Wise Guys on WHO Radio - December 18, 2010

Brian Gongol


We talked today about gift-buying for Christmas and found out that Dan's wife has rejected the idea of getting an iPad for Christmas. Both of us (just by chance) happened to go to our dentists this week, and the cold seriously increases our thanksgiving for the invention of Thinsulate.

A caller wanted to know if she could improve an old computer by installing a new BIOS; neither of us thinks that's a good idea in an era when a new computer could be purchased for a few hundred dollars instead.

Another caller asked us to compare the Amazon Kindle and the Barnes & Noble Nook. Both are e-book readers at about the same price point, but we agree that the Kindle probably wins because it's more likely to survive competition in the future. We also delved into the question of when tablet computers will really make sense for most buyers.

And if you're looking for some of our recommendations for free and open-source programs, look no farther: http://gongol.com/research/opensource/.

Thanks for listening this week -- we'll be gone for Christmas next week, but back the week following.