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Parents are often a little tipsy on power.

Where the real world leaves them powerless, family life affords them a little elbow room to show who's boss.

As a consequence, poor little children must suffer being trapped in the ultimate role of underling.

Please consider how cheesed off one poor daughter of Wisconsin must have been when her parents took away her phone for alleged insubordination.

Her brother, Reddit user AustinMac, was so moved by what her parents did next that he had to share it with the world.

For he claims they took pictures of themselves and posted … Read more

Looking back didn't do a lot for Lot's wife, but it might do a little for Apple.

The new iPad Mini ad, shown at today's unveiling, offers a certain charm that's been largely missing from much of Apple's recent advertising.

This, at least, offers a simple idea, simply done.… Read more

Good old Microsoft.

It's now good, cool, noisy, young, lissom, up-and-coming Microsoft.

How do I know? Because I've just been looking at some new TV ads for Windows 8 and they're not only energetic and joyous and delightfully happening, they're also featuring indie music.

This was once thought only Apple's preserve.

I am grateful to VentureBeat for happening upon these new great works, for they do make Apple's ads look a little plaid and staid.

One, for example, features Best Coast, a band that creates happy music that makes skirts billow and sneakers bounce. … Read more

The power cord to my MacBook Air had frayed like Demi and Ashton, so I thought I'd wander to my local Apple store to be happily gouged out of $79.

I timed my visit to coincide with the iPad Mini presentation from that charming cathedral in San Jose.

I expected all the Apple store employees to be huddled around a large screen, like Belarussians tuning in to Radio Free Europe.

And yet, the place was crowded. There almost seemed more Geniuses than customers. It seemed like business as usual.

As I paid for my power cord, I asked the … Read more

You can meet a new lover in unexpected places -- like on a bus, at a winery, or at a pharmacy counter.

Such a chance encounter allows for the relationship to develop organically, right down to the bitter organic end.

For some people, though, chance encounters tend not to offer the precision they require. One of those people is Japanese programmer Noriko Higashi.

She, you see, knows precisely what she wants. Please believe me, it's quite a lot.

In order to find the man of her (rational) dreams, Higashi decided to advertise on social-coding site GitHub. Perhaps because she … Read more

Intelligence gets you nowhere. Being right is as overrated as A-Rod.

That has, at least, been my impression of the world as we know it. I feel uplifted, therefore, that this view -- so often derided as cynical -- has now been confirmed by economists.

Large brains from as far apart as Chicago and the U.K.'s Essex (under the guise of the National Bureau of Economic Research) have concluded that the mere idea that nerds will have their revenge and soar like Shrek into money and love is just so much Hollywood bunkum.

I am indebted to The Atlantic … Read more

When one of your mentors does yet one more thing to confirm the validity of her mentorship, you have to sit back and admire.

I am, therefore, glazed-eyed with admiration at Taylor Swift, who this week is taking Twitter into the real world.

Swift, my mentor for all things love-related, is launching a new album called "Red."

Because she is a dedicated professional, she is promoting this opus far and wide. However, she has chosen to step beyond the confines of social media to interact with some of her followers in person.… Read more

Some got excited. Some shook their heads. Some felt fortunate to have a DVR.

The reactions to Microsoft's new clicking danceathon Surface ad -- the one that made "Glee" look sedate -- have often been deeply-felt.

But who cares what human beings think when you can get hold of numbers?

How delightful, then, that Ace Metrix -- a company that loves to put numbers to things -- has definitive numbers about whether the Surface ad clicked.

Some of you will feel your Sunday is complete when I tell you that Ace Metrix declared it the "most … Read more

One of the very lovely things about most Apple products is that they are not merely devices for computing.

They are things to be seen with, to display, to touch and coddle like your favorite leather trousers.

And yet, when it comes to the iPad, Apple seems to be unusually controlling about one's ability to mix and match.

Yesterday, as the rumor that the standard 9.7-inch iPad would be given something of an upgrade at this week's little show wafted into the wind, I wondered why Apple wouldn't offer the iPad in more sizes.

If skirts … Read more