Assorted musings

As part of CNET News' election coverage, we thought we'd turn the Crave Friday Poll to a burning question on the minds of so many voters. If the two major presidential candidates were tech gadgets, which would they be? We'll start with Barack Obama and move on to John McCain next Friday. After all, we believe in equal opportunity (that's equal opportunity harassment) here.

If none of our poll options quite fits, in your view, be sure to suggest your own ideas in the Talkback section below. We know you'll come up with some great ones.… Read more

It's not my beat, but digital pens are a bit of a pet interest of mine, so I like to try and keep you up-to-date on them when I get a chance.

In that vein, I thought I would let you know that Adapx, which specializes in writing software that ties digital pens to other applications, announced its latest product--one that combines the digital pen with Excel. The result is that forms can be filled out in ink and paper, but the data is captured electronically. It made the announcement at this week's Demo show in San Diego. … Read more

I was happy to refrain from commenting about John McCain's acceptance speech last night. There are enough political spin doctors out there already and Microsoft is keeping me plenty busy.

But now that my junior high school has taken on the starring role, I can't leave it alone.

It turns out a photo displayed on a screen during the first part of McCain's speech, which some thought was one of McCain's many mansions, was in fact the front of Walter Reed Middle School in North Hollywood, Calif., where yours truly spent three awkward, hormone-filled years. (TV … Read more

SAO PAULO, Brazil--Brazilian journalist Gilberto Dimenstein walks down an alley in the Villa Madelena neighborhood showing how what was once a haven for drug dealers has been transformed into a canvas for artists.

Dimenstein's vision, to turn a rough neighborhood into a 24-hour center of learning, has been largely realized. In one building, craftsmen create violins from bare wood, while in another an artist weaves scraps of cloth into a placemat. In the Aprendiz cafe, Dimenstein's centerpiece, seniors learn to use the Internet while people flock in from more affluent parts of the city to enjoy the restaurant'… Read more

While pen and paper is still the most important gear for any reporting effort, I did use a bunch of other technology in making this series possible.

1. Panoramic lens from 0-360.com

This was the piece of gear I was most excited about. Basically, it allows an immersive panoramic movie to be created from a single still photo. (The folks at 0-360.com were kind enough to lend a review unit for CNET to use on this trip.)

It's a custom lens that fit on top of my Canon Digital Rebel XT. To achieve the effect, the lens … Read more

Updated at 12 p.m. PDT with news that the entry is now up for deletion.

WASHINGTON, D.C.--In the real world, I changed my gender from male to female a few years back and haven't looked back. But on Wikipedia, my pronouns seem to be changing all the time.

In the last few weeks, there's been a debate as to whether "he" or "she" should be used on my page with different volunteer editors taking opposite positions on whether I am entitled to use female pronouns.

After several days of being "… Read more

Hogwarts fans looking for something to do this holiday season will have to settle for the December release of J.K. Rowling's Tales of Beedle the Bard.

Warner Bros. announced Thursday that it is delaying the release date for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince until next summer. The film had been expected to be released later this year.

"Our reasons for shifting 'Half-Blood Prince' to summer are twofold: we know the summer season is an ideal window for a family tent pole release, as proven by the success of our last Harry Potter film, which is the … Read more

Monday night offered me the first chance to really test NBCOlympics.com's live video. It was the first time I was home to watch the events and there was something live that I wanted to see more than what was on one of the television channels.

I stayed up late to watch USA Softball in its first match against Venezuela. The video quality was mixed--from a bit pixelated to quite excellent--but overall acceptable.

At first I found the online commentary helpful, right up to the point at which it told me that a particular player flied out a good … Read more

I'll say this upfront: I'm not a good predictor of economic events. That's why I'm a journalist and not on Wall Street. Well, that and I don't like getting up early.

That said, those leery about Web 2.0 looking a lot like Web 1.0 have even more to worry about. As noted earlier this morning, there were no VC-backed companies that went public last quarter, according to a new report from Dow Jones VentureSource.

A second report, looking at the media, information, and marketing services areas showed that, although the number of VC … Read more