dan tynan on Mar 07 2010 | Filed under: Geekishness
Sir Issac Tynan, the near-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather of this blog’s author, formulated these rules more than a century ago, and yet they still hold true. Believed to have been lost to the ages, they were recently uncovered while said blog author was cleaning out his office. He now shares them with the world.
Tynan’s First Law of [...]
dan tynan on Jan 14 2010 | Filed under: Cringley, Future Tech, Gadgets, Geekishness, Infoworld
I can’t remember who first said it, but it seems truer every day: The future just ain’t what it used to be.
Here we are in 2010, and I’m still waiting for my personal jetpack, let alone a transporter. Flying cars? Fahgeddaboutit. Phasers? Not even close. I want Rosie the Jetson’s robotic maid; instead I [...]
dan tynan on Dec 29 2009 | Filed under: Apple, Cringley, Da Web, Foolishness, Geekishness, Microsoft, Steve Jobs, Twit or Tweet, amazon, yahoo
What do Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and AT&T all have in common? They’re all winners of Cringely’s awards for bringing low comedy to high tech.
dan tynan on Mar 02 2009 | Filed under: Cringley, Geekishness
You may not be aware of it, but tomorrow’s a national holiday for the pocket-protector-and-slide-rule crowd. But why settle for just one numerically inspired celebration each year? Cringely goes in for a little arithmetic therapy.
dan tynan on Jan 01 2009 | Filed under: Computerworld, Culture Crash, Geekishness, Shameless self promotion
Is technology different for women? Christina Tynan-Wood, author of the recently published How to Be a Geek Goddess from No Starch Press, says Hell Yes.
If anyone should know, it’s Tynan-Wood, who is the only woman to have written monthly columns for both PC World and PC Magazine. She’s currently a contributing editor for Family Circle, [...]
dan tynan on Nov 25 2008 | Filed under: Computerworld, Culture Crash, Geekishness, Google, Web 2.0
Part Deux of my ‘letters to inanimate software series’ continues with this missive to Gmail, responding to the dozens of commenters on Digg and Culture Crash beat me up over this.
Dear Gmail:
I know, I know. You’re totally cheesed off about me calling you a "train wreck" the other day. I admit that was [...]
dan tynan on Nov 23 2008 | Filed under: Computerworld, Culture Crash, Da Web, Geekishness, Google, Web 2.0
She was the new girl in town for a while, but Google Chrome has lost her shine. Sorry Chrome: You’ve been swell, but I’m going back to my old flame, Firefox.
Dear Firefox:
When we met three years ago, I thought: This is it, the browser I’ve been waiting for. I’ve found my life partner. So [...]
dan tynan on Oct 31 2008 | Filed under: Apple, Gadgets, Geekishness, Lists, Music, PC World, Steve Jobs
The best gadgets are simple, elegant, and change your life in ways you don’t expect
Five years ago my Gadget Freak column began with a simple mission. To explore brave new technologies, to seek out new gizmos and gear, and to boldly go where no gadget column had gone before.
Now that mission is over. This [...]
dan tynan on Oct 01 2008 | Filed under: (anti) social media, Geekishness, Web 2.0
Think you know how to mind your manners in the brave new world of social networks? You may be in for a rude awakening.
[Note: A severely neutered version of this story appears on Macworld.com. Call that version “Copyeditors Gone Wild.” Here's what this story was supposed to look like.]
Etiquette used to be easy. As [...]
dan tynan on Sep 24 2008 | Filed under: Cringley, Geekishness, Infoworld
Companies like Hewlett Packard, Cisco, and others are being accused of skirting federal laws to hire foreign workers while laying off American geeks. Cringely labors to uncover the truth.
dan tynan on Sep 23 2008 | Filed under: Geekishness, Infoworld
IT workers are mad as hell and they’re not going to take it anymore. What can you do to keep things from reaching the point of no return?
(This article originally appeared on Infoworld.com)
It was 9:30 on the morning of March 4, 2002, and something was terribly wrong at the offices of PaineWebber UBS. Computers [...]
dan tynan on Sep 08 2008 | Filed under: Geekishness, Web 2.0
8:52 am
Adapx
Digital pen application lets you take Excel spreadsheet form, pick the cells you want to enable, print it out with a special watermark on those fields that can be read by a digital pen. Use digital pen to fill out forms on the paper. Connect pen to PC. Info flows into a new copy [...]
dan tynan on Sep 08 2008 | Filed under: Geekishness, Uncategorized, Web 2.0
And it starts with something resembling Blue Man Group — bunch of folks in black in totally dark room waving red and green lightsticks around. Where’s the cigar chomping comic and the showgirls?
8:42 am
OK, the Michael Arrington joke count has begun. Chris Shipley starts it off with an oblique reference to West Side Story and [...]
dan tynan on Aug 04 2008 | Filed under: Cringley, Geekishness, Infoworld, Microsoft
A tiny Texas firm just won its .Net patent suit against Microsoft. What does this mean for Web developers and the products they use? Are Adobe and IBM next? Cringely weighs in.
dan tynan on Aug 01 2008 | Filed under: Cringley, Da Web, Gadgets, Geekishness, Infoworld, Microsoft, Privacy, Web 2.0
(This post appeared in a slightly different form on Infoworld’s Notes From the Field blog.)
You may have noticed this has been a slow week in blogville. Well now the truth can be told. For the past five days I’ve been held captive in Amsterdam by a small group of mad Dutchmen. They locked me in [...]
dan tynan on Jul 28 2008 | Filed under: Da Web, Gadgets, Geekishness, Google, Web 2.0
You know your product is gonna have problems from the get go when you have to constantly explain how its name is pronounced. Cuil (pronounced “cool”) is a new search engine, the brainchild of ex-Googlehead Anna Paterson, her husand Tom Costello, and assorted other people with more gray matter than sense (apparently).
I know, I know: [...]
dan tynan on Jul 22 2008 | Filed under: Geekishness, Infoworld
Taking a hard, honest look at what you need to accomplish is the key to keeping your business competitive — and yourself gainfully employed
(This post originally appeared on Infoworld.com)
by Dan Tynan
Pity the poor IT managers.
They’re expected to know what their end-users want need, even if their end-users can’t articulate it themselves. They’re under constant pressure [...]
dan tynan on Jul 01 2008 | Filed under: Apple, Geekishness, Microsoft
So there’s a lot of news this week about the ‘death’ of Windows XP. (I’ll have more thoughts on that later.) For now, though, let’s pretend just for fun that you could pick any operating system for your next PC — no monolithic monopolies can get in your way. Which would you pick? Fill out [...]
dan tynan on Jun 07 2008 | Filed under: Da Web, Geekishness, Lists, PC World, Uncategorized
Running a virtual business is easier (and cheaper) than ever, if you have the right tools
(An edited version of this story originally appeared on PCworld.com.)
by Dan Tynan
When it comes to running a business, our feet are firmly on the ground but our data and software are increasingly in the cloud. At our burgeoning media empire [...]
dan tynan on Jun 03 2008 | Filed under: Geekishness, Infoworld, Life, Privacy, Quizzes
The FCC may soon require bidders on a swath of the wireless spectrum to deliver a free, wireless version access to the Net — sans adult content.
Is a porn-free Internet possible or even desirable? Infoworld’s Robert Cringely has some thoughts on the matter here. Tell us how you feel about it by registering your [...]
