Take it from veteran journalist and computer writer James Fallows, of the Atlantic: For my own workaday purposes, the most useful recent invention has been the Livescribe Pulse pen, which I bought just after its introduction early last year and now can hardly be without. It looks like a somewhat bulky, cigar-shaped metallic writing instrument.Continue reading “The unheard-of and suddenly indispensable Smartpen”
Category Archives: the beta
The queen of Hostel Obispo
Last night my wife and I stayed at Hostel Obispo, in San Luis Obispo, a charming place in a house over a hundred years old, with fresh sourdough pancakes and fresh-ground coffee in the morning, lots of interesting chatter, and a lovely neighborhood. All that was great, but especially great was this character, Chloe, whoContinue reading “The queen of Hostel Obispo”
Bears and Minivans in Yosemite (the beta)
Fascinating study in the Journal of Mammology sent to me by a reader. The opening of the study and the headline in the Los Angeles Times agree: Minivans in Yosemite are targets for bears, maybe because they're usually inhabited by messy young children. As reporter Carla Hall put it: It's official. Those discerning car critics,Continue reading “Bears and Minivans in Yosemite (the beta)”
Camping on Angel Island (the beta)
Countless folks warned myself and the fam last weekend to watch out for the fog on Angel Island (as if I didn't know that the San Francisco Bay could get foggy in the summer). This maybe is a difference between locals (who have to live with the fog for months at a time, and wearyContinue reading “Camping on Angel Island (the beta)”
The Beta on Downtown Phoenix
While visiting Phoenix recently, learned a useful new phrase — "the beta." Learned it from the proprietor at Conspire, a very cool coffeeshop/arthouse/neighborhood collective said to have the best coffee in town. Conspire was once an ordinary house, but has become a 21st-century hang-out., The Americano-style coffee is absolutely superb, perhaps the best I've everContinue reading “The Beta on Downtown Phoenix”
Kit Stolz 