Wayne Rash

The first time I took the new Panasonic Toughbook 33 out of its box for testing, I dropped it on the floor. The computer was unscathed, the hardwood on the floor suffered a dent. The drop wasn’t intentional, but instead was the result of the unexpected weight of this tablet – keyboard combination. The 6.5-pound […]

Beginning with the very first images, it was clear that NASA’s Perseverance rover excursion to Mars was a breakthrough. The video’s opening shot of the supersonic parachute, the dropping of the heat shield, the shot of the descent stage and the view of the rover itself, dangling beneath it were riveting. They were unprecedented.  Also […]

When the President of the United States elevates his science advisor to a cabinet-level position, you know that he’s paying attention to science and technology. The new head of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Eric Lander, marks a significant departure from policy heads in the previous administration. For one thing, he’s being appointed […]

On Jan. 6, 2021, a group of a few thousand protesters with an embedded group of domestic terrorists invaded the U.S. Capitol building while Congress was in session. They rampaged through the building, caused destruction to the Capitol itself and caused the evacuation of Congress. Some of the terrorists entered the offices of senators and […]

By the time you read this, the year 2020 will be behind us. But as you look around, you’ll realize that 2021 doesn’t look a lot different. You’ll still be socially distancing, most people, including you, will still be working from home and the industry will still be reeling from the Russian hack of nearly […]

It’s tempting to label 2020 as the worst year ever, if only because of COVID-19, the Russian hack and a contentious political climate, but there were some bright spots in the gloom. The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 overshadowed nearly everything else. Business was disrupted, hundreds of thousands died, the economy was […]

A year ago, T-Mobile announced the first real nationwide 5G network that was realistically available in most of the U.S. This new network used the company’s 600MHz spectrum, which was also being used for some of its 4G LTE network. At the time, I found that it indeed worked and could provide fast communications, but […]

If you’ve been watching the Apple commercials for the past three weeks, you already know what the company thinks will happen if you buy an iPhone 12. You’ll become one of the beautiful people. You’ll be young, sexy and cool. You’ll become endowed with artistic capabilities you never knew you had. But perhaps that doesn’t […]

When I talk with potential voters about election security, the most common fear is that someone, probably the Russians, will hack their local election board and change votes. That’s actually an unlikely scenario. While a foreign power probably could hack the voting data in your city or county, they’re not going to do it. The […]

Apple announced four new iPhone 12 smartphones on Oct. 13. The event was about a month later than Apple’s usual mid-September iPhone announcement due to delays related to Covid-19.  The four new phones consisted of two iPhone 12 models and two iPhone 12 Pro models. The Pro models, as has been the case in the […]

Figuring out what voters think during an election year is at best an imperfect art. While there’s plenty of polling during such times, the results of that polling can be inaccurate, as was demonstrated during the 2016 election when Donald Trump won, despite polls saying he wouldn’t. At that time, sentiment analysis was in its […]

Apple launches a new version of its iOS iPhone operating system every September, along with companion versions for the iPad and Apple Watch. Normally these new versions have some important features that expand on the capabilities of the operating software. But for 2020, things changed. The new version of iOS contained some significant changes, and […]