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R.I.P., Jack Valenti

I thought Jack Valenti was wrong about most of the tech-policy issues that he spoke about, but I'm going to miss that guy. Valenti--a bomber pilot in World War II, trusted aide to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, and Motion Picture Association of America president for decades--died...

By Rob Pegoraro | April 27, 2007; 10:31 AM ET | Comments (6)

Focusing On Photo-Album Software

The first time I cropped a photo, I had to use an enlarger in a darkroom reeking of developing chemicals. (Pretend you just heard me say that in Grandpa Simpson's voice.) Compared to that, almost every photo-editing program that I've used seems breathtakingly simple. I hadn't compared these applications in...

By Rob Pegoraro | April 26, 2007; 7:00 AM ET | Comments (9)

Vonage Vexed By Verizon. And You?

Earlier this month, a reader e-mailed to ask a question: People are doubting Vonage's future because of today's ruling. I have had Vonage for a year and I love it and I know other people who like it as much as I do. If Vonage tanks, what do we all...

By Rob Pegoraro | April 25, 2007; 2:28 PM ET | Comments (29)

You Know You've Gotten Too Used to WiFi When....

The power blinked off at home around 7 last night, and my first instinctive thought was "no problem, the uninterruptible power supply can keep my DSL modem running for a little while, and when that runs out I can just hop on a neighbor's WiFi signal." And then the realization:...

By Rob Pegoraro | April 25, 2007; 9:43 AM ET | Comments (4)

How Do You Fix Your Photos?

I'm working on a comparison of free digital-photo programs for Thursday's column. As I've been trying out the various editing tools in these programs, I've had to think about how much work people actually put into their pictures. I know some enthusiasts will obsess for hours with a copy of...

By Rob Pegoraro | April 24, 2007; 1:46 PM ET | Comments (41)

Software Updates (Still) Need An Upgrade

A couple of weeks ago, my Help File column noted the arrival of a new, Microsoft Vista-ready version of the free OpenOffice productivity suite. OpenOffice has long one of my favored open-source applications, and I'm glad to see it's keeping up with the times. But updating a copy of OpenOffice...