Articles by Patrick Nelson

Aereo -- the lawsuit-embattled company that provides Internet-streamed, live, and recorded over-the-air broadcast television content -- may have started a trend. None other than Time Warner may be considering the redistribution of public broadcast content over the Internet too, Cecilia Kang suggested in a recent Washington Post article What it come...

Are smartphone add-ons the new growth area for smartphones? Peruse any big consumer electronics box-store aisles, and you can't help but notice a new style of peripherals hugging the displays. ...

I've recently written about ways to stop spam, but what do you do about bogus email -- that is, email that appears legitimate but isn't? Fake emails are sent by criminals in order to get your money, or to take advantage of your computer's processing power and Internet connection to launch Web-clogging Denial of Service attacks on other networks....

Whatever you think of the controversy that periodically springs up over some ratings websites, they are undoubtedly useful for gathering information about businesses, products and services In this edition of TechNewsWorld's All Things Appy, we take a look at some of the best specialist ratings and search apps for iOS....

Although the peer-to-peer currency Bitcoin is unlikely to replace traditional banking, it might have a role to play in e-commerce. The costs associated with Bitcoin transactions are significantly less than with other payment networks Bitcoin has no central issuing authority and isn't tracked by any authority. However, the currency's value exceeds t...

News, in particular, breaking news and events, is now easily obtained through Twitter feeds. Here's how to go about building a news feed, and how to follow breaking news events through this new medium....

As the geek world drools over the first 13-megapixel smartphone camera -- the Android-driven Samsung Galaxy S4 -- TechNewsWorld takes a look at the current state-of-play in the must-have camera app genre for Android. Ready, set, go....

Big workday changes have been occurring. Work is not only spilling into our leisure time at home, but also taking over our downtime on the road Work has always eaten into road downtime somewhat, often because of communications inefficiencies.

We've been seeing a gradual reduction of spam in our email in-boxes due to efforts by ISPs and email providers, new laws and education. However, the same isn't true for junk phone calls and text messages Laws provide some protection from marketing intrusions, and it's possible to thwart much of the legally sanctioned bombardment with a few simple s...

You can do a whole lot more than watch your favorite sports on television these days if you take advantage of a second screen. The concept is simple: The big TV screen provides the visual action, while your laptop or tablet dishes out in-depth analysis and social media commentary on the side Windows 8 has some superb apps for this purpose....

Sprint recently presented a mock-up Emergency Response Team deployment of its technology at the Los Angeles International Airport, LAX. Its gear is oriented toward widespread natural disaster communications failures rather than short-term outages or network congestion like that experienced after the Boston explosions. Sprint staged its demonstrati...

A flash-in-the pan, or a truly spellbinding new way to share video? Vine is a free Twitter product that is designed to let you share short video, and its popularity is escalating fast. Vine's social video clips are limited to six seconds. They loop. The idea is to be as comedic or creative as possible within the limitations of the medium, and many ...

It's mid-April, and spring is in the air -- that time of year when a young man's or young lady's thoughts turn to money. Conveniently for us all, the Web browser is a fine place to organize finances, whether you want to get the process over with as fast as possible, or enjoy it in king-is-in-the-counting-house mode. Google's Chrome Web browser is ...

When we think of traditional news gatherers, we might conjure up the image of an obstreperous character brazenly hassling a slimy official for the real story -- or hovering paparazzi harassing a poor celebrity innocently shopping for handbags in Beverly Hills. However, there have been some technology-driven changes since Hollywood handed us those ...

Due to a concerted effort by ISPs and email providers, new laws and education, we've seen a gradual drop in the amount of spam that appears in our email in-boxes However, some gets through. Here's a look at the steps you can take to minimize this disruptive, time-wasting intrusion....

Nothing beats the raw power of laptop and browser for academia and research. Firefox plays well in this combo with numerous academic apps that it calls "Add-ons." This week TechNewsWorld takes a look at the top five must-have education and academia tools within the Firefox environment. They include translation, article clipping, research managemen...

Two-way social-media channels, like Twitter and Facebook, have changed forever the methods businesses use to communicate with their customers. Fading into the distance are the days of the one-sided official dispatch. Social media marketing has been welcomed with open arms into the fold, with corporations determined to make it an effective tool. T...

Over the last few months, we've been building out a solar generator. The project startedas a simple, heavy-duty battery with a cigarette lighter adapter -- inspired in part byimages of Hurricane Sandy victims scrambling to find methods for charging devices likesmartphones and tablets ...

Video cameras have been one of the killer hardware features in the smartphone revolution, and Apple's iOS platform for iPads and iPhones has made an important contribution to thevideo camera app market. This week, All Things Appy takes a look at key apps in this arena....

Have you got some favorite smartphone apps? Not convinced by Microsoft's new Windows app selection? Itching to see some Android action on your MacBook Pro? Don't worry, just install an Android emulator on your Windows or Mac machine and run all of the Android apps that you've grown to love A version is even available for Windows 8 Surface tablets.