This is a static archive of my technology writings on The Technical Geekery. I wrote actively on this site from 2011 to 2014, and it was also the home of archived posts from a blog and some newsletters that I published before that.

The spiritual successor to The Technical Geekery's technology posts is Control-Alt-Backspace, which is actively updated every week.

See About for details about The Technical Geekery and what you can find here. My apologies when (not if) you encounter broken links; there are far too many links to go through and correct or mark all of them. I tried to identify and correct the worst offenders as I created the archive, but since much of the content is over 10 years old and the site has moved blogging platforms several times, there are going to be some.

Recent posts

Measuring Without Tools, Part 1

6 minute read

It's often useful to know how large something is. But most people don't carry rulers or tape measures around with them, and most people are also bad at guess...

The Smartphone Manifesto

9 minute read

This week I made the decision to get a smartphone. I'm heading off for college at the end of the month, and I thought it would be nice to have a phone that I...

Misplaced Blame: Why We Hate Our Computers

6 minute read

I don't think I like computers very much. Maybe that sounds a bit odd. After all, I enjoy playing with and configuring new software, researching how parts of...

A Call from Windows

9 minute read

I got a call from "Windows" the other day. My computer, you see, had reported errors to Windows, and they wanted to help me get rid of them. First of all, le...

YYYY-MM-DD: The Best Way to Write Dates

6 minute read

Most of us folks in the United States are familiar with the MM-DD-YY short date system (e.g., 6/28/13 for June 28, 2013). It's familiar, but if you stop to t...

How to Prevent Compulsive Browsing

3 minute read

Guess what happened to me the other day? I had a big project to work on. Before I started, I figured, I would just check my email and my Facebook account "re...

Website Reorganization

6 minute read

Today I'm announcing the reorganization of The Technical Geekery. What does this mean? I'm going to be moving some things around and adding some things, but ...

My Space

17 minute read

This week I thought I'd show off my room and workspace a little bit, as well as showing some of the unusual devices and pieces of technology I own. I did a f...

A Week Without the Internet

6 minute read

I've spent my last week mostly disconnected. It's been a surprising week in a lot of ways, and a very good, relaxing, and productive one as well. The Plan F...

Intermission: LastPass FAQ

5 minute read

It's been two weeks since my last post, when I suggested that you install LastPass and start collecting passwords from around the Internet into your account....

Why Passwords Are Getting Easier to Crack

5 minute read

I'm going to do a security series over the next couple of weeks, inspired by last week's post. This week I'm taking a look at an Ars Technica article I read ...