Articles by Patrick Nelson

Two genres of augmented reality tools are prevalent on the mobile device. The first AR genre is geolocation, which uses built-in hardware sensors and phone features like the compass and GPS chip to create a heads-up display -- think movie fighter-pilot cockpit, where the plane's instrumentation is superimposed on the windshield.

If you've been reading TechNewsWorld for a while, you'll know that we show a lot of interest in new ways to power our gadgets -- like with solar power, for example. Well, here's a charging method that could make a lot of sense. It's one that isn't reliant on the sun to convert solar radiation into power; it also isn't reliant on heavy batteries. I...

Around this time of year, some buddies and I usually pack up a bunch of our brick-like ham radios, a few unwieldy 30-foot masts, a helium balloon antenna, and some pop-up shade shelters and lug it all over to a local mountaintop near our suburban Los Angeles homes We traipse up the baked hillside with this gear each year to perform a nonstop radio ...

The desktop environment can be the spot where you need a bit of humor the most. During a hard day pounding away at the contraption, a little light relief may be in order In today's All Things Appy, TechNewsWorld takes a look at the top five must-have free humor add-ons for your Firefox browser....

The Scoop: Monkey Light Pro is a bicycle wheel display system that's looking for funding on Kickstarter. The funding effort ends on July 21 If you've been anywhere near Mid-City or central parts of baked-concrete urban Los Angeles in the last few years, you may have noticed the Midnight Ridazz, a large social bike group who generally ride in the e...

Personal file storage on a computer used to involve a PC-based hierarchical folder system that was maintained on local, PC-based hard drives Today we are embracing the cloud, which allows for redundancy, remote access, remote backup and the use of convenient input/output mobile devices like phones with limited storage but outstanding portability....

If you've been looking at your watch to read your emails today, there's a good chance that you're a Kickstarter backer. Kickstarter is a Web-based crowdfunding platform that's designed for raising money from the public. Entrepreneurs pick a deadline and required funding level. Donors pledge money in return for a concession, like a discount on the ...

There's no shortage of apps out there for relaxation and entertainment, but sometimes, it's just time to get some work done This week, All Things Appy is looking at the top five free, must-have work-day apps in the Chrome Web environment. Some of the best are Google products, as you might expect -- Chrome is a Google product, after all, and that's ...

If you're perusing Staples' website anytime soon looking for boring old printer cartridges or what have you, you may be surprised to see, in the Narrow by Department panel, a listing for 3D Printers A 3D printer, for the uninitiated, is a device that's capable of producing a three-dimensional object from a digital design. It uses something called "...

Many of us are now at the point where we're trading in old smartphones for new ones. The big question is often, what to do with the old one? Possible solutions include leaving it in a drawer; trading it in; downloading maps, and creating a dedicated in-car GPS navigator (Google Maps are now downloadable, so you won't need an expensive mobile connec...

Money: It makes the world go 'round, as they say This week, All Things Appy takes a look at the five best free Windows 8 apps related to money. If you need to keep on top of your finances, these five are must-haves and will get the job done not just efficiently but, in all cases, elegantly, too....

Cars -- we love them. We're hooked on their looks, their shine, the freedom they represent. The insurance, the payments, and the smog checks, maybe less so -- but in any case, cars are a good example of a genre of app that fits well with the smartphone. This week, All Things Appy takes a look at key, free must-have apps in this area, including one...

LevelUp Studio's Plume Premium for Twitter is US$4.99 at Google Play....

It's no longer acceptable to use dates of birth, pet names and so on for passwords. These easily guessed words were never secure, but it didn't matter much in the past -- quite frankly, who cared if a black hat got into your email account? So what? However, things are much different today, because our lives are now digitally enveloped. Everything ...

The fashion and beauty industry is fast-moving, and apps are a good way to keep track of developments, because app content lead time can be significantly shorter than for print magazines. This week's All Things Appy takes a look at the must-have apps in this genre for the Android platform, including apps to buy the gear, track trends, social netwo...

One of the advantages of carrying a smartphone is that it's an all-arounder, and one of its killer features is that it can function as a personal media player. It's functionality that an iPod or MP3 player would have provided a few years ago -- and Sony Walkman before that. The principal difference between a smartphone and a classic MP3 player is ...

The days of reliance on real estate agents to tell us which homes are available are long gone. The same raw data that the agents used to have an exclusive on is now fed to anyone who wants it. Now all you have to do is choose your source. Here's a look at the top five real estate apps in the Chrome environment....

This week TechNewsWorld takes a look at the top five must-have social networking tools for the Mozilla Firefox desktop environment. Social networks have taken mobile by storm, but the PC is still a player -- particularly based on its copious screen real estate Aggregation across social networks, one-click helpers, easy search, sharing, and the kill...

It's not ink cartridges, printers and faxes anymore. The cloud and smart devices have changed the home office landscape -- for the better. There are now numerous free apps for instant messaging, video conferencing and cheap calls; plus it's easier than ever to keep coworking teams on the same page. Use this article to show your boss how simple it ...

Man vs. machine has always been in play on Windows machines. This week we've picked the five strongest Windows 8 games for your collection. Four are upgraded tried-and-tested classics, and one is a new concept -- brilliantly simple. All are free. Download a few of these must-haves and see how far the graphics and game-play have developed for this ...