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If John Belushi were alive today, would he have become a serious dramatic actor and pulled off a moving "Hamlet" in company of Jack Black? Or Jack White?

If Michael Jackson were alive today, would he choose to be a judge on "American Idol," "The Voice," or "The X Factor"?

Would Jackson insist that Jimi Hendrix join him on the judging panel -- if he were alive today?

Perhaps such speculation is amusing after a glass or four among friends.

And yet, after Apple presented iPhone 5 and the maps insertion led … Read more

I had always thought that Apple's software was simple to use.

You press something with a nice bright color and a pretty design and the whole thing just materializes.

And yet the recent Boy Genius TV spots -- you remember, the ones where slightly older men wondered which button to click on and a genius baled them out at 4 a.m. -- made one wonder whether everyone thought Apple's software was so simple.

But it's not as if Apple is ever going to ask you, is it?

The company's legend was always that it wasn'… Read more

For Simon Cowell, there is no such thing as enough.

This would put him within a comforting cohort that includes William the Conqueror, Madonna and, of course, Mark Zuckerberg.

How fitting, then, that the latest spawn of Cowell's brain is reportedly a reality show that will discover the next great tech entrepreneur.

On all things Cowell, the Sun tends to have an inside presence, so I am grateful to it for revealing this marvelous development.

His partner in this very serious caper is Will.i.am, who is a remarkably good clothing designer.

The Sun quoted i.am as … Read more

It's a well-known hidden secret that online shopping is made more fluid by a glass of evening pinot noir.

Somehow, inhibitions subside and emotional -- that would be material -- needs are given full rein.

How clever, then, of Amazon to assist you in your online shopping comfort by offering you wine shipments to go with the books, movies, and 55-gallon tubs of personal lubricant it currently offers.

The Wall Street Journal reports today that Amazon will be launching a wine marketplace in the next few weeks, one that will surely lift the spirits.

It seems that company executives … Read more

The thumping excitement that surrounds sexting can sometimes suppress the hardheaded need for focusing.

Evidence of this comes from the torrid tale of Craig Evans.

Evans is a 24-year-old swimming teacher from my own hometown of Birmingham, England.

As the Daily Mail tells it -- and an appeals court heard it -- Evans was rather keen to engage a lover in "skin to skin" activities. He also wondered whether she would prefer it "fast or slow."

His chosen method of communicating this wasn't a whisper in the ear, nor a love letter sent by mail.

No, he whipped out his BlackBerry, a whipping-out that resulted in him being sentenced to jail.… Read more

The iPhone 5 has caused a significant level of human heart palpitation.

Well, it's new and it's an iPhone and if you can get one quickly, then you can show it off to the envious or the mere tasteless.

So please imagine the feelings of one Katherine the Great.

This is not a pseudonym. This is a high-schooler whom I think of as the niece I've always forgotten to meet. She really does go by that name in her more intimate circles. (Though I'm pretty sure she's not on Google+)

Katherine was terribly excited about … Read more

When it comes to iPads, there seems little sense of proportion.

Some heads are still spinning after an iPad got swiped in San Francisco yesterday, and the alleged thieves then went on a rampage in order, it seems, merely to get away.

The way the San Francisco Chronicle tells it, the suspects took a backpack containing the iPad from a woman walking along the street.

They made one tiny mistake. At least initially.

"We had 50,000 witnesses who saw it and called," Capt. Ann Mannix of the San Francisco Police Department told the Chronicle.

Yes, it's … Read more

People like to make statements about themselves.

Sometimes, they use words. Sometimes they dress themselves in a manner that, well, says something.

So if you saw a man with wires and gadgets strapped all over him, what statement do you think he'd be making? That he's a cool, original, quirky, gadgety dude? Or that he's about to wander into the local movie theater and bomb the place?

This was the dilemma faced by ordinary mortals in the Discover Mills Mall in Gwinnett County, Ga.

As WSB-TV describes it, 30-year-old Daniel Tudela wandered into the mall and headed … Read more

Technology has, sadly, forced us into new forms of behavior.

Many of these involve the simultaneous performance of two very different acts. This is sometimes known as multi-tasking. This is sometimes over-taxing.

Indeed, Maria Pestrikoff of Kodiak, Alaska, discovered the difficulties of attempting two unrelated acts and rather failed in the attempt.

According to the Associated Press, her twin maneuver consisted of trying to toss a cigarette butt while texting.

I suggest you don't try this at home -- or, for that matter, anywhere. However, Pestrikoff was trying it in her own home. In her garden, in fact.

Her garden abuts a cliff that features a 60-foot drop. In attempting to multitask, Pestrikoff seems to have lost her balance and her bearings, slipped on wet grass and plummeted over the cliff.… Read more