Blog
Rock, Paper, Digital
There’s always a clear winner in the game rock paper scissors. Paper covers rock, rock breaks scissors, and so on. But what’s a winning strategy when it comes to preserving your precious files? Digital has lots of benefits, but a closer look reveals that, sometimes,...
What Skills Did You Trade?
Making a good trade means giving up one thing to get something better. Life skills are no different, and for the most part we’ve made some solid trades. A lot of them have been thanks to new technology. Not as many of us can saddle a horse, do mental math, or hunt our...
Our Modern Tech Neck is Nothing New
Trigger thumb. Text claw. Tech neck. Those names might sound straight out of science fiction but the ailments are very real, and odds are good that you’ve experienced at least one of them. They’re repetitive stress injuries that come from overuse of things like...
Back to Basics: Cloud 101
Ask ten people to describe the cloud and you’ll get ten different answers. Some might say it’s a mysterious place where your files go to disappear. Others would say it’s a server. Many assume it’s a place to store your photos so you can delete them from your device. ...
Do We Still Need Cursive?
Everything’s coming up QWERTY. At least, that’s what the rise of the keyboard feels like. Everywhere you look, typing has replaced the pen. At home, at work, in classrooms—there’s just no need for handwriting anymore. Or is there? There are two entrenched sides in the...
The Myth of the Indestructible Device
I’ll never forget the look on the young man’s face as he handed me his waterlogged phone. It was a brand new flagship device, barely six months old, and it had all the functionality of a brick. Even less, in fact, since he couldn’t build much with a broken phone. He’d...
Accessible Tech
Love it or hate it, there’s no debate that technology is a boon for accessibility. From Braille keyboards to apps you control with your voice, the tech industry is creating new and better accessibility features all the time. Which is why it surprises me how rarely...
Who Owns Your Robot?
Who owns your robot? Not an actual robot, but the kind in the picture up there. The kind of image I created after typing a few prompts into Stability AI. The answer might surprise you, especially if you plan to use any sort of AI content in your own life. Because...
Don’t Ditch Your Passwords (Yet)
If you haven’t heard of passkeys yet, odds are good you’ll be hearing about them soon. They’re a new way to log in to apps and websites, and they hold the promise of a future without passwords. Passkeys are great for a lot of reasons. They’re more secure than...
Favourite Reads of 2023
As much as I love tech, I also love the quiet, focused feeling of sinking into a great book. And the past year was a fabulous one for discovering some new reads! Some, like Yellowface by R.F. Kuang, were recommended by family. Others, like Robopocalypse by Daniel H....
Under the Social Media Spell
Some days it feels like our devices have cast some sort of spell over us. Everywhere we look people are constantly scrolling their phones, drawn like moths to the brilliant light of their screens. It might be your spouse surfing social media, or your kids playing...
Cave Art and AI
I was recently debating the idea that artificial intelligence will replace humans, and heard what seemed like a solid point against it: AI won’t replace humans for the simple reason that it can’t come up with anything original. Everything AI creates is simply a...
