I just discovered Swype does handwriting recognition, and it's AWFUL. I'm not sure how they think letter-by-letter is compatible with at least the other two keyboards I've seen out there. Their suggestions are top notch, which is the only reason I'm still experimenting with settings, but SHIT.

They unlocked the phone I deliberately bought unlocked (Germany, if memory serves) and now my sister is on Android. She pays through the nose for data minutes--do you guys have any recommendations about firewall apps, or other ways to keep it under control.

My Mom is thinking of getting this for very light web browsing and listening to Democracy Now. [link] . Any minuses for this? Is this a good deal. She has a $100 Amazon gift card, I'll put in $50, and she will put in $50.

Another possibility. Instead of the Chromebook for 200, there is this no-name android 10 inch for 150. Worse screen, but apparently fast intenet connection.

Tim just got a Chromebox, and assuming the Chromebook differs only in the fact that it's a laptop and therefore portable, I can tell you his Chromebox is fast and great for browsing and whatnot.

(He got the Chromebox because his dad's computer is plagued with spyware, malware, viruses, and possibly the actual Black Death, because he CLICKS ON EVERYTHING. And so Tim gets a call once a week asking for computer help. The idea was, if the Chromebox seemed decent, he would get his dad a Chromebox so that [1] there would be drastically fewer problems and [2] if there were problems, Tim could just look at his own box and [ideally] talk him through the fix over the phone. We'll see how that pans out.)

t edit (Well, the *alleged* reason for getting a Chromebox was so that if his dad ALSO had a Chromebox and then had problems, Tim could talk him through a fix over the phone. But I suspect the REAL reason was "Shiny! New!" [He did actually say "I've never been an early adopter before! This is so cool!"])

One of the Microsoft FUD ads says that you don't need to be connected to the internet to be able to get their shit done.

Is it the Chrome* they're slagging there?

Adobe Creative Cloud had an outage this weekend. People couldn't use the software that they paid for, that was on their hard drives, because they couldn't check the license online.

I think I'm going to suggest the Chromebook. Her intent is to use it for listening to Democracy Now, but I think given that all she does on her computer is email, light browsing and the occasional one to three page speech, she might find herself using it for everything.

Talked to my aunt, my gift of a Kindle is a BIG hit with her and my uncle. At least a piece of technology that doesn't intimidate my aunt, especially because with her eyesight, being able to make the letters larger lets her read more easily.

Anyone using Word 2013? An author on my team just got it and were having crazy versioning issues.

For example, I got a 46-page chapter from him and saw track changes perfectly until page 30, then nothing. He has been a huge pain-in-the-ass so I had suspected he hadn't finished but sent anyway (with the time difference, it was hard to verify the comment time codes once I could see all of them).

Today he says the 51-page document I sent to him is showing up as 18 pages. Googling shows this missing page thing happens, but it seems random and I'm not finding a clear fix. Anyone know of one?

[On a side note, I can't believe the default for track changes is essentially that changes are now invisible and there's no longer a built-in dictionary. WTF? I use my laptop often without being online. Planes, traveling, etc. To the Adobe issue Scola mentioned above, I so do not want software that depends on wifi access, or a subscription.]

Some nice ethernet cable for audiophiles: AudioQuest Diamond RJ/E Ethernet Cable 12m - FutureShop.co.uk

12 meters, £6,899.00, or about $11,500.

When insulation is unbiased, it slows down parts of the signal differently, a big problem for very time-sensitive multi-octave audio.

Well alrighty then.