When I get things wrong — and I was very much wrong about Facebook’s blockchain plans — the reason is usually a predictable one: confirmation bias. That is, I already have an idea of what a company’s motivations are, and then view news through that lens, failing to think critically about what parts…

Enlarge / My face is made of internet. Fiona Staples Sometimes I get into one of those conversations about the Internet where the only way I can reply is to quote from The IT Crowd : "Are you from the past?" I say that every time someone asserts that the online world is somehow separate from real…

John Gruber is not impressed by the suggestion that Google’s new Pixel phone, which the company introduced at a keynote yesterday, is the first time the company has competed head-to-head with the iPhone: Google has been going head-to-head against the iPhone ever since the first Android phone…

In February 1991, the very month that Walmart overtook the most iconic American retailer in sales , Sears spokesman Jerry Buldak told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the companies couldn’t really be compared: “We feel the mission of Sears is to be an integrated, powerful specialty merchant, with…

When it comes to ad-supported services, pundits everywhere are fond of the adage “If you’re not the customer you’re the product”. It’s interesting, though, how quickly that adage is forgotten when it comes to evaluating the viability of said services. Twitter is a perfect example. In response to my…

The idea of a “smartphone” that could connect to the Internet and run applications was around long before 2007; Apple, though, was the first to put the entire package together, including the device, user interface, and interaction paradigm, which is why the first iPhone is considered the start date…

One of the more famous marketing frameworks is the Marketing Mix , also known as “The Four P’s.” According to the framework there are four key components to a marketing plan: P roduct (what is actually sold) P rice (how much the product is sold for) P romotion (how customers find out about the…

NASA WASHINGTON, DC—Cars and trucks no longer need drivers. Executives can get digital personal assistants to read their e-mail and manage their schedules. Cities may soon send robots instead of rescue teams to save people from natural disaster areas. And medical sensors and machine-to-machine…

At this point the iPhone release cycle is pretty well understood. One year, Apple releases the design refresh that changes the external design significantly while generally focusing on evolving the internal components. The year after, the S variant is released with the same design as the previous…

A new report into U.S. consumers’ attitude to the collection of personal data has highlighted the disconnect between commercial claims that web users are happy to trade privacy in exchange for ‘benefits’ like discounts. On the contrary, it asserts that a large majority of web users are not at all…

Retaliation is a strong word On Wednesday morning, Hermle returned to finish up her closing statements in front of the jury and started off rebutting the claims that Kleiner Perkins retaliated against Pao for making complaints. She explained that Pao’s retaliation argument centers around two…

The on-again/off-again rumor mill about Apple’s TV efforts is spinning again, thanks to a new report in the Wall Street Journal that Apple Plans Web TV Service in Fall : The technology giant is in talks with programmers to offer a slimmed-down bundle of TV networks this fall, according to people…

Andrew Sullivan 1 is, as undoubtedly you’ve heard, leaving his eponymous blog : I am saturated in digital life and I want to return to the actual world again. I’m a human being before I am a writer; and a writer before I am a blogger, and although it’s been a joy and a privilege to have helped…

(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) The US Department of Transportation (USDOT) just released "Beyond Traffic," a study best described as a dire warning about how the country's arterial lines will clog and implode over the next several decades. As far as USDOT secretary Anthony Foxx is concerned, pretty…

Enlarge / Carl Malamud's "Geek of the Week" Internet radio show, which dates to 1993, is one piece of "prior art" that EFF says should knock out the Personal Audio podcasting patent. EFF 2009: A big target A few years later, the device Logan envisioned in the 1990s had become a major industry even…