While more "gear head" than "techy", the new hi-tech LED flashlights (Fenix) can probably fit in anyone's home arsenal of tools and toys--whether it's one to 'always carry' or 'store at home for emergency'. These AFAICT are "police grade"--well engineered tools

I've read that some of the models are effective in temporarily blinding intruders

http://www.fenixlight.com/newping.asp

Mod this one up.

Pre-teen boys work to understand and undermine alien race controlling the planet

I found it a great read is a kid.

As a developer, I need more vertical screen space: looking at code, looking at debuggers, editing long files.

I have two monitors at work: an ld 19" and 23". The 23" has less vertical screen space than the 19".

More vetical screen real estate would make a laptop more dev friendly

two cents: both The Economist and Consumer Reports have reasonable effective paywalls.

Economist: print subscription plus online is $70-100 per year
Consumer reports: $26/year

The difference: the price.

NY Times should drop the price.

I highly recommend listening to WFMT classical radio station (streaming, or in Chicago 98.7) while coding.

WFMT is the only station in the country that has announcer-read ads (i.e no jingles or pre-recorded commercials. Thus their commercials are non-intrusive.). Their announcers are excellent. The programming is accessible but a good mix. It's really great around Christmas.

Classical music for me helps me concentrate and, unlike my rock/rap doesn't distract me from intense concentration. (As a rule, I put on rock only when I'm doing work that doesn't require much concentration).

Don't like classical? It's actually good stuff if you develop a taste for it.

The poster seems hostile to everything the RIAA says. I too distrust them. That said, I think "teaching children to respect intellectual property" deserves some attention --more so now because the technology changes make copying easier than ever.

I personally think it's flat-out wrong to download/watch a pirated movie while it's still in the theaters. Is it as wrong to download an out-of-print video on Bit Torrent?

If it's wrong to copy music from a struggling artist, why is it less wrong to copy The Blueprint #3?

Fwiw, Johannes Brahms made his money by selling rights to music publishers : he would transcribe his string works (e.g. string quartets) for piano ..people bought the sheet music to play in their own home for their own entertainment. To clarify: most homes people had musical skill to read and play Brahms on the piano. And that's how Austrian folks entertained themselves.

Times have changed indeed.

I have recently read several classic books on a treo centro with plucker. While not perfect, the application is handy and the screen bright and readable. I prefer a paper book, but recommend the combination for reading "free classics".

For example, I just read a novel by Sir Walter Scott (Waverley). I checked out the print from the library. I also downloaded the e-text from gutenberg.org. I'd switch back and forth between them depending on the situatino.

Overall if I had a prolonged period of reading in a well-lit place, I'd prefer the print book. But I have found plucker very handy due to the fact that I always have my cell phone. Also, plucker resumes exactly where I left off.

Times I found plucker/centro handy:
* in the hospital waiting room
* waiting for my wife in the store.
* on the train ("El" ) into work.

You may see a theme here: anytime I find myself "waiting", the centro/plucker gives me opportunity to read, if only for a few minutes

Pretty much any author from the 1800's is available for free (Mark Twain, Jane Austen, Bronte, Walter Scott, Wodehouse, Gibbon) on Gutenberg.
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