The road ahead Both of my parents were teachers, and for as long as I can remember they both encouraged me to do something in life that would help others. I figured being a doctor would be the most obvious way to do that, but growing up around a pair of teachers must've rubbed off on me. My venue wouldn't be the classroom but rather the Internet. On April 26, 1997, armed with very little actual knowledge, I began to share what I had with the world on a little Geocities site named Anand's Hardware Tech Page. Anand Lal Shimpi -- Update: He's been hired by Apple

What happened to Motorola On the 18th floor of the Merchandise Mart, in a soaring two-story space underneath a vast industrial-looking stairway, a small crowd of business types, pols, and journalists gathers. They're here on this warm April day to check out the geek-chic new offices of Motorola Mobility, the mobile phone maker that spun off from then-struggling telecommunications company Motorola (now Motorola Solutions) in January 2011 and got snapped up by tech giant Google seven months later. Chicago Magazine

The final ISA showdown: Is ARM, x86, or MIPS intrinsically more power efficient? One of the canards that's regularly trotted out in discussions of ARM vs. x86 processors is the idea that ARM chips are intrinsically more power efficient thanks to fundamental differences in the ISA (instruction set architecture). A new research paper examines these claims using a variety of ARM cores as well as a Loongson MIPS microprocessor, Intel's Atom and Sandy Bridge microarchitectures, and AMD's Bobcat. ExtremeTech

Bearing down on data upstarts Nothing concentrates minds at a tech start-up like living in the middle of a price war between Amazon and Google. Just ask executives at companies like Box, Dropbox and Hightail. They pioneered a new kind of Internet service that allows people and companies to store all kinds of electronic files in an easy-to-use online locker. But as often happens, the much bigger companies liked the idea so much they decided to do the same thing – at a much lower price. The NY Times

The Star Wars George Lucas doesn't want you to see In 1978, Star Wars won seven Academy Awards. But if you want to watch that original version, the first of George Lucas's soon to be seven-part saga, you'll find it difficult. In fact, it's actually impossible to buy an official copy of Star Wars as it was first released. Lucas doesn't want you to see that version. Instead, he wants you to watch the continuously updated special editions -- movies with added CGI, changed sound effects, and whole new scenes. The Atlantic

The state of virtual reality The promise of virtual reality has always been enormous. Put on these goggles, go nowhere, and be transported anywhere. It's the same escapism peddled by drugs, alcohol, sex, and art -- throw off the shackles of the mundane through a metaphysical transportation to an altered state. Born of technology, virtual reality at its core is an organic experience. Yes, it's man meets machine, but what happens is strictly within the mind. The Verge

Do we live in a 2-D hologram? A unique experiment at the U.S. Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory called the Holometer has started collecting data that will answer some mind-bending questions about our universe -- including whether we live in a hologram. Much like characters on a television show would not know that their seemingly 3-D world exists only on a 2-D screen, we could be clueless that our 3-D space is just an illusion. Fermilab

Gencon: My journey into the heart of the nerd kingdom "The Reavers in your bed," sang the kilted duo, "are going to eat your face!" Sitting in the back row of a windowless conference room packed with 125 Firefly lovers, I listened to this demented lullaby while duly jotting down the chorus: eat... your... face. And I wondered, not for the first time, what I was doing among the 50,000 other attendees at Gencon. Ars Technica (also, The coolest cosplay at PAX Prime day 1, day 2)

How big telecom smothers city-run broadband Janice Bowling, a 67-year-old grandmother and Republican state senator from rural Tennessee, thought it only made sense that the city of Tullahoma be able to offer its local high-speed Internet service to areas beyond the city limits. After all, many of her rural constituents had slow service or did not have access to commercial providers, like AT&T Inc. and Charter Communications Inc. Center for Public Integrity

Selling a game before it's 'done': Tips and insight for paid alphas These days, some of the most successful games out there aren't even "out" yet. That's thanks to the rising trend of paid alphas. While some players show disdain toward developers who sell a game before it's "done," this new funding option has brought us games that may have never seen the light of day, all with the financial – and creative – help from an engaged audience. Gamasutra

Scientists agree: Coffee naps are better than coffee or naps alone If you're feeling sleepy and want to wake yourself up -- and have 20 minutes or so to spare before you need to be fully alert -- there's something you should try. It's more effective than drinking a cup of coffee or taking a quick nap. It's drinking a cup of coffee and then taking a quick nap. This is called a coffee nap. Vox