Lego, it’s for grownups too!
I’m 33 years old, and I still play with Legos. It turns out, I’m definitely not alone. (Several of my friends at work have much larger Lego collections than I do.) There’s even a...
Author: Tom Alphin
A Burning Man story
I arrived at Burning Man with CJ, my best friend from college on Tuesday night. He had never been, and I had only been once before, 9 years ago. I knew that attendance has...
Adapting an existing website to a Modern Application
This post explores some of the design challenges in adapting an existing website to a touch-first modern application. While the focus is the Windows 8 design language, most of these points are also applicable...
Owning an Electric Car – The Missing Manual
After much discussion, consideration and research, we made the decision to purchase an all-electric car. (We test-drove both the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt back in 2010.) This purchase was made with full understanding...
Understanding Niche Online Communities
A lot of attention paid in recent years to the big online social media sites such as Facebook, but some of the most interesting destinations on the web are those websites dedicated to a...
12 years, at least as many digital cameras
I’ve been interested in photography in varying degrees since middle school. Over the years, I’ve had a handful of disposable film cameras, a decent Olympus 35mm point and shoot (with a zoom) and the...
What makes this fun? A critical look at several board games.
One of the (few) things I love about the transition from warm sunny summer days to cool rainy fall days is the opportunity to play my favorite board games, and find new favorites. As...
Day 1: Bike Commuting.
I’ve been riding my bike to work a lot this year, initially on my trusty old mountain bike, later on my new (and much more efficient) road bike. Riding to work on a sunny...
Major Update to the National Park Service Checklist app
I’ve completed a major update to my National Park Service Checklist application, adding the ability to view and record your visit to all of the sites in the National Park Service. This includes the...
Introducing the ‘National Park Checklist’ app for the Windows Phone 7 platform
I’m pleased to announce my second app for the Windows Phone 7 platform. The application follows in the footsteps of Fifty States app, offering a crafted application experience for tracking your visits to the...
Fifty States, my first Windows Phone 7 app
Many folks set aspirational goals such as visiting every continent, climbing every mountain over a certain height or running your first marathon. A common goal of many Americans is to visit all 50 US...
A Gaggle of Geese, a Tangle of Technology…
I love to travel, and I get a lot of pleasure out of having the right tools to enjoy my trip, and to document the trip in a variety of ways. This Christmas, we...
TOM ALPHIN builds