Vanity Fair has a typically excellent article out -- "How the Web Was Won," an oral history of the Web. Even if you're familiar with ARPANet, Metcalfe's Law, Pearl Harbor Day, the VC rush, whatever -- the story told by the often-animated people at the center of the whirlwind is an enlightening and entertaining experience. And for those of you don't know the history of the Internet, learn it! This is part of your heritage now.
posted on Jun 4, 2008 - View this thread

The antidote to LOLbushsuxx0rs. Over the course of the past week, Slate ran a ten (10!)-piece series, "Fixin' It", in which various writers postulated how the course of various aspects of the United States' military, culture, and policies could be redirected for the better. Although the articles are not entirely devoid of Bush criticism, there's mostly a fairly rare focus on the positive actions to be taken from here onward by the next President (whether it be McCain or Obama or Clinton).
posted on Apr 10, 2008 - View this thread

[archaic tech filter] Foreign correspondents and reporters in the field at the New York Times say goodbye to the paper of record's recording room.
posted on Dec 6, 2007 - View this thread

A newer, slightly more plausible flying car project. Some people take it more seriously than the king of vaporware skycars, whose designers are now working on a vaporware landspeeder(PDF). If you want something more available, keep your car and check out the Cessna SkyCatcher, no assembly required.
posted on Nov 30, 2007 - View this thread

Morgan Webb (G4tv, Maxim hottie) now offers a 5-minute, tech-oriented news video blog called WebbAlert every weekday.
posted on Aug 6, 2007 - View this thread

onoes! teenz on teh pr0n webs! It's been a year since I posted about Stickam, and in that time, one would be naïve to think that a community of unmoderated videos broadcast live from the private and semi-anonymous bedrooms of the world would not result in epic lulz (nsfw). To no one's surprise, disgruntled Stickam ex-VP Alex Becker says Stickam shares office space, staff, and equipment with live pornographic video providers -- this via NYT tech writer Brad Stone. Cue the "think of the CHILDRUNZ!" moral panic. But popular websites being related to or backed up by prurient interest are nothing new: Wikipeda predecessor Bomis was once accused of having "softore porn" in its "Babes" section, and of course everyone knows porn drives technology. What do you think the internet is for? But if you use Stickam and this bothers you, the burgeoning field of live embeddable Flash-based webcam video streaming is rife with alternatives: uStream.tv, Justin.tv, BlogTV, Mogulus, and Operator11, just to name some -- but there'll be naked girls on those too. I guarantee it.
posted on Aug 6, 2007 - View this thread

[newsfilter] Fake Steve Jobs, infamous anonymous blogger writing in the unrestrained voice of Apple CEO Steve Jobs, has had his real identity uncovered by the New York Times. Fake Steve is best known for his creative mockery of other high tech figureheads, including Steve Wozniak, Bill Gates, and Richard Branson. The race to discover his identity had run for nearly as long as he had been writing, and suspects included Leahnder Kahney and Andy Ihnatko, both well-known Mac columnists. Daniel Lyons, senior editor with Forbes Magazine has been writing in the satirical voice for just over a year, and has announced that Fake Steve will keep writing, sponsored by his current editors at Forbes.
posted on Aug 5, 2007 - View this thread

Bots've come a long way, baby. So everybody knows about Honda's flashy ASIMO, and the sadly canceled QRIO, but now Wakamaru, Mitsubishi's entry into the field, seems to have been first among semi-autonomous humanoid robots to find a job. I wish it luck, but it might need to grow up a little. Maybe it can learn from Domo, son of Cog, robot of yore.
posted on Jul 17, 2007 - View this thread

Destroying a perfectly good cellphone. The inner workings and guts of the biggest new toy this year. Is it more reliable then an iPod? How many screws does it have? Is it powered by nerds wishes and dreams? The answers to these questions are maybe, 16, and you bet your sweet ass.
posted on Jun 29, 2007 - View this thread

Why yes, I WOULD like to ride a rocket into space, then jump out of it and free-float to an Earth re-entry. Columbia widower Jonathan Clark and X Prize launcher Rick Tumlinson want to redefine re-entry. Whether for fun or for survival, the two want to make it possible for you or me to survive the 150 mile, 18,000 MPH, 8.2G, 3,000°F fall back to Earth in the worlds first orbital life vest. [via]
posted on Jun 27, 2007 - View this thread

Is it 2000 bucks worth of offensive? A Sydney youth who has created an uproar with an online game based on the Virginia Tech massacre, says he will remove the game if he receives $US2000 in "donations". More via Melbourne Age
posted on May 15, 2007 - View this thread

NewsFilter: At least 20 are dead in multiple shootings at Virginia Tech. Just last week, Virginia Tech closed part of its campus as it was the target of multiple bomb threats.
posted on Apr 16, 2007 - View this thread

Gizmoz : for those of you who want your own video blog but don't want to mess with the intricacies of a webcam.
posted on Feb 12, 2007 - View this thread

So.. who's ready for Quantum Computing?

British Colombia-based D-Wave says they've got one and they're going to demo that sucker in Mountain View, CA on Feb 13th and then at the Telus World of Science in Vancouver, Canada on February 15th.

Quoting from TechWorld :

"Multiple quantum states exist at the same time, so every quantum bit or "qubit" in such a machine is simultaneously 0 and 1. D-Wave's prototype has only 16 qubits, but systems with hundreds of qubits would be able to process more inputs than there are atoms in the universe."

Naturally, the tech-savvy blogosphere is skeptical. But what do you think? (previously, previously)
posted on Feb 9, 2007 - View this thread

RONJA is an optical networking device that can be built by nearly everyone, using readily available components and using only free software.
posted on Feb 7, 2007 - View this thread

India's Outsourcing Problems One of the most controversial aspects of the global economy has been the newfound freedom of companies from physical location and the subsequent spread of outsourcing jobs. No country had embraced tech outsourcing with the passion of India. Of late, problems there are beginning to rise: engineers start a project, get a few months' experience, and then bolt for greener pastures, bringing a level of attrition that replaces entire staffs within the course of a year. Combine that with salaries in Bangalore that are rising at 12% to 14% per year and it is no surprise that companies are leaving India for a slew of emerging hot spots for IT outsourcing such as the old Soviet Bloc, China, and Vietnam. This comes as companies such as Microsoft continue to laud outsourcing and proudly proclaim that it is here to stay, and it looks as if Ho Chi Minh City will be the next Bangalore.
posted on Dec 11, 2006 - View this thread

Petroleum from Pond Scum: Dr. Isaac Berzin, founder of GreenFuel Technologies, is working on a prototype that uses algae to convert power plant emissions into biofuels. Good news: It would only take a bioreactor twice the size of new Jersey to supply the entire US with its petroleum needs.
posted on Nov 29, 2006 - View this thread

"I feel guilty because I have friends that are working really hard to get into television or acting and I'm just sitting here having not done anything more than enjoy playing with gadgets."

Susi Weaser (24) makes little one-minute gadget reviews and posts them on YouTube . The BBC must have liked them - because they hired her.
posted on Nov 18, 2006 - View this thread

10 greatest beat-making videos ever* "*Or, you know, today." A Music thing thing.
posted on Aug 23, 2006 - View this thread

They'll never piggyback on your wireless again Your router makes the computer look funny. (via MeTa)
posted on Aug 10, 2006 - View this thread

PCWorld magazine lists the top 25 worst tech products of all time. via /.
posted on May 27, 2006 - View this thread

Engadget turns 2. There are lots of famous birthdays in March, but I'm willing to bet none of them had cakes quite as elaborate as the ones Engadet fans made.
posted on Mar 16, 2006 - View this thread

Winer goes after Cadenhead in litigious fashion. Never mind that the $10,000 Cadenhead earned transformed into $2.3 million for Winer. Meanwhile, Winer, on the verge of retirement (or so he claims), provides "real Dave" and "virtual Dave" explanation.
posted on Mar 15, 2006 - View this thread

Terrorist attack on Georgia Tech campus. A bomb explodes on the East Campus of Georgia Tech within a mile of the Centennial Olympic Park where Eric Rudolph , in another act of terrorism, set off an explosive device during the 1996 Summer Olympics. This is a terror attack on one of America's leading research institutions supporting the War on Terror. This a terror attack on the institution designing safer cars against roadside bombs for the military. This is a terror attack on an institution whose security services are closely aligned with the Department of Homeland Security. This is a terror attack on the first university in the deep south to admit African Americans without a court order. This is a terror attack on institution whose freedom loving football team is struggling to recover from two consecutive losses after a 3-0 start. It is an act of terror on American soil. Where is George?
posted on Oct 11, 2005 - View this thread

On the Chilean island of Robinson Crusoe, a small GPR-enabled robot named Arturito (google translated page) has apparently just found "The biggest treasure in history..." (estimated at $10 Billion).
posted on Sep 26, 2005 - View this thread

Home made F-16 Flight Simulator. It's amazing what a determined guy can accomplish on his own. Lots of pictures. He's been working on it for 10 years.
posted on Jun 24, 2005 - View this thread

Electronic Sand Painting (Artiste sur sable très doué) -- embedded video, from France, and Korean TV
posted on Apr 19, 2005 - View this thread

2 GB of data per second, piggybacking on your skin's electrical field. You == organic lan for small electronic devices. And it's a little more secure than bluetooth. via kottke, like everything else.
posted on Mar 23, 2005 - View this thread

Communication Grill Chang-tei: Chat powered barbeque. "You have to continue carrying out the chat with the partner surrounding a table. If a chat is stopped, the fire of an electric heater will go out." (via)
posted on Dec 25, 2004 - View this thread

At least 10 percent of high-tech gifts this holiday season may fall victim to "computer rage" - acts of uncontrolled frustration by their owners - estimates University of Maryland professor Kent Norman, a cognitive psychologist who directs the Laboratory for Automation Psychology and Decision Processes.
posted on Dec 13, 2004 - View this thread

The Great Pigeon Debacle 2004. Now none of this would have happened if the guy had a resident snake.
posted on Oct 9, 2004 - View this thread

Hall of technical documentation weirdness
posted on Aug 16, 2004 - View this thread

Funny Microsoft Knowledge base articles. Cookies Lost After Upgrading to Windows XP, Calculator Does Not Reliably Subtract Two Numbers in Windows, etc...
posted on Jul 7, 2004 - View this thread

Techies Left Behind James Pace Jr. used to work as a steamfitter in a General Electric plant in Bridgeport. That was back in the early '70s, when the grapevine was alive with warnings: These jobs are going overseas. Go back to school. There's no future here. Pace left the plant, enrolled in computer school, studied information technology and never looked back. That is, not until 23 years later, on the day he was told his $100,000-a-year job as an IT (information technology) consultant had been sent to India
posted on Jan 16, 2004 - View this thread

Robert X. Cringely's Predictions for 2004 : first he updates readers on his 2003 predictions (80% accuracy) and then dishings 15 new techie prophecies.
posted on Jan 2, 2004 - View this thread

Jim Louderback's Eight Biggest Tech Flops Ever: IBM's PCjr, Go/Penpoint, General Magic's Magic Cap, Microsoft Bob, Iomega Clik! Drive, DataPlay, Internet Appliances, and WebTV.
posted on Dec 30, 2003 - View this thread

Hall of Technical Documentation Weirdness, a collection of weird technical documentation illustrations, oddly enough.
via Macintouch
posted on Sep 16, 2003 - View this thread

Start-up demonstrates sound focusing technology. Basically, they can project a sound to a specific point/person from up to 100m away. Minority Report is coming closer to reality by the day...
posted on May 20, 2003 - View this thread

Evan Williams could not be reached for comment. "Evan Williams, Pyra's co-founder, blogged his day-to-day life for the last three years right up until it got interesting. Williams pulled his blog offline earlier this week." Leander Kahney at Wired asks Why Did Google Want Blogger? and thinks it might have something to do with that slippery idea of a semantic Web.
posted on Feb 22, 2003 - View this thread

Data can be encoded and retrieved from DNA --even after multiple generations. Any bets on what the first message ever decoded from human DNA will read? My money's on "Hello World".
posted on Jan 8, 2003 - View this thread

"Cryptophis nigrescens killed my computer." ... "my computer was making a strange hissing noise last night and this morning when I turned it on there was a crackling noise and some smoke then nothing, if I bring it in can you fix it?"

One of my colleagues took this tech support call and has the photographs to prove it.
posted on Nov 28, 2002 - View this thread

People are talking. Now, someone's listening. Late-from-the-gate tech startup BuzzMetrics "analyzes, measures, monitors, & influences the unaided consumer discussions that naturally occur in online communities." If that's not spooky enough, they continue: "Some consumers have more influence over public opinion than others, but targeting them has always been extremely difficult." BuzzMetrics is happy to identify negative posters and research their posting histories, among other services. Does this toe an ethical line? Does it change how you post to online conversations? Oh, yeah -- they're hiring.
posted on Oct 10, 2002 - View this thread

"It was amazing," says 101, "we went to club after club. We never paid a cover, we never paid for drinks. We were escorted to the VIP tables. In Minneapolis the Geek Squad has been around for 10 years -- they're treated like rock stars. I mean, when has a computer tech ever been treated like a rock star?" "The Geek Squad offers a flat-rate service. You call them with a problem; they quote you a price; they fix the problem. No matter what. No matter how long it takes. And, each agent guarantees his work -- forever."
posted on Aug 25, 2002 - View this thread

Computer Scientists find method to quickly discover primes? If the claims outlined in this article are correct, an age-long problem of number theory maybe solved. I wonder about the implications for cryptography; any cypherpunks care to comment?
posted on Aug 8, 2002 - View this thread

Are national governments about to take over the Internet? Has ICANN done such a terrible job that they should be permitted to?
posted on Jun 13, 2002 - View this thread

Does privacy have a place in society anymore? Or is it incompatible with a crowded and technologically-advanced world? If we must submit to constant surveillance, who should we trust to watch?
posted on May 23, 2002 - View this thread

The world of the laid-off techie. "Human resource experts say the underemployment trend in the current economic cycle is just starting to emerge. Many workers got the ax when mass layoffs peaked in the summer and fall of 2001, and they coasted on several months of severance and unemployment insurance, which generally lasts six months. With the tech job market still in the doldrums, they're now considering new gigs as waitresses, bartenders, forklift drivers or baby sitters--anything to pay the rent. " I wish the media hadn't/didn't focus so much attention on the suits who seem to only be able to "fail upwards" versus the folks in the trenches. (via /.)
posted on Feb 11, 2002 - View this thread

Is The Economy Broken? It was one thing when it was the tech/Internet sector - the bubble burst, but now the wave continues with the 2002 recovery seeming like wishful thinking. If it's not layoffs, companies are cutting their 401k plans. Argentina's crisis seems like it will have ripple effects as well. Then you have numbers saying people are confident, so are we getting tanked by jittery Wall Street-ers? Oh, there's also a war on.
posted on Dec 31, 2001 - View this thread

What OS is Micro$oft running? A poll of what OS' run in Microsoft's netblock, and their rank by uptime. Besides the fact that Hotmail was on FreeBSD for awhile [before M$ took them over], this was surprising.
posted on Oct 17, 2001 - View this thread

As the technology industry lays off thousands, a division of the German conglomerate, Siemens, takes a different approach. I like the idea of having a sabbatical of sorts with half pay instead of simply being laid off. Of course, this would never happen in the U.S. - we love laying people off here and contributing to overall unemployment and higher welfare rates. Just look at what Salon has to say about it.... (note, you need to scroll down to midpage).
posted on Sep 5, 2001 - View this thread