Sorted by date Results 101 - 104 of 104
Q. I have not flown in quite some time. When I flew last month, missing was the usual preflight announcement asking everyone to turn off all electronic devices. Now that we can use smartphones and tablets on airplanes from gate to gate, why do they still have an airplane mode? A. It took a very long time for most airlines to accept the inevitability of a cabin full of passengers happily tapping away on personal electronic devices. There was an especially humorous few months as the cabin prohibition continued while at the same time pilots...
Q. All of a sudden many stores near me have installed new credit card readers. The replacements are more confusing and seem slower. What’s happening? A. It is not your imagination – the new card readers are less friendly. They tend to operate slowly, they have two slots for different types of cards, and some models emit a loud alarm if you mess up the transaction. In short, they are a hot mess. The new readers are needed to support “chip and pin” type cards which should eventually replace the traditional magnetic strip cards we have used fo...
Q. I want to fly radio-controlled airplanes but do not have the space. Might drones be a good option? A. I loved flying model planes when I was a kid. Unable to afford radio-controlled models, I made do with the small gas-powered models that flew on the end of a string. Of course, those were the days when kids played with lawn darts and home glassblowing kits. Today’s drones exchange explosive liquid fuel for the comparative safety of battery power. And since drones hover like a helicopter, they can be used when space is limited. So the short a...
Q. One of the apps on my smartphone does not work. I tap on it, and after a brief animation nothing else happens. What is going on and how can I fix it? A. Every device eventually does something unexpected. One of the enduring trouble spots in tech is when something suddenly stops working, seemingly for no reason whatsoever. Recovery may be a simple fix or a long frustrating battle, but the first step is the same: restart the device. The advice to “turn it off and turn it back on again” has been around forever because it works surprisingly oft...
