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I have a feeling that there will be more than one reader of these pages who will be gaming in the nude this weekend.

It is not merely that the weather has warmed up a little. It is a lifestyle choice.

I can imagine that clutching one's console wearing nothing in which it can get snagged is one of the more liberating experiences for the tense and the troubled.

So when I discovered that there were naked gaming parties in New York City, I thought to myself: Where else? Here is a place where everyone wants to expose their … Read more

I would like to paint a picture for you on this Memorial Day weekend. It is of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg chopping off a live chicken's head with a large knife.

No, the chicken is not called MySpace. Nor has anyone ever referred to it as "Privacy."

However, it seems that the Valley's own Scotty McCreery has decided to start killing his own fowl before he eats it. Actually, according to Fortune, he isn't just stopping at fowl. He's into a little pig slaughter too.

You think that I might be offering a little … Read more

Religion is a touchy subject.

Oddly enough, as I have come to discover in these pages, so is Apple.

Somehow both inspire such extreme levels of devotion that I am amazed there hasn't yet been an Apple-inspired war, with bodies strewn across the malls of America.

Some British neuroscientists chose to investigate whether there may possibly be some scientific similarities between devotees of a Creator and of Cupertino.

You will be stunned into additional homilies in the chapel of your choice when I tell you that, having performed a brain scan, these neuroscientists declared that Apple was a religion. … Read more

I have friends who play FarmVille. I find them very strange. They seem to believe there is some sort of joy to be obtained in caring about animals that don't exist. A little like Bigfoot-seekers.

However, Lady Gaga appears to understand them very well.

For, according to FarmVille maker Zynga, she has decided to create her own farm, creatively named GagaVille.

You might think that her Gaganess is merely having a little fun, communing with the virtual farming community to show her green credentials.

You might think Donald Trump's hair is made of gruyere. Because Gaga is reportedly using her new online Ville to release songs that you won't be able to hear anywhere else.

… Read more

You remember Microsoft's Laptop Hunters, don't you?

They were the average folks in Microsoft ads who, two years ago, preferred not to spend so much money on a Mac and instead bought shiny new PCs at Best Buy.

The first was called Lauren (she worried, sarcastically, that she wasn't cool enough to have a Mac), but now you should meet Julie.

That's because Microsoft has revived the campaign and, this time, steered clear of Mac comparisons. Instead, it is mining all those consumers who have had their PCs for a few years, just like Julie.

It's time they upgraded to a better PC life.

… Read more

Microsoft is launching its latest Windows ad campaign tonight, the company has confirmed to CNET.

Starting at prime time, Microsoft's new ads, which were developed by the Crispin Porter + Bogusky agency, will expand upon the firm's "I'm a PC" campaign. Tonight's ad highlights "Julie," who says that she doesn't want a new computer because she doesn't believe "there's something out there better than what I've got now." After learning about the different PC options available to her, she chooses a PC running Windows 7.

The ad … Read more

People do seem to get enthusiastic about the iPad 2.

However, reports emerging from China suggest that, perhaps, enthusiasm turned to rough stuff at the iPad 2 launch in Beijing yesterday.

According to the Associated Press, a witness says he saw a fight between a "foreign" Apple employee and a Chinese customer. The witness says he understood that the man had cut in line and was a scalper.

An AP image certainly shows two men lying on the sidewalk, appearing to be at least dazed, if not injured. There is also an image of a glass door, smashed … Read more

These days, Google is working very hard to find its inner self. You know, that inner core that might be human.

First, the company creates warm, touching films for Chrome.

And now, to celebrate Mother's Day (that's today, in case you forgot, you insensitive, ungrateful child) Google has found a gooey inner core.

First, the company has produced a doodle in which the logo drifts into a lavendery lilac and the 'l' of Google becomes a lovely deep purple flower.

However, not content with spreading this love, Googlies have extended their arms and their hearts toward their own … Read more

When it comes to change, sometimes it's hard to believe in. And sometimes it's just hard to believe your eyes.

Some people have begun to notice that their Google search pages look different from those they had come to know, love, and take for granted.

Suddenly, the pages seem cleaner. Suddenly, there's more white space. And suddenly the colors are greener and the underlinings beneath each search result have disappeared.… Read more