Michel Vrana

In my previous installment on reading e-books on the Palm organizer, I touched briefly on a service called AvantGo. Maybe a bit too briefly, actually, since AvantGo is so absolutely cool.
In simplest terms, AvantGo lets you browse web sites off-line with your PalmOS device of choice (the service works with WinCE devices and certain cell […]

The other day I came home from work and relaxed a bit with a good book. Stretched out on the sofa, I enjoyed a few moments in William Gibson’s world of Neuromancer. An apt choice, since I’ve elected to read this seminal cyberpunk novel using my trusty PalmOS device.
And it’s all Stephen King’s fault.
I would […]

For a while after I’d graduated from the Ontario College of Art, I tended to view my time there with a somewhat jaundiced eye. I’d look back at my 3 years in the oft-mocked department of General Studies — a create-your-own type of programme which has since morphed into the rather chic “Interdisciplinary Studies” — […]

When director Frank Darabont’s The Shawshank Redemption was released in theatres, it didn’t do that well at all, despite glowing reviews from all manner of critics. Chalk it up to poor marketing, heavy box-office competition, or just plain bad luck; this fine film just didn’t draw in the number of moviegoers that it ought to […]

The early days of arcade and home video games were filled with odd and sometimes abstract premises. I mean, Pac- Man was a disembodied head with a mouth like a missing pie wedge, and he gobbled pellets and power pills in a maze populated with multicolored ghosts, for crying out loud!
But those old games could […]

While dyed-in-the-wool tea connoisseurs would probably never stoop to using any tea that comes in bags, the folks at Stash Tea have done a splendid job packaging their green tea line in a smart and pleasing manner for the rest of us.
Each box features a different photo of a Japanese cast-iron teapot set against a […]

For many computer enthusiasts who purchased Apple’s recent iMac or Blue and White G3, there was an instant dislike of the puck shaped mouse that comes with these machines. While aesthetically pleasing and certainly in line with Apple’s ‘Think Different’ approach, the round mouse is a bit of a challenge for most computer users.
Initial complaints […]