Technologizer
By Harry McCracken | What Harry McCracken is writing--and reading--on the web
Apple's Winning iPhone Formula Is Perfecting Its Rivals Best Ideas
Better Late Than Never<p>While Apple invented the modern smartphone, it has since mostly played catch-up with competitors. A few times it got there …
Essential PhoneWhat The End Of 32-Bit Support In iOS 11 Really Means
Most iOS apps are ready for the end of 32-bit support, but some beloved ones are falling through the cracks.<p>For years, Eddy Boxerman thought his company’s critically acclaimed iOS game <i>Osmos</i> would never need another update. He wasn’t even sure if a new version would be feasible, because the game’s …
iOSThese texts show Uber’s Travis Kalanick and Otto’s Anthony Levandowski plotting a press blitz
“We should have a undertone of scorched earth.”<p>You’re not supposed to see how the news gets made, the saying goes. For the same reason that you’re not supposed to watch how sausage gets made.<p>But here’s a slight glimpse of some newsmaking involving Uber.<p>Don’t worry! It’s not really unpleasant.<p>This …
UberGoogle Has Paid Thousands to Academics Writing About Google
Over the last ten years, Google (er, um, Alphabet) has paid thousands of dollars to people in the academic community working on research that …
GoogleSusan Wojcicki Has Transformed YouTube—But She Isn’t Done Yet
To outmaneuver traditional TV—and secure Google’s future—YouTube’s CEO must satisfy homegrown creators, risk-averse advertisers, Hollywood celebs, and a billion-plus viewers.<p>Outside of the Jacob Javits Convention Center on New York’s far West Side—where YouTube is hosting the Brandcast, its annual …
Susan WojcickiFujifilm Instax Square SQ10 review: digital downer
A new kind of instant camera that’s not quite there yet<p>Do you want to keep your photos for a long time, and make some of them widely available? Or do you want them to be more ephemeral, something you can give to a friend and maybe never see again?<p>Consciously or not, we ask these questions a lot …
Snap’s Spectacles hit Europe, complete with funky vending machine dispensers
Snap Inc. has introduced its camera-equipped smart glasses, known as Spectacles, to Europe. The wearable has been made available online as well as via its Snapbot pop-up vending machine — the same way in which they were introduced to the US last November.<p>The first place you’ll find the Spectacles …
Andy RubinGoogle confirms Chrome ad blocker coming ‘in early 2018’
Over the past six weeks, multiple reports and rumors have hinted that Google is building an ad blocker into its Chrome browser. The company today set the record straight regarding its plans, which are not quite what the speculation suggested.<p>Google has joined the Coalition for Better Ads, a group …
GoogleApple WWDC 2017: What to expect
A decade ago, the late Steve Jobs stood and sat at a desk on stage at Apple’s 2007 Worldwide Developer’s Conference for an hour and a half, master of ceremonies for the unveiling of OS X Leopard and, most importantly, the first glimpse of iPhone OS 1.<p>No one could have envisioned what would happen …
Apple TVThe Eve V came from nowhere to challenge the Surface Pro
The Eve V convertible has become something of a media darling lately, mostly because it claims to be the first PC to be developed by consumers, not a massive corporation. The idea of the populist PC was intriguing enough that Microsoft and Intel both worked with Eve to make the V happen, but c'mon …
Hacker Leaks Stolen ‘Orange Is the New Black’ Season 5 Episodes to Piracy Network
An anonymous hacker has carried through on a threat to release “Orange Is the New Black” season five episodes online — after Netflix allegedly failed …
Amazon Echo Look Ushers In A New, Disturbing Era Of Privacy Concerns
Amazon Echo Look, in your closet, watching you.<p>The best way to approach this is with blunt aplomb. Why in the hell would you want to put the Amazon Echo Look internet-of-things camera device in your bathroom or bedroom? Weren’t we just talking about the camera on your laptop being hacked? How is …
AmazonNintendo's hardware visionary is calling it a day
Alongside today's impressive earnings report, Nintendo announced that long-serving employee Genyo Takeda is stepping down as company director this June. Holding the title of representative director and also sitting alongside Miyamoto as "Technology Fellow", Takeda has played a key role in defining …
NintendoJack Dorsey on Donald Trump
Twitter’s CEO on the president, the future of the product, and the harassment problem.<p>It was only 11 years ago that Jack Dorsey first sent a message …
Social MediaBridgestone's Airless Tires Will Soon Let Cyclists Abandon Their Bike Pumps
First revealed way back in 2011, Bridgestone’s airless tires use a series of rigid plastic resin spokes to help a wheel keep its shape as it rolls, …
Google's Dueling Neural Networks Spar to Get Smarter, No Humans Required
The day Richard Feynman died, the blackboard in his classroom read: "What I cannot create, I do not understand."<p>When Ian Goodfellow explains the …
How Google Book Search Got Lost
Google Books was the company’s first moonshot. But 15 years later, the project is stuck in low-Earth orbit.<p><b>Books can do anything</b>. As Franz Kafka once …
Google BooksHow A Former iPod Chief Built The World’s Most Advanced First-Aid Kit
Built for places where doctors are far away, 19Labs’s Gale “clinic-in-a-box” contains sensors, interactive guides, and on-demand video access to health care pros.<p>The Gale high-tech first-aid kit was born on a terrifying night in Mexico.<p>Its creator, Ram Fish, who once led the iPod group at Apple, …
Health CareInside Twitter’s Obsessive Quest To Ditch The Egg
An icon that came to represent Twitter’s dark side is giving way to one designed not to turn anyone off, without looking like something you’d want to stick with.<p>Once upon a time, the designers responsible for Twitter’s look and feel reveled in the service’s association with birds. For instance, …
Social MediaLegal threats and disgruntled clients: inside the ‘Uber for private jets’
Tim Martz made his fortune in broadcast radio, but even as a wealthy man, the price of chartering a private jet always stung a bit. So when Martz joined JetSmarter in February 2015, the service seemed like a steal. In return for a $7,000 annual membership fee, plus a $2,000 initiation charge, he …
Meet The Man Whose Site Mark Zuckerberg Reads Every Day
For the last decade, Gabe Rivera has been quietly shaping the tech industry’s story for its top executives, investors, and journalists. But is the editor behind Silicon Valley’s Drudge Report ready to reckon with his influence?<p>Gabe Rivera was halfway through his lamb gyro when it became clear he’d …
JournalismFury Road: Did Uber Steal the Driverless Future From Google?
Travis Kalanick, the chief executive officer of Uber Technologies Inc., says he needs leadership help. He recently dispatched former U.S. Attorney …
Anthony LevandowskiSinclair ZX Vega+ funding campaign halted by Indiegogo
<b>Crowdfunding platform Indiegogo intervened to stop a handheld retro computer console campaign from acquiring further funding, the BBC has learned.</b><p>The Spectrum ZX Vega+, backed by Sir Clive Sinclair, had achieved its original crowdfunding target.<p>But then Indiegogo halted further fundraising because …
Crowd FundingTwitter’s New Order
What do you see when you open Twitter? Until a year ago, the answer was straightforward: With minor exceptions, you’d see every tweet from every …
Social MediaAlphabet lawsuit against Uber cements end of uneasy marriage
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - When Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] was raising venture capital in 2013, it was one of the hottest deals around – and no one was more eager to write a check than Bill Maris and David Krane of Google's venture capital arm.<p>Not everyone at Google Ventures, since renamed GV, …
The Untold Story of Atari Founder Nolan Bushnell’s Visionary 1980s Tech Incubator
After bringing us Pong and Chuck E. Cheese’s, the legendary entrepreneur built a startup factory that tackled 21st-century ideas with 1980s tech.<p>In the annals of Silicon Valley history, Nolan Bushnell’s name conjures up both brilliant success and spectacular failure. His two landmark achievements …
Silicon ValleyYouTube’s Monster: PewDiePie and His Populist Revolt
Felix Kjellberg, known to his fans as PewDiePie, is by far YouTube’s biggest star. His videos, a mix of video-game narration, humorous rants and commentary, have cumulatively been viewed billions of times, and more than 53 million people subscribe to his channel. He has been called “the king of …
A Controversial Minister Makes Peace With Techies in the Battle for San Francisco’s Soul
The Battle for the Soul of San Francisco<p>Healing the Tension<p>Between Wealthy<p>Tech Workers and Their<p>Impoverished Neighbors<p>Healing the Tension Between …
BuzzFeed vs. Trump
BuzzFeed News pushes further than its competitors. Can it handle the consequences?<p>It happened fast. Just like everything else in Trumpland.<p>On January 10th, CNN published an explosive story: a dossier alleging President-elect Donald Trump had been embarrassingly compromised by the Russian government …