The death of Leonard Nimoy figured prominently among the discussion topics on today’s episode of the Minnov8 Gang Podcast, with yours truly as a guest co-host.

As usual, show co-host Steve Borsch whipped up with killer episode artwork that has a bit of fun at my expense. Nicely done, sir.

Is it possible to look dignified while wearing virtual-reality goggles? Maybe, but I definitely didn’t pull it off here.

This was research for a Pioneer Press story about Twin Cities-area virtual-reality activity in business and academia.

I talked net neutrality with my Pioneer Press colleague Joe Soucheray on his Garage Logic radio show.

It’s safe to say we’re not in agreement on the contentious topic, but I gave Joe a few things to think about.

Being an Ignite speaker is the thrill, and fright, of a lifetime.

I’m all for skipping big, loud New Year’s Eve parties and having a quiet evening with friends, and that is exactly what happened last night.

In fact, my wife, son and I were welcomed into two homes of dear friends – and this was the perfect way to usher in the new year.

Twin Cities-based Internet provider U.S. Internet provider had a blockbuster announcement today: It is rolling out 10-gigabit-per-second service for consumers and small businesses via its fiber-optic network.

For context, this is 10 times faster than what U.S. Internet, Google Fiber and other ISPs using fiber typically offered on the high end until now. It’s a big deal.

Hours after I covered this story for the Pioneer Press, Fox 9 News asked for my take on it. More …

I’ll eat anything once … and I have always wanted to sample that infamous Norwegian and Swedish fish dish known as lutefisk.

I got my chance last week when the Pioneer Press responded to an ice-bucket-challenge-for-charity-type dare from the Fargo-Moorhead Forum newspaper … except this involved eating the gelatinous, lye-treated cod instead of dumping freezing-cold water on ourselves.

Facebook and Twitter are always a blast on my birthday, when best wishes flood in.

This year some of my well-wishers got creative, which is cool, and an honor.

I have many geeky passions, but my favorites are Star Trek and Superman.

At work, I have a Klingon-warrior action figure alongside a Man of Steel statue. On my home-office walls, I have one framed Time cover of James Tiberius Kirk and Jean-luc Picard, and another depicting Superman in commemoration of the the character’s 50th anniversary.

Yep, these are my nerd essentials. More …

This site has become a shoutouts-to-pals blog in recent days (see my three previous posts), which has been fun … so I will keep going.

Here, I’m focusing on two talented friends of mine who are related.

I’d  never heard of kubb, a lawn game of Swedish extraction, until reading about it in a new book by local Internet guru Garrick van Buren.

Garrick educates readers about the cool game, but “Rebuilding Blocks” isn’t just about that.

He also describes how the game helped him recalibrate an impossibly busy, badly prioritized, depression-tinged professional life that was slowly destroying him. More …