Over the years, I’ve used several methods to do my yearly income taxes.

When I was young, my tax returns were so simple that I could easily do them on paper.

But, by the time I had a home computer, I was happy to be able to pay $30 or $40 each year for TurboTax software, to help me do my increasingly complicated Federal income taxes. And I think I had to pay an additional fee to electronically file (e-file) my completed tax return.

Then, nearly six years ago, [more...]

Ever since shortly after the Wordwide Web was invented, Windows users have had to deal with countless vulnerabilities in their operating systems’ swiss cheese-like security.

In fact, my disgust at that endless stream of Windows security vulnerabilities was one of the main reasons why I finally switched to Linux and stopped using Windows on my home computers almost 6 years ago.

I’m fortunate. Many millions of people around the world [more...]

Are there people in your life that you wish you could come back and haunt after you’re dead?

Or a secret love that you’re too embarrassed to declare in this life?

Is there anyone to whom you’d like to confess something, but not until after you’re gone?

Or a loved one to whom you’d like to [more...]

It’s not a war against all computing.

But it’s definitely a war against general-purpose computing.

More and more people are buying smart phones, tablets and other special-purpose computers. Some of them have even written articles, bragging that they now do all of their computing work on those devices.

Instead of on relatively big, bulky general-purpose computers, like mine.

One result of the mobile computing movement is that [more...]

Two young guys.

One a techie.

The other a marketing whiz.

Working out of a garage.

Building and selling illegal equipment to phone phreaks. [more...]

“To err is human — to really mess things up requires a computer.”

That’s a popular old saying.

But it’s usually not a computer’s fault when something gets really messed up.

It’s almost always the fault of a computer programmer or computer user.

Because, computers are [more...]

There appear to be dwindling numbers of us who use desktop computers for several hourse every day — without ever using a cell phone, a smart phone or a laptop computer.

In other words, nowadays, there are fewer and fewer bulky desktop computers out there and more and more portable computing devices out there.

Which means that more and more computer users are at risk of [more...]

Regular readers of this Journal may remember that, many years ago, I earned my undergraduate degree in Technology.

And I’m a true technophile — I love to learn about and understand at least a little bit about all of the latest technologies, even though though I personally don’t need or own very many of them.

I find it exciting to [more...]