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I have just returned from dinner with my engineer friend George.

He was frustrated. He was diluting his viognier with tears.

No, it isn't his personal life. Well, not only. Among the weird yogini, the peculiar myopic (emotionally) UX designer, and the large-boned, wayward-intentioned social worker, he's doing alright. Just.

But his phone isn't.

He decided to buy a Nokia Lumia 920. He had good reasons for this. It's a very good phone. Its additional weight gives it a touch of gravitas. The camera is very nice, especially in the dark (which the yogini especially appreciates). … Read more

Ever since a New Jersey psychiatrist wrote to tell me he was a fan of my work, I've been feeling rather disturbed.

Usually there's only one thing that can lift my spirits from such a malaise: data.

It's always such an uplift when one can find numbers that make one question the validity of humanity. As well as, of course, the validity of numbers.

Thankfully, Business Insider galloped to my rescue with some data it had gleaned about those who claim to be fans of Apple and Samsung.

It seems that there may be psychological differences between … Read more

How would you feel if Simon Cowell came out of the closet?

Yes, your closet. The one that is full of your truly fashionable black clothes and discarded board games.

That seems to be the remarkably exciting premise of a new venture created by Cowell, together with the nice people at YouTube.

TV talent shows have been struggling of late. Why, last week's "American Idol" managed a series low in the Thursday ratings.

Cowell's own "The X Factor" has largely been disappointing too. Can you tell me who won the last one? Or the first one, even? Or anyone who won "America's Got Talent?" … Read more

Apple sent me an e-mail yesterday.

The subject line was: "How will you love it? Let us count the ways."

Given that the e-mail's subject was the iPhone 5, this was an odd thing to be saying to someone who already owns an iPhone 5.

I like my iPhone 5. Love, though, comes to me quite rarely and often when I least expect it.

So sending me a long list of why I will love something that I already own seemed a forced and hurried response to the launch of Samsung's Galaxy S4.

But a response … Read more

They were already out on the streets yesterday, with their green Lucky T-shirts, green plastic glasses (on head and in hand), and very silly green necklaces.

Well, St. Patrick's Day happens to fall on a weekend, which means two days of reverence to Guinness and, well, alcohol of many other kinds.

Google's doodlers clearly understand and respect this.

So while you and your friends might be creating a river of beer, they have contented themselves with presenting a little riverdance on Google's home page.

One boy and five girls -- each representing one letter of the Google … Read more

The beauty -- and the challenge -- of Facebook is to keep people engaged.

You know, excited, amused, enthralled, and fascinated.

One way of doing this is to post a picture of a plane crash in which a child died.

No, that is not a professional recommendation. That's what one enthusiastic member of the support team at England's Luton Airport thought would be a perfect marketing wheeze.

Indeed, the image of a plane that crashed at Chicago's Midway airport was accompanied with the sensitive caption: "Because we are such a super airport... this is what we … Read more

I've always imagined that being up in space isn't really so much fun.

Yes, the views are nice, but the claustrophobia must be entirely stifling. What are you supposed to do up there, for days on end? You can't just work all the time.

The temptation, then, might be to occasionally enjoy a little recreation in the procreative sphere.

Sex would surely offer a touch of vigorous exercise and a little human community.

However, now research has emerged suggesting that sex up there could be dangerous.… Read more

If the media is to believed, the new Pope Francis is an extremely modest man.

Eschewing the life of palaces in Argentina, he lived modestly and even cooked for himself.

Such frugality, reticence, and identification with the poor of the world isn't often associated with lawyers.

Yet one member of Chicago's legal faith is offering up an act of generosity akin to just chatting with Mary Magdalene.… Read more

The opposition will congregate in dark corners.

They will whisper with their mouths, while their eyes will scan the room for spies wearing strange spectacles.

The spies will likely be men. How many women would really like to waft down the street wearing Google Glass?

It won't be easy. Once you've been cybernated, there's no turning back. Which is why the refuseniks are already meeting in shaded corners of the Web.

One site is called "Stop The Cyborgs." It claims to be "fighting the algorithmic future one bit at a time."… Read more