Personal tech columnist for the Houston Chronicle, but also kinda retired. Briefly at Forbes, more than 30 years at the Chronicle.
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A friend recently asked for help choosing a new internet provider that she hoped would improve her service, but the provider wasn’t the problem at all. Her service had been great until a few months ago, she told me. Now, her WiFi connection was…
March 23, 2023
Article at Houston Chronicle
I’ve been writing about consumer technology since the 1980s, and I have never seen any tech develop as rapidly as artificial intelligence during the past year. Typically, new advances percolate and reach a tipping point, eventually becoming available…
March 17, 2023
Last Tuesday, Microsoft did something kind of amazing. It made its Outlook email app for Apple’s Mac computers free. Yes, there are some caveats, but for the most part, this is a fully functional email client and one of the best you can use on a Mac.…
March 09, 2023
When the Armco Steel plant closed its Houston Ship Channel mill in 1984, employee Bob Bartlett lost two things: his job and his eyesight. The former he handled by deciding to retire after 18 years of service; the latter hit harder. At 41, he had to…
March 08, 2023
If you’ve got smart-home devices or are thinking about adding them, it’s time to pay attention to Matter. Products based on this new standard designed to end the balkanization of smart-home tech have finally started rolling out, adorned with the…
March 02, 2023
Columnist Dwight Silverman discusses some of the latest developments in consumer technology, starts at about the 24-minute mark.
February 26, 2023
Podcast at Houston Public Media
About the same time each year, makers of smartphones unveil the annual updates to their flagship products. Apple does it in the fall, while rival Samsung’s time is early in the calendar year. Lately, these devices have largely offered incremental…
February 24, 2023
When Apple introduced the original HomePod in 2018, it was praised for bringing spectacular sound to the nascent smart speaker category. But critics dinged it for its spectacular price of $349, and for the limitations the device placed on its digital…
February 17, 2023
Most top-of-the-line, big-name smartphones sell for $1,000 and up. It’s a fact of life: If you want the best from a manufacturer such as Apple or Samsung, you’re going to drop some serious coin. But if you could get a flagship Android handset for,…
February 10, 2023
Netflix this week finally began to detail how it will crack down on password sharing, with an approach that appears to be stricter than expected and – so far – with no mention of the “paid sharing” option that its executives had mentioned earlier.…
February 02, 2023
As Twitter continues its implosion under the chaotic ownership of billionaire Elon Musk, a new social media world order is being born. The killing off of an entire software ecosystem by fiat has given a boost to development elsewhere. While Twitter…
January 27, 2023
On Monday’s show: Major universities across Texas have reacted quickly to Gov. Abbott's order banning the use of TikTok on government-issued devices. We discuss what sort of threat the social media app may pose and why with cybersecurity expert Chris…
January 22, 2023
Article at Houston Public Media
On New Year’s Day, weather nerds wept. That’s when Dark Sky, the original and beloved hyperlocal weather app and website, went away. Dec. 31, 2022, was the last day you could use either the iOS app or the darksky.net website. Purchased in March 2020…
January 19, 2023
A friend recently asked for some computer-buying advice, a question that’s decades old: Which is the better choice, a laptop or a desktop? But the details of her question illustrate why this is a timeless dilemma, one that’s even more confusing…
January 13, 2023
If you’re a Netflix subscriber, there’s a good chance you’ve given your login credentials to someone outside your household. That’s a violation of the company’s terms of service, but the company has mostly turned a blind eye to it. The world's top…
January 05, 2023
(Note: During my brief stint at Forbes, I wrote a newsletter item and subsequent story on how to get around the web’s biggest annoyances – intrusive ads, overlays and paywalls. Since that May 2021 piece, I’ve found some new tools and strategies. This…
December 31, 2022
Article at The Workaround
Writing about personal tech is tricky because the topic is one big moving target. Each review of a new product or discussion of a technological advance is just a snapshot in time. And over time, things change. In 2022, I wrote 52 columns, along with…
December 30, 2022
If you received mobile electronics as presents this holiday season, congratulations! Now that you’ve added more batteries that need to be charged to your digital tools, let me suggest just one more. Another battery. Specifically, I’m talking about a…
December 23, 2022
In early October, I learned I had developed diabetes. The news came in a blunt letter containing the results of a recent physical (yes, a snail-mail letter; my doctor is seriously old-school). “Dwight,” he wrote, “your blood sugars are getting out of…
December 16, 2022
Depending on when you’re reading this, you’ve got about two weeks before Christmas to get your holiday shopping done. Giving for Hanukkah instead? You’ve got just a week, my friend. But your friendly neighborhood tech columnist has your back. Last…
December 09, 2022
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