There really is an app for everything."

    Should we have expected any less from Britney? After all, an iPhone app is the perfect byproduct of our celebrity (and iPhone) obsessed culture. But wait, it gets better: There are plenty more self-obsessed celebrities with an iPhone app available at theiPhone's App Store. Heck, a star stalking iPhone user could waste hours with apps that revolve around musicians, athletes and movie stars. Here's a rundown of iPhone apps brought to you by your favorite celebs:

  • Seeing is believing: Eight elegant ways to present data

    Seeing is believing: Eight elegant ways to present data

    by Josh Fruhlinger, IT World

    Geeks aren't always known for their visual flair, but we do like our data, and every once in a while someone manages to pull off some skillful representations of the data and information that's interesting to us in particularly lovely and evocative ways. This slideshow depicts eight intriguing stabs at representing data that might concern you in your geeky professional or personal life.

  • Technology We'll Miss When It's Gone

    Technology We'll Miss When It's Gone

    by Christopher Null

    MP3 Players

    Sure, we'll still have portable devices that can play MP3s, but a few years from now they'll all be cell phones. Even the once-mighty iPod is no longer a growth product for Apple; in fact, iPod sales are now declining in double-digit percentages. It probably won't be long before Apple gives up on the thing, what with the far fatter profit margin that the iPhone offers, but consumers will lose out in the bargain. After all, wouldn't it be nice to listen to a song or two on the subway without having to pay 80 bucks a month? 1

  • Top IT Turkeys of 2009

    Top IT Turkeys of 2009

    by Network World Staff

    What does Balloon Boy have in common with VMware's Scott Drummonds? Can the mouth of Kanye West compare to that of a former Cisco executive? Which IT companies' divorce is at least as messy as Jon and Kate's? These are the deep philosophical questions that this year's annual IT Turkeys list (in honor of Thanksgiving) aims to answer. So grab a metaphorical carving knife and click on. 2

  • Top 10 free Windows tools for IT pros, at a glance

    Top 10 free Windows tools for IT pros, at a glance

    by Randall C. Kennedy

    No Windows geek or PC support professional should be without these must-have diagnostic, system tuning, file recovery, and other utilities. The best part: They're all free for the downloading. 4

  • Oddball Gifts for Uber Geeks

    Oddball Gifts for Uber Geeks

    by Sarah Jacobsson

    Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and Christmas is right around the corner from that, so it's time to start thinking (a month-and-a-half in advance) about awesome gifts to pick up for your friends and family.

    Your book-loving father? How about a Barnes & Noble Nook? Your accident-prone brother? Why not a tough laptop or rugged phone? Your social-networking sister? The Sony VAIO X-Series netbook should do the trick.

    But what about your most seriously geeky friend? You know, the one who wants you to call him "Ian Thornwald the Dwarf-Slayer" (the name of his level-70 Paladin), the one who dragged you out to wait in the pouring rain for the release of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and the one who gets so many shipments from Woot.com that the site's customer service department has him on speed-dial? I mean, what do you get a person who has already preordered Starcraft II?

    We looked around the Internet, and found some gifts that even a geek who has everything would appreciate.

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