washingtonpost.com - Technology- Fast Forward: Electronics and Gadgets Advice and Reviews From The Washington Post's Rob Pegoraro

Fast Forward: How to choose a computer

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

Across the universe of gadget gifts, few things can inspire more angst and buyer's remorse than home computers. Even as their prices have crumbled -- processors and memory have become so cheap that your main risk is buying more of either than you'll ever use -- these machines have remained specialized, often high-maintenance products. You cannot shop for them by price alone; buying a computer still demands a series of decisions with non-obvious answers.

MP3 players; GPS receivers; E-Book readers

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

TV gets simple; DVD, not so much

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

Something wonderful has happened in the world of high-definition video over the past few years: Flat-panel HDTVs have become everyday, relatively risk-free purchases. If only the same thing could happen for another category of high-def devices -- Blu-ray players.

Apple and Android phones are the smartest

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

Many phones tout themselves as "smart" these days, but not all these gadgets exhibit the same IQ. Let's set a few standards to weed out the unworthy: A smartphone should display a normal Web page, easily synchronize your contacts and calendars, make it simple to add or remove a wide range of add-on programs, serve as a media player, not require a stylus, and include a usable miniaturized keyboard.

Still plus video: Today's digital cameras double as camcorders

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

Not so long ago, cameras and camcorders lived as separate species. But while digital cameras still take better photos than camcorders and camcorders still shoot better video than cameras, the differences between them have shrunk to the point where many people can and should do fine with just a camera.

Fast Forward: 'Augmented reality' fuses your world and the Web

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

The cameras on some new phones don't show the world as you've known it.

Copyright overreach goes on world tour

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

Some of the better ideas in the computing industry never make it into stores, and not because of expensive hardware, complex code or inadequate bandwidth. You can blame laws that keep otherwise desirable products off of the market.

Fast Forward: Verizon's Droid takes on Apple's iPhone

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

Please don't call the Droid an "iPhone killer."

Fast Forward

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Wednesday morning, Google notified manufacturers of GPS navigation units that their services would no longer be needed. It didn't say so explicitly -- the news came in a corporate blog post about an improved Google Maps smartphone program offering turn-by-turn directions -- but the company didn't have to.

Microsoft's new anti-virus program offers unassuming alternative

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT

You can't always tell if a virus has taken over a Windows computer, but many anti-virus programs leave no doubt about their presence.

Fast Forward: Recession not making a dent in Apple's pricey product line

Rob Pegoraro — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Meet your next computer: It's no cheaper than the model it replaced, and its new features consist of processor and memory upgrades you probably won't notice and some design refinements you've lived just fine without until now.

Windows 7 Could Wash Away Vista Aftertaste -- or Most of It

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Windows 7 is no Windows Vista. But it remains a Windows operating system.

Fast Forward: Sidekick Users See Their Data Vanish Into a Cloud

Rob Pegoraro — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT

A server meltdown over the weekend wiped out the master copies of personal data -- including address books, calendars, to-do lists and photos -- accumulated by users of T-Mobile's formerly popular Sidekick smartphone.

Fast Forward: Yea for Android, Nay for Windows Mobile

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Will a new gadget stick around? You can't tell from its first act, but you might know by its second or third release. Or maybe its seventh. Consider two new follow-on performances in the wireless-phone industry: One broadens the appeal of Google's Android software, while the other cements the irrelevance of Microsoft's aging Windows Mobile platform.

Digital Cable TV, Still Stuck Inside the Box

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Television as millions of Americans have known it for decades is undergoing a radical change as it shifts to a new digital system.

Fast Forward: FCC Takes Sides in Net-Neutrality Debate

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EDT

On Monday, the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission said the agency would write rules requiring Internet providers to do something many of them already say they do: deliver online content without discrimination. So why were there so many long faces in telecom afterward?

Fast Forward: New MP3 Players May Overstep Bounds

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EDT

We need to retire the term "MP3 player." Not only do the newest media gadgets from Apple and Microsoft play more music formats than MP3 -- in addition to showing photos and videos -- they also fill some roles once reserved for high-end smartphones. They can even replace an old transistor radio.

Fast Forward: Prepaid Wireless-Data Plans Now Have More to Offer

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Prepaid wireless-phone service looks better than it used to, and that's not just because of the lousy economy.

Fast Forward: With Snow Leopard, Apple Changes Few of Its Spots

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EDT

It's no insult to call Apple's new Mac OS X Snow Leopard the company's least exciting operating-system update in years.

Fast Forward: Praise for Microsoft Live Movie Maker

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Microsoft has a sometimes undeserved reputation for needing three tries to get a product right, but in the case of Windows Movie Maker that description seems fair.

Projecting Our Hopes and Dreams Onto Apple

Rob Pegoraro — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EDT

What do you do when no manufacturer seems capable of building the gadget of your dreams? Why not engage in a little wish fulfillment about the most secretive company in the tech business?

Fast Forward: TomTom and Navigon Get Lost on the iPhone

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Did the developers get lost along the way? You might want to ask that after spending time with new turn-by-by-turn iPhone navigation programs from TomTom and Navigon.

Under All the Right Conditions, Latest Windows Upgrade Could Be a Breeze

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Two months from now, Windows users will have a chance to fix what's broken or break what's working. But they may not know which path they chose until after they've installed Windows 7.

The Smartphone Industry Has Some Clunkers of Its Own

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EDT

After a few months of rapid progress this summer, the smartphone industry probably deserves some time off in August. And to judge from two new, Web-connected, GPS-enabled, photo-and-video-capable phones, it's doing exactly that.

Fast Forward: The Lowdown on Lightweight Laptops

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Laptop computers have taken over the market from desktops, but along the way many of them have become the functional equivalent of their desk-bound cousins.

The Lineup

Post — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EDT

1 . Apple MacBook Pro, starts at $1,199

Fast Forward: Yahoo to the Recycle Bin

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Adieu, Yahoo.

Fast Forward: Barnes & Noble Repeats Amazon.com's Errors on E-Books

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Stop me if you've read this before: A high-profile electronic-book store has trouble matching the selection, pricing or flexibility of the traditional ink-on-paper product.

Fast Forward: Personal-Finance Tools Take to the Web

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

More Americans feel uneasy about the state of their finances -- and not because of any change to their income or expenses.

Fast Forward: Social Networks Can Be Breeding Ground for Viruses

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

You can get the most amazing messages from friends on Facebook.

Fast Forward: Google's 'Chrome OS': The Web Is the Computer

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Google announced a new Web-centric, laptop operating system Tuesday night and called it "Chrome OS," but the company could just as well have titled this software "Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's Revenge."

Fast Forward: Browser Users Can Celebrate an Independent's Day

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Considering it didn't even exist 19 years ago, the Web browser has done pretty well. No other program on a computer can do so many things -- e-mail, mapping and calendars, to name a few -- thanks to all the Web services now available.

Apple's New iPhone Has Learned New Tricks, but So Have Competitors

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Two years ago, the original iPhone was the phone that changed everything. The new iPhone 3GS can't make the same difference, not when it shares the market with both predecessors and competing models that have learned some of the same tricks.

Turning the Page

Post — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Comparing the old (Kindle 2) with the new (Kindle DX):

With Kindle DX, Amazon Writes New E-Book Chapter

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Lots of novels have the potential for one good sequel, but not too many can sustain a story over a third book.

Fast Forward: The Palm Pre -- a New Hope for Smartphones

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

The new Palm Pre comes from a company that's been developing handheld gadgets since 1992, but the Pre owes almost nothing to that heritage. It has all the promise -- and many of the limits and glitches -- of a bright, young startup's 1.0 release.

Rob Pegoraro's Fast Forward: After Bouts of Static, Digital TV Takes Over

Rob Pegoraro — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Almost all analog television broadcasts ended yesterday, but the world refrained from following suit.

With Bing, Microsoft Finds Some Good Web Search Ideas

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

What kind of company would try to start a new search engine now? Years after most people have grown accustomed to plugging queries into Google or, less often, Yahoo, anybody hoping to shake up that state of affairs had better bring both persistence and a pile of cash to the table.

Fast Forward: Web Radio Hits the Road

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 31 May 2009 00:00:00 EDT

It took a long drive over a holiday weekend -- a setting that should have played to all of radio's traditional strengths-- to show how much trouble commercial FM stations may have in store.

Rob Pegoraro's Fast Forward: Online Outages, Outrage and Ordeals

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 24 May 2009 00:00:00 EDT

By the standards of most power outages, Google's little hiccup last Thursday was nothing special. Most users of Google's sites and services didn't even notice, and those who did regained access in a couple of hours.

Rob Pegoraro's Fast Forward: Do-It-Yourself HD Video

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 17 May 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Getting a movie to watch in high definition on an HDTV can be an expensive proposition, between the cost of a Blu-ray player or a cable or satellite subscription.

BlackBerry Users Find A New World

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 10 May 2009 00:00:00 EDT

The smartphone industry finally seems to agree on this point: Adding applications to phones is not exactly fun.

Fast Forward: Broadband Caps Can Cost You

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 03 May 2009 00:00:00 EDT

What's more important when you sign up for your Internet service: getting a lower price upfront or being assured that your bill won't jump later?

A Strangely Lonely DVR -- Free of Subscriptions

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EDT

The DTVPal DVR shouldn't be an oddity in the electronics industry. This $250 box doesn't do anything that hasn't been possible since at least a decade ago.

GPS Units Plug Into the Web, but We're Not There Yet

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EDT

A typical GPS unit has its eyes on the stars and its feet set in concrete: It can fix its location anywhere within reach of Global Positioning System satellites but then must refer to maps that are months or years out of date.

E-Mail Software Needs a Rewrite

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EDT

It looks like a great time for e-mail but a lousy time for e-mail applications. If, that is, you even use a separate e-mail program these days.

Cable's Absurd Insistence on Bulk

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Remember those simpler, happier days when you could summarize your television viewing as "57 channels and nothing on"?

Making Money Online

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 00:00:00 EDT

If you see these words in a Web browser, you didn't pay to read them. And that should be OK.

Microsoft's New Browser Is Better, but Still Not Best

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Microsoft plans to ship a major update to its Internet Explorer Web browser today -- and it's either arriving just in time or far too late. A huge chunk of Microsoft's user base has yet to upgrade to the version it released in the fall of 2006, while many other people have long since switched to competing browsers.

Tax-Prep Software Doesn't Add Up

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:00:00 EDT

I knew I was doomed about five minutes into this year's tax-prep ordeal. Two different programs -- having been fed nothing more than basic personal info and the contents of a pair of W-2s -- did not agree on the total tax bill for my wife and me.

The Digital Transition, TV's Long-Running Horror Show

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:00:00 EST

The digital TV transition has been going on for longer than you'd think -- two decades ago, people in Washington were evaluating proposals to improve the quality of TV broadcasts. But this long march is nearing its end.

The Kindle's Reader-Friendly Sequel

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:00:00 EST

Amazon's Kindle didn't make printed books obsolete, and the Kindle 2 won't, either. It does, however, make its predecessor look pretty awkward.

Facebook Backs Into a 'Bill of Rights'

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:00:00 EST

For the past week or so, a dense clot of legalese has been one of the most talked-about texts on the Internet. This document lacks a plot or a setting, but it's still been a compelling -- sometimes enraging -- read for users of the Web's largest social network, Facebook.

A Little Economic Stimulus: Free Antivirus

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:00:00 EST

Using Windows has traditionally required paying a tax of sorts. Not to Microsoft but to the vendor of the antivirus program you install to protect your PC.

Amazon's Sequel to a Best-Selling Thriller

Rob Pegoraro — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:00:00 EST

There's a new Kindle, but chances are you still can't get one.

For Popular Mac Bundles, Update Not an Upgrade

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:00:00 EST

One of the better reasons to buy a Mac isn't Apple's computers or its Mac OS X operating system. It's iLife, the bundle of photo, movie and music programs that's been making most PCs' cobbled-together multimedia tools look obsolete since 2003.

Microsoft Quickly Looking Past Vista

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 00:00:00 EST

Windows Vista hasn't even spent two years in stores -- that anniversary arrives tomorrow. But Microsoft is trying to put that operating system in its rearview mirror.

Digital Transition

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:00:00 EST

The transition from analog to digital television may have inflicted more confusion on the American public than any other electronic upgrade in history. No other technological switch -- not going from Windows XP to Vista, not migrating from CDs to MP3s, not trading in maps for GPS guidance -- seems to have puzzled, frightened and in some cases angered so many people.

TV Over the Web: Still a Fuzzy Picture

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:00:00 EST

Every January, thousands of computing and electronics firms crowd into convention center halls in two West Coast cities. There, they hope to show us how much better our PCs, TVs, phones, cameras, music and video players, and other devices could be if only we bought the right upgrades.

The Star of the Show Bids Farewell to Macworld

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:00:00 EST

SAN FRANCISCO The last Apple keynote to headline Macworld Expo here wrapped up a little like the final episode of a long-running television drama: with a thematic farewell song.

In 2008, More Computers Leapt From Desktops to Pockets

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 EST

It was a good year for computers -- if you don't think of computers as simply a combination of monitor, keyboard, hard drive, CD/DVD burner, and some version of Windows or Mac OS X.

Improving Your New Computer

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST

New home computers should come with the same warning label as many toys: Some assembly required.

BlackBerrys Again Get Sleeker but Can't Challenge iPhone

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST

Research in Motion's BlackBerry was once the dump truck of smartphones: ugly but useful at its assigned task.

Mac Opens the Door to Windows

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST

When Apple announced in 2005 that it would switch to Intel processors in its Macs, it never mentioned one of the biggest improvements this shift would bring. Intel's chips have been faster and more efficient -- but they've also allowed Macs to run Windows as well as, or better than, any PC.

Tiny PCs, Full-Size Problems

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST

How little laptop is enough?

Tech Shopping? Look Past the Numbers.

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST

The electronics industry has done cash-strapped customers a favor this holiday season: Across a wide range of devices, it's brought once-expensive capabilities down to a tolerable price.

More Gamble Than Gift: This Holiday Season's High-Tech Duds

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST

Buying any sort of high-tech product involves risks not faced with most other purchases. The sweater you get for yourself probably won't cost dramatically less next year or be replaced in stores by a vastly upgraded Sweater 3.0, but your new laptop, camera or phone can become overpriced or obsolete within weeks.

Photo Programs Add Tools but Still Need Sharpening

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST

For most of its life, consumer photo-editing software has looked up to the expensive but powerful programs used by professional photographers. Now it may be turning to a simpler source of inspiration: the software embedded in many digital cameras.

Typing Without Touch

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST

Speech-dictation software has advanced immensely over the past decade, but it's still not like talking to the Starship Enterprise's computer or a human stenographer.

A Call for Backup

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EDT

What do my sister-in-law, my mother-in-law, my colleague Steve, my old editor John and my friend Robert have in common? All saw their computer's hard drive crash. And none had recently backed up their data.

From Apple, a Luxury Laptop in Lean Times

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Apple's new MacBook may be the finest-engineered consumer laptop ever built. But that doesn't make it an automatic purchase.

Google's Phone Operator

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EDT

In the past 10 years, Google has evolved from a simple Web site into an e-mail program, a map and even a verb. Now it can be a phone, too.

Cameras Get Cheaper, but at a Price

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Something wonderful has happened to digital cameras in the past few years. They've become enough of a commodity for manufacturers to start acting a little silly in their quest to find some new feature to set their hardware apart from everybody else's.

Tech Tactics for Hard Times

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EDT

News flash: The economy stinks.

A Lot for Sports Fans to Like, but the New Slingbox Still Isn't a Slam Dunk

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Watching television on a computer screen is no special achievement these days. Between the free streaming video on the Web and TV downloads at iTunes and elsewhere, you don't need to work too hard to turn your computer into a replacement for the tube.

How Apple Hits Replay Again

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Want to discourage somebody from buying an iPod? Don't talk up other companies' media players -- just suggest that Apple will ship a new iPod soon.

Microsoft and Google Give The Browser a Rewrite

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Your Web browser is probably the most important program on your computer, and it's now getting the competition it deserves.

Dell Finally Thinks Small and Chic

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EDT

One of Dell's latest desktop PCs deserves an adjective that has rarely applied to its products: stylish.

Microsoft Animates the Scrapbook

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Back in those dark days when photographs were confined to a strip of processed chemicals called "film," there wasn't much spare-time photographers could do with pictures. You could order blow-ups of photographs or cut and paste them into scrapbooks, and that was about it.

Internet Providers' New Tool Raises Deep Privacy Concerns

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT

If you're reading this story on our Web site, I don't know what you did online before you reached this page.

Balanced Diets for Lighter Laptops

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Cheap, lightweight laptops have quietly gotten better over the past year.

How They Measure Up

Post — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT

1 . HP Pavilion tx2500z, $1,539

The Opaque Side of Apple

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT

If your computer annoys or amazes you, and you yell at it or congratulate it, you'll be met with silence. But if you direct your feedback to the company that made it, will you have any more of a dialogue?

They Know Where You Are

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Your computer knows what you did last weekend -- but that's okay because most of your other gadgets do, too. Your browser remembers your Web reading list, your cellphone saved your calls, and your MP3 player can recite the songs you heard.

Meant to Sync, MobileMe Is Scattershot at the Start

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT

If you want to use the same contact list and calendar on every computer you might sit in front of, there's a simple, reliable and cheap way to do so: Carry around a paper organizer.

The iPhone, Rehashed

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT

A year ago, Apple's iPhone made most competing cellphones look like stone tablets with antennas. But the new iPhone 3G, introduced last week, doesn't make quite the same leap forward.

Address Book Programs Need to Network to Get Ahead

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT

A lot of Internet users now find they have two kinds of address books: Ones they've known for years, and ones that are up to date.

It Only Looks Like an iPhone

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT

So many people are lining up to buy a new touch-screen wireless phone that the carrier selling it can't keep up with demand.

Do One Thing, and Do It Okay

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Technically speaking, Flip camcorders have no reason to exist.

Building a Better Browser: Firefox Keeps Innovating

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Mozilla Firefox, the little Web browser with the quirky name, has grown up fast. Four years ago, Firefox was an obscure project Microsoft felt free to ignore. Now it has grabbed about a fifth of the market worldwide.

Little PC Gets the Big Stuff Wrong

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

A small, light laptop makes an excellent second computer -- unless it costs more than your first.

A Tired Old Script: Web Movie Innovation Thwarted by Studios

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

The latest plot twist in home movie viewing comes courtesy of a black box not much bigger than a VHS cassette.

It's Not The Money, Can You Hear Me?

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

The wireless-phone business is one of the most competitive stretches of the telecommunications universe, but in one way that competition may be working too well.

In the Puzzle of Prices, What It Costs to ...

Post — Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

	AT&T	Sprint	T-Mobile	Verizon Wireless
Talk for 100 minutes a month	$39.99	$29.99	$29.99	$39.99
Talk for 350 minutes a month	$39.99	$39.99	$39.99	$39.99
Share 700 minutes a month between two lines	$69.99	$69.99	$59.99	$69.99
Send 200 text messages	$5	$5	$4.99	$10
Send unlimited text messages	$20	$10	$14.99	$20 (but only 5,000 out-of-network messages included)
Add "unlimited" Internet access to a smartphone	$20 or $30	$30	$19.99	$29.99 or $40

Online Accounting Tools Still Come Up Short

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 22 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Few types of desktop software should be readier for replacement by the Web than personal finance.

Yahoo Mail Goes Ad-Free

Post — Tue, 20 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

At the end of last week, Yahoo quietly took a step to improve the experience of untold millions of e-mail users: It stopped sticking one-line advertisements at the end of messages sent from its free Yahoo Mail Web e-mail service.

Shortsighted Nostalgia for XP

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

By the strictest definition, Windows XP has been dead since Jan. 30, 2007 -- the day its replacement, Windows Vista, arrived in stores and XP promptly vanished from most new computers.

Google Still Unchallenged

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 08 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

The Microsoft-Yahoo soap opera seems to have reached its last episode: After months of squabbling and snippiness, last weekend Microsoft yanked back its purchase offer, ending its bid to buy Yahoo.

To Wit: Twittering

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 01 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Politicians can have their message of the day, but on the Web, anybody can have their message of the hour -- or the minute.

HD Cameras Still Don't Click

Rob Pegoraro — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Pocket-size electronic devices can't do just one thing anymore. Phones take pictures, MP3 players show movies and GPS receivers double as photo albums.