There was once a time when if you really wanted to work with computers, you had to build your own hardware. You had to work programming languages in to existing hardware yourself. In either case, you knew your hardware and software alike quite well and were completely comfortable and capable messing around with both. Even as the decades wore on and software became more complex as hardware became simpler, anyone worth their geek salt was expected to have a decent working knowledge of current releases in both categories and be able to hold his own in dealing with them. However, recent years have seen a major shift in this trend, and signs point to things only getting much worse. Are we arriving at the final days of true computer geeks? The Cause Now I know what you’re probably thinking: “What? There are dozens of new geeks created every day! They aren’t going extinct!” Well, if you were to survey people about if they call themselves geeks or not, you’d probably get a fair amount of data ...

If there’s one feature I’ve ever wanted to see come to Windows, it’s tabbed browsing in Windows explorer. While some may not see the big difference between switching windows and switching tabs (I suppose that would include Microsoft, considering they’ve yet to include such a function even in the soon-to-be-released Windows 8) anyone who has gotten used to tabbed browsing on the web or on Linux-based OS’s will be able to appreciate having the same abilities while browsing files. Thankfully, out of the clutter of unstable and abandoned beta apps which fail to really accomplish the same thing, one new piece of software has emerged that aims to fix this absence for Windows users. Though not yet a perfect solution, Clover 2 does a fantastic job of bringing a very Google Chrome-like experience to Windows Explorer. The application itself is tiny (2MB download, 6MB once installed) and has a RAM footprint equal to that of its installed size–very acceptable. Installation is quick and easy, and ...

We are now half way through the longest gaming console generation ever to exist, with Microsoft’s Xbox 360 being in its seventh year, and Sony’s Playstation 3 in its sixth. Though rumors are ramping up about new consoles being released as soon as next year, both companies have made strong indication to the contrary, repeatedly citing their original intent to make this generation last a full ten years. Despite Nintendo releasing the WiiU later this year, Sony and Microsoft see this as the big N playing catchup and not ushering in a new console generation. That being said, it’s a great time to be a gamer. A Great Time to be a Gamer With half a decade under their belts, both the Xbox 360 and PS3 have extensive libraries of games to choose from, price cuts have made the consoles much more affordable than on their launch days, and numerous software updates have added more functionality to the gadgets than ever before. That, along with the promise of four or five more years of being up-to-da...

Many of you will remember that back in June I ran a post on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk program, which allows users to complete simple tasks given by various requesters and earn anywhere from a few cents to a few dollars a pop. However, the vast majority of Mechanical Turk HITs can only be completed on a laptop or desktop computer. What about when you’re on the go or just don’t feel like pulling out a full computer? Wouldn’t it be nice if you could rack up a few bucks on your iPhone or iPad while riding the bus to work? Well, with FreeMyApps , a website (not an app, mind you) by Fiksu Inc, you can, and with less effort…but is it as favorable an option as Mechanical Turk? The Premise Like Mechanical Turk, FreeMyApps involves three parties: first, developers pay to have their app(s) put on FreeMyApps, then the user downloads these sponsored apps, and Fiksu pays users a small amount of their profits for the download via a points and rewards system. It sounds almost too good to be true, but...