Archive for the 'Cringley' Category
dan tynan on May 02 2013 | Filed under: (anti) social media, Cringley, Infoworld, Privacy
You may not be aware of this, but: We are officially in the middle of Privacy Awareness Week, according to the FTC. To mark it, the Electronic Frontier Foundation published its annual “Who Has Your Back?” report, which details how major Internet companies share data with the government. Seeking a company that will stand up [...]
dan tynan on Mar 05 2013 | Filed under: (anti) social media, Apple, Cringley, Infoworld
One of the unwritten rules in Hollywood is that if something is remotely successful, a sequel is virtually inevitable. It turns out the same is also true in the blogosphere. Last November, I wrote about a reader of mine named Stephen G. who discovered Apple’s iCloud was censoring the emails of his clients without telling [...]
dan tynan on Mar 02 2013 | Filed under: Cringley, Google, Infoworld
Sergey Brin said it, so it must be true. Smartphones are emasculating. Speaking at a TED conference earlier this week to show off the latest version of Google Glass, the Google cofounder opined thusly: "You’re actually socially isolating yourself with your phone," Brin told the audience. "I feel like it’s kind of emasculating…. You’re standing [...]
dan tynan on Jan 16 2013 | Filed under: Cringley, Infoworld, Life
Large swaths of the Internet are in mourning for Aaron Swartz, the 26-year-old hacktavist who took his own life last week. I didn’t know Aaron and didn’t know much about him besides the thumbnail sketch that has now been repeated thousands of times across the Web. But it’s a heck of a thumbnail. At age [...]
dan tynan on Jan 03 2013 | Filed under: (anti) social media, Cringley, Da Web, Infoworld, Lists
Well, looks like we made it through the Mayan apocalypse after all. That means we’re faced with another year – and more predictions about what that year may hold in store. As faithful readers may recall, last year I successfully predicted the Facebook IPO (and subsequent face plant), that Windows Phone would become the third [...]
dan tynan on Dec 18 2012 | Filed under: Cringley, Infoworld, Privacy
In a couple of years the Internet might just kill you. At least, that’s one of the 2014 predictions from one security company. This is the time of year when everyone and their dog posts their predictions for what will happen in the wacky world of tech in 2013. The reason? Nobody wants to work [...]
dan tynan on Jun 27 2012 | Filed under: Cringley, Infoworld
Bill Davidow has a great essay over at Atlantic Wire, the electronic version of the 155-year-old magazine, that should be required reading for every would-be entrepreneur and venture capitalist on the planet. Really, for anyone in the tech game. Davidow has quite the resume. He started with GE, moved to Hewlett Packard in 1965, and [...]
dan tynan on May 16 2012 | Filed under: (anti) social media, Cringley, Facebook, Privacy
I love Facebook. I also hate it. And sometimes I’m indifferent, but not often. As the big IPO day looms closer, lots of folks are taking a second look at this thing that started out as kind of a goofy diversion for college kids and has grown into the beast with 900 million heads. For [...]
dan tynan on Mar 21 2011 | Filed under: AT&T, Cringley, Infoworld, Things that suck
Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in. I’m not talking about Michael Corleone and the Mafia. It’s worse than the Mafia. I’m talking about AT&T. Literally just yesterday I had the following conversation: She: We’re running out of minutes. T-Mobile has a pretty good deal going now but that means [...]
dan tynan on Mar 15 2011 | Filed under: (anti) social media, Cringley, Facebook, Infoworld, Web 2.0
Don’t look now, but there’s a new social network coming. No, it’s not Google Circles, no matter what the Read Write Web blog says. And it’s coming from the people you’d least expect. 4chan. Yes, that’s right — the purveyors of the most insidious (and some of the most grotesque) memes on the InterWebs – [...]
dan tynan on Feb 18 2011 | Filed under: Cringley, Infoworld, Spy v spy
Last week, in a straight-out-of-Hollywood B-movie plot, we learned that an obscure cyber security company was trying to take out a whistleblowing site on behalf of a Fortune 50 corporation, thanks to a shadowy group of uber geeks whose identities are as yet unknown. (Quick, get me Matt Damon. He’s not available? Get me someone [...]
dan tynan on Feb 14 2011 | Filed under: Cringley, Google, Infoworld
Over the weekend the New York Times published a long piece by David Segal describing in painful detail exactly how Google’s search results have been totally pwned by JC Penney. Over the holiday shopping season, the retailer where my mother used to drag me to buy my Easter suits received an extraordinary bounty of Google [...]
dan tynan on Feb 11 2011 | Filed under: Cringley, Infoworld, National insecurity, Spy v spy
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. This will be the year of the hacker – or rather, the year hacking goes mainstream. It’s been brewing for quite some time. According to McAfee, a team of Chinese hackers has been infiltrating computer networks for the world’s largest oil and gas companies. Last week [...]
dan tynan on Feb 09 2011 | Filed under: Cringley, Da Web
AOL’s purchase of Arianna’s International House of Huffcakes earlier this week is sticking in my gullet, and no amount of ratswill coffee will wash it down. I think it’s because this deal is emblematic of everything that has gone wrong with the Internet over the last three years. (Then again, maybe I’ve just turned into [...]
dan tynan on Jan 03 2011 | Filed under: Cringley, Da Web, Facebook
It seems Facebook, the social network personally endorsed by God, is now worth more than eBay, Yahoo, and Time Warner — all without selling a single share to Joe or Jane Public. The reason: Wall Street uber-bank Goldman Sachs, which just pumped another $450 million in venture capital into Facebook, leading to a valuation estimated [...]
dan tynan on Dec 29 2010 | Filed under: Apple, Cringley, Facebook, Google, Infoworld, iPhone, Microsoft, Steve Jobs
As 2010 draws to a close, that can only mean one thing: Bloggers conjuring up predictions lists so they can take a few days off around the holidays. Here in Cringeville things are much the same, but with one key difference: unlike other prognosticators, I’m totally unencumbered by facts. That tends to make my accuracy [...]
dan tynan on Dec 22 2010 | Filed under: Apple, Cringley, Da Web, Facebook, Google, Infoworld, iPhone, Microsoft, National insecurity, yahoo
It’s been quite a year. And in what has become a tradition here in Cringeville, it’s time to honor the most malicious, obnoxious, offensive, or nonsensical behavior in technology. This year’s winners include captains of industry, titans of technology, sultans of sweat, and a number of other people desperately in need of a clue. Among [...]
dan tynan on Oct 04 2010 | Filed under: (anti) social media, Cringley, Culture Crash, Facebook, Infoworld, Reviews
You may have been too busy having a life this weekend to notice but, the number one movie in the nation right now is the tale of an uber-nerd. The Social Network, David Fincher’s much-hyped film about the origins of Facebook, hit theaters this weekend to rave reviews (though if you spend most of your [...]
dan tynan on Sep 27 2010 | Filed under: Cringley, Da Web, Infoworld, politics, Privacy
Tap, tap, tap. I’m sorry, could you please speak up? the Federal employees playing monkey in the middle on our Skype call couldn’t quite make out what you were saying. In case you missed the headlines in the New York Times this morning, or all the me-too stories in the blogosphere cranked to varying degrees [...]
dan tynan on Sep 20 2010 | Filed under: (anti) social media, Cringley, Da Web, Facebook, Gadgets, Google, Infoworld, iPhone
God I love the InterWebs. Years from now, scholars dissecting the complete disintegration of journalism in the 21st centure will look back at us and say, what the frak? The example du jour: The Facebook Phone rumors, which were sparked this past weekend by TechCrunch and continue to burn. If you believe what you read [...]
