Mike Elgan

It’s that time of year again! No, not the holidays. It’s the season for self-appointed “experts” and “pundits” to freak everybody out with outlandish predictions — most of which will never come true. Newspapers, magazines, blogs and TV news shows eat these up, because they’re sensational. And unlike real news, they don’t require the cooperation […]

The microblogging site Twitteris growing like a weed, threatening to become a full-fledged mainstream phenomenon. A new report by HubSpot called “State of the Twittersphere” says that between 5,000 and 10,000 new users join the service every day, that 70% of current users joined within the last year and that 20% have joined within the […]

The industrial revolution didn’t arise out of nowhere, and it didn’t arise everywhere. It was made possible by the emergence of a set of personal values that came to be known as the “work ethic.” The idea behind this meme — inconceivable 400 years ago — is that hard work is good for its own […]

The recession is hitting everyone. But print media companies — newspapers, books and magazines — are getting hit harder and sooner than most. It’s their own damned fault. Like the US automakers and the music industry, print media companies squandered most of their time and money during boom times clinging to the past rather than […]

It’s an article of faith that PCs and consumer electronics always get faster and cheaper at a mind-blowing rate. But that’s not really true, is it? Sure, they get a little faster and a little cheaper, but nothing like the performance and price gains the pundits and vendors promise. The Gold Standard for predicting performance […]

Consumer technology evolves fast. It’s hard to believe that just two years ago, the Apple iPhone, Asus Eee PC, Amazon Kindle and Twitter didn’t exist. Only college students were on Facebook. And Bill Gates still worked at Microsoft. What’s harder to fathom is our own evolution. As technology changes, technology changes us — how our […]

I hate to say it, but somebody has to: Satellite radio will come crashing down to Earth within the next two years. The newly merged Sirius XM Radio is already living on borrowed time — and borrowed money — and simply will not and cannot survive. First of all, I’m not an anti-satellite guy. I […]

They don’t call the day after Thanksgiving “Black Friday” for nothing. It’s all about launching the megastores “into the black” – into profitability. They profit not by offering goods at a loss, but by using ultra-low prices to lure you into their stores, where they can employ dirty tricks to make money. Because of the […]

Also see: Netbook Smackdown: Compare the Six Top Netbooks And: One Guy, Three Netbooks (a review of three netbooks) Last year I told you the “10 Black Friday Secrets Retailers Don’t Want You To Know.” All these secrets still apply (and the retailers still don’t want you to know them). What’s different this year is […]

Congratulations to Jeff Han for winning the 2008 presidential race! It’s been a long, hard road to victory. Han has been working on this day for years, slowly gathering supporters and fending off better financed rivals. Wait, what? No, I’m not talking about politics. Presidents come and go. But PC user interface paradigms last for […]

There’s no such thing as “Internet addiction.” The Internet is simply the Mother of All Enablers, providing a medium through which addicts can indulge real addictions, including porn, gambling, news, video games and socializing (a.k.a. social media addiction). The Internet is a powerful enabler of addiction because of what experts call the “three A’s”: It’s […]

A new study published this week by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that cell phones and computers are actually good for “nuclear families.” According to Pew research, Internet, cell phones, e-mail, IM and Twitter make nuclear families closer by enabling family members to stay in touch between times when they’re physically together. […]