Patrick Rhone is, trust me, the kind of guy you want sitting across from you at a cafe when you need a bit of advice on life, the universe and everything.

I have had the pleasure many times, but if that tragically isn’t an option for you, I have the next best thing.

Patrick has a new book out, “This Could Help.” More …

My esteemed former colleague Phil LaRose is now a published author with a mystery, “First Case of Beers,” under his belt.

I have a unique holiday tradition: I hold a yearly Pioneer Press “swag sale” for charity.

“Swag” refers to the books, music, movies, tech gadgets and other products sent to the paper for review. This stuff piles up over the course of the year, and I’m in charge of organizing it, boxing it up and putting it in storage.

Then, just before or just after Thanksgiving, I haul it out, spread it onto long tables, and sell it off to fellow staffers and the occasional outsider. More …

As long as I’ve been a Macintosh user, I’ve been a Macworld reader.

That’s about a quarter century of reading – and I do mean reading.

I would obsessively digest every print issue cover to cover, not once, but two or three times, and then lovingly tuck it into a bookcase for future reference.

Macworld had a hallowed place in my nerdy childhood and early adulthood, alongside kids’ magazines like Boy’s Life and the Argentine Billiken, and science-fiction magazines like Analog and Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. More …

Minnov8 writes:

We are huge fans of the tech reporting done by Julio Ojeda-Zapata, so we couldn’t help but chuckle at his characterization of Target’s mascot dog “Bullseye” as an “adorable doggie mascot.” Never missing a chance to poke fun, we ended up with his perspective as our show title, while taking a few liberties with our own characterization of that “adorable” doggie! More …

The camera-equipped Google cars that take Street View pictures make passes through my neighborhood every few years.

Google’s most-recent foray occurred last summer, and I barely missed the car as it drove in front of my house. My wife alerted me to this fact minutes later, and I tried to catch up with the car for a look-see, but I never found it. More …

I appeared on KARE-11 Sunrise with Kim Insley this morning to show off a few tech gadgets that make your life a bit easier during the holidays and thereafter.

More info here.

I appeared on WCCO Sunday Morning to show off tech gadgets that are good candidates for holiday gift giving.

More info here.

I like my Google TV-powered Sony HDTV so much I sometimes want to hug it.

I said as much as a guest host on the Minnov8 Gang Podcast on Saturday. … and wise guy Steve Borsch came up with this artwork.

I recently traveled to Kearney, Neb., to visit the University of Nebraska and give several talks at the Department of Communication there.

It was a meteorologically weird trip that began with summer-like weather and ended with cold and snow, but I had a nice time regardless.

First time for everything: I attended a fashion show today, and even got to sit in the front row with a fabulous view of the runway.

The show at the Verizon store at the Mall of America was not focused on stylish garb, however, but on tech gadgets.