ExamForce

The first month of 2012 has been bleak. The Internet has come under attack from the American government, the slack-jawed cabal of mainstream entertainment companies, and the scat-eating vermin known as the MPAA. The so-called "economic recovery" is more stagnant than pond water, even while it's being made to look rosier than it is by Capitol Hill press agents, media hand-job manipulation artists, and the creative accounting of companies that continue to lay off workers in order to please their Wall Street robber baron masters. The biggest technology companies are sinking deeper into the tar pits of patent litigation, while colluding to fix industry sal...

Read more »

This is a difficult time of year for me, I must admit. I still don't know exactly why I get moodier as we approach the end of the calendar year. Is it the waning daylight hours? The dropping temperatures? The snow piling up in the driveway? Is it just the booze talking? Or is it the lump in my head, the "ineligible dependent" whispering dark things to my subconscious while I'm out in the garage mixing oil and gas together in some arcane ratio in order to refuel my snowblower? It's probably organic food. I really need to stop eating that crap. Read More »

It couldn’t have been a huge surprise this week when it was announced that Steve “I don’t like buttons, Blu-ray, or optical drives” Jobs is stepping down as Apple’s CEO. The man has undergone cancer surgery and a liver transplant in the last decade; the latter operation is even more impressive when you consider how difficult it is to swap parts in a Mac.

The appropriate tributes and critiques have started to make the rounds, the media ink flowing around what is perceived to be the next phase of Apple’s existence as a consumer electronics company. Read More »

Over ten years ago, I began a job at a dot-com company that was in the business of providing study resources and related information for people preparing to take IT certification exams. It was a small, but growing office staffed by a group of bright, dynamic people who were interested in succeeding by finding ways to help other people succeed. The business model was initially based on advertising revenue driven by site traffic, downloads, and subscriptions to email publications similar to the very newsletter you are currently reading.

The study resources were not based on "braindumps", regurgitated exam questions memorized (or outright stole...

Read more »

First of all, my sincere condolences to those of you who were expecting to be Raptured on May 21st. Going to work the following Monday must have really sucked, especially for those of you who had some choice things to say to your boss on the previous Friday afternoon because you were certain that the Great Celestial Swiffer was going to sweep you off your feet over the weekend. You should take consolation in the fact that your belief system brought a great deal of hilarity to the rest of us, and we'd like to thank you for taking the hit. Read More »

It's hard to believe that "The Matrix", the groundbreaking science fiction movie that raised the bar for 'wow factor' when it first appeared in theatres, celebrated its 12th birthday last month. Twelve years. Holy crap. Reality television was king, Lindsey Lohan was in the news, and shady cabals were sparking conflicts in petroleum producing nations in order to manipulate global oil prices. Twelve years ago; it seems like only yesterday. Read More »

If last year's CES was all about the smartphones, this year's event was all about the tablets. There were more tablets being displayed than normally found in Charlie Sheen's overnight bag. As I wandered around the show in a sugar-induced buzz, all of those tiny screens clamoring for attention seemed like nothing more than a collection of ancient portable televisions tarted up in sexy new casings, ready to suck in the next generation of gadget johns… a siren call of svelte little screens using resolutions that had been antiquated a decade ago.

Strange. The surface lesson of CES was that the computing world isn't about bigger and faster righ...

Read more »

We were halfway between our hotel and the convention, when the sugar began to take hold. I felt the spike of sweetness send my heart into the bossa nova beat from "Break On Through" by the Doors. I looked across the taxi at Vector, and watched a film of sweat pop out of his forehead. Every drop of perspiration was vibrating at an insanely high frequency, like some sort of deranged glitter oil.

"One Coke over the line!" Vector sang in a lunatic voice. The taxi driver gave us a sour look in the mirror.

"That's enough of that, you swine," I snapped at Vector. "They'll box you up and put you away if you keep that up. They're recording...

Read more »

(Author's note: I actually chose and wrote the subject matter for this month's issue well in advance of the recent kerfuffle concerning astrological signs possibly being out of whack. But, if you are feeling a little disconcerted by the fact that some professor is messing with your chart, I would invite you to freely choose any one of the following horoscopes that matches up with your world view, or your police record. Don't feel confined: hell, I didn't even put dates beside the signs or put them in the correct order. Because, I care. - AA)

SCORPIO
Hello Scorpio. The moon is in your house to start the new year. What is t...

Read more »

I rubbed sleep out of my eyes, and then glared at each of the three ghosts in turn.

"So, just so we have this all straight... you are telling me that my childhood experiences shaped my current adult self; you're saying that my current adult self is not particularly charitable or accepting; and you... well, you haven't actually said anything, but I was able to deduce from our little adventure that I eventually die, and not a lot of people care."
Read More »