Shelly’s Blog

During his State of the Union address in 1930, President Herbert Hoover said, “Competition is not only the basis of protection to the consumer, but is the incentive to progress.” He was talking about railroads, but he might as well have been talking about the cable television business. My cable bill has been a grudge Continue Reading →

What is Net Neutrality? The best definition available is in the sidebar. However, the specifics of the Net Neutrality fight, and the proposed guidelines (which will soon become rules) are all a smoke screen. Let's talk about how the future is likely to unfold if a reasonable agreement is not reached. Continue Reading →

Harry called me today. He's become a loyal viewer of Live Digital, my weekly television show, and he figured he'd email me and ask me if I could send him info about web marketing for his carpet and floor covering company. I wasn't sure quite what to send him, so we set up a call. Continue Reading →

I’ve been in Israel attending the Contech 2010 International Conference and Exhibition. It was created to bring content creators and technologists together and, it has been an extremely successful and worthwhile event. During my stay, I had occasion to visit the ancient city of Akko, which is located on a promontory at the northern end Continue Reading →

I wrote this article back in September of 2009 in response to the FCC Chairman's first articulation of the Six Principles of Net Neutrality. The US Appeals Court ruling against the FCC (and in favor of Comcast) earlier this week has spurred a fair amount of discussion. The Legislature will have to figure out if the FCC has the authority to enforce the rules it is mandated by Congress to create. That is really what the lawsuit was about. However, the spirit of the Net Neutrality, which these six principles vaguely describe, is still a topic that needs serious discussion. How should we think about it? Continue Reading →

Having a laptop is all about portability and being able to compute from anywhere — right up until your battery dies. So here are a few road warrior tips for getting the last drop of power out of your laptop battery. The first one is by far the easiest. Simply dim your screen. Lowering the Continue Reading →

I’ve had a bunch of people ask me about buying a computer this week. So here are a few simple tips that will help you choose one that fits your needs. Desktop or Laptop? Unless you know why you need a desktop computer (production, business, design, web stuff, etc.) you should probably purchase a laptop. Continue Reading →

In a world with a billion computers, four billion cellphones and a robust global Internet, the truth can sometimes be hard to find. There is a quote attributed to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan that I am using more and more these days, “… you are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled Continue Reading →

Imagine buying a new SD card for your digital camera. You go into the store, find a nice 32GB Class 6 SD card at the right price and take it home. It’s sealed in one of those plastic display cards that takes remarkably sharp objects to open them. It’s new, and perfect. You are very Continue Reading →

Author’s Note: This article was written in March 2010 about the original Verizon Droid. Droid fans, you are going to hate this article and, more importantly, you are going to want to write me a nasty emails telling me how “uneducated” I am about the Droid App Store and how there is an app that Continue Reading →