Tech Culture

"My agent just sent my book to publishers! Fingers crossed!" That's the status message I just stopped myself from writing on Facebook.

It took all the willpower I've ever had.

In fact, I'm now eating a block of cheese because focusing so hard on not updating Facebook with that status has depleted my willpower reserves. My diet is left defenseless.

I'm 29, and I'm working hard to make a living, to produce something I am proud of, to pay the rent, to scrape some savings together, to make time for love, to eat … Read more

Syria is back online after an Internet outage cut it off from the rest of the online world on Tuesday.

Internet monitoring company Renesys updated its latest blog post on Wednesday, saying that "Syrian Internet has returned." The outage itself lasted 19.5 hours from Tuesday to Wednesday.

A new graph tweeted by content delivery network Akamai shows a huge spike in traffic to Syria, indicating that the Internet is flowing once again.

Syria Digital Reports earlier confirmed the news by tweeting that it received reports that Internet connectivity was returning.

This latest outage marks the third time … Read more

Android users who employ the TWC TV application will soon have far more functionality available to them.

Time Warner Cable announced on Tuesday that the upgrade to its Android application will deliver access to more than 4,000 On Demand TV shows and movies. The app will also allow for out-of-home access to some On Demand programming and live TV viewing over a Wi-Fi connection. Time Warner Cable says mobile users will have access to over 1,100 On Demand shows and movies and live television from "a dozen or so" news, sports, and entertainment channels.

Time Warner … Read more

Ouya, the open-source game console that took the Kickstarter world by storm, has been ripped apart by the folks over at iFixit.

The Ouya device earned a score of 9 out of 10 from iFixit for its high repairability. The iFixit team was able to tear apart the gadget with ease, and found that it was packed with several important components, including two Samsung 4-gigabit SDRAM modules (for a total of 1 gigabyte), a Texas Instruments power management tool, and Nvidia's Tegra 3 multicore CPU.… Read more

If you've ever read "Ender's Game," you should probably find a new pair of underpants before watching the newly released trailer for the upcoming movie -- it's chock full of lush CGI and epic spaceship battles.

The film, which arrives on November 1, features Asa Butterfield as Ender Wiggin, and also includes some pretty heavy hitters such as Harrison Ford (Colonel Graff), Ben Kingsley (Mazer Rackham), and Viola Davis, as well as up and coming stars Aramis Knight, Abigail Breslin, Hailee Steinfeld, and Jimmy Pinchak. Gavin Hood directs the movie.… Read more

Mario's multilevel gaming style has endured for good reasons. It's simple, it's fun, and it's addictive. Once you've conquered the realms of Mario and other similar retro games, where do you go next? How about creating your own custom video game? That sounds great, but you'll need to brush up on your programming skills first. Unless, that is, Kickstarter project Pixel Press gets off the ground.

With Pixel Press, you just need the app, a piece of paper, a pencil, and your imagination to create your own game. No coding required.

Here's how it works. You start by printing out the gridded Pixel Press sketch sheet, along with the instructions. You can design five layers on the sketch sheet using certain elements like terrain, hazards, monkey bars, moving platforms, barriers, spikes, portals, and power-ups. You draw all these out onto the grid, with the aim of designing five progressively more challenging levels for your hero to conquer.… Read more

One my biggest disappointments with Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" was its failure to include Tom Bombadil, the immortal woodsman who is immune to the One Ring.

The character has a small but intriguing part in J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy, but of course there's no room for him in a blockbuster film. Not so, however, with this very cool Periodic Table of Middle Earth, which replaces elements with earthly characters from LOTR and "The Hobbit." … Read more

Whatever your fandom may be, some Lego aficionado has probably already built a massive version of it. OK, so we've already seen a 200,000-piece alien city and a 70,000-piece Serenity spaceship. Now feast your hungry building-block eyes on this stunning 150,000-brick Helm's Deep from "Lord of the Rings."

Built by Rich-K and Big J, the model is 90 percent complete. The Lego fans (under the name "Goel Kim") uploaded the creation to MOCpages, an unofficial Lego fan site where builders share their accomplishments. And what an accomplishment this is. The creators managed to capture the regimented mayhem of the battle of Helm's Deep in incredible detail.… Read more

There's a tablet for just about everyone. There are tablets for kids, tablets for early adopters, and tablets for the masses. Now, there's a tablet specifically designed for seniors who are skeptical about technology.

The Claris Companion may be the most welcoming-looking tablet ever created. It has rounded edges, a thick bamboo bezel, and a happy little stand that props it up. Speakers are built into the front so there's no mystery about where the sound is coming from. There's none of that shiny, futuristic aluminum and plastic look that's so popular. This tablet will settle right in with more traditional home decor.… Read more