After using a Philips Pronto TS-1000 [samsungpronto, pronto1000] touch-screen remote for about 5 years, I decided to look at upgrading to a more modern universal remote. This time, I decided to look at a remote with mostly hard-buttons instead of a touch-screen, and all roads lead to the Logitech H... read more →

I programmed my Philips Pronto TS-1000 universal remote to be "activities-based" so that I could have one-touch startups customized for each Home Theater activity, like watching a DVD, listening to a CD, playing video games, etc. I designed the layout so that I could access aspect ratio a... read more →

I picked up The Portable Film School by D.B. Gilles at a local bookstore because it looked like an easy-to-read, beginner's overview of lessons taught in film school. I enjoyed reading it, but it turned out to be a lot less about film school than about writing screenplays. While there is a ch... read more →

After a year of using Fonts4OS5 to display custom fonts on my Tapwave Zodiac [zodiacend, zodiacreset], I decided to give it a shot on my Treo 650 [treotoiphone, treoinhawaii, treoweekone, treofirstimpressions]. The default font on the Zod is very nice, so I just used Fonts4OS5 with Xiino [xiino3.4,... read more →

After using the Treo [treotoiphone, treoinhawaii, treoweekone, treofirstimpressions] for a week, I can't imagine not having it. I still miss the elegance and big screen of the Zodiac [zodiacend, zodiacreset], as well as the invisible light weight and no-look usability of the Sony T637, but the ... read more →

Most every film fan knows that Robert Rodriguez made his first film, El Mariachi , for only $7,000. But how he did it, why he did it, and what it did for him is a very cool story. His book, Rebel Without A Crew , is mostly a compilation of diary entries Rodriguez kept during his quest to make a ful... read more →

Last night, Timothy Noah posted an article on Slate.com about the Japanese asteroid probe Hayabusa, and the amazing science and pictures it has collected of asteroid Itokawa. Until now, all I've seen in the press is how much trouble the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has had with the ... read more →

It took a year or two, but I finally joined the league of Treo users yesterday (thanks StickyC!). Overall, I'm thrilled to be able to carry a single Phone+PDA instead of two separate units, even if the two separate units have better capabilities than the Treo. After several hours of usage, here... read more →