Technologizer

By Harry McCracken

What Harry McCracken is writing--and reading--on the web

Arianna Huffington
Do Not Disturb: How I Ditched My Phone and Unbroke My Brain
The New York Times - By KEVIN ROOSE
My name is Kevin, and I have a phone problem. And if you’re anything like me — and the statistics suggest you probably are, at least where smartphones are concerned — you have one, too. I don’t love referring
This guy holds the Guinness World Record for collecting spreadsheets
Fast Company - By Harry McCracken
Ariel Fischman’s office shelves are a veritable museum devoted to the era of VisiCalc, Lotus 1-2-3, Multiplan, and other products that once duked it out for number-crunching supremacy. In a world in which
Your Apps Know Where You Were Last Night, and They’re Not Keeping It Secret
The New York Times
Dozens of companies use smartphone locations to help advertisers and even hedge funds. They say it’s anonymous, but the data shows how personal it is.
Dodged questions from Facebook's press call on misinformation
TechCrunch - Josh Constine
Facebook avoided some of the toughest inquiries from reporters yesterday during a conference call about its efforts to fight election interference and fake news. The company did provide additional transparency
Apple is rebuilding Maps from the ground up
TechCrunch - Matthew Panzarino
I’m not sure if you’re aware, but the launch of Apple Maps went poorly. After a rough first impression, an apology from the CEO, several years of patching holes with data partnerships and some glimmers
Apps
iOS 12: Geeky features iOS needs
macworld.com - Jason was lead editor at Macworld for more than a decade and now writes about Apple at Six Colors and podcasts at Relay FM and The Incomparable.
If June is for Apple’s annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), then May is for stories speculating about what will be announced at WWDC. My …
Electric Scooter Charger Culture Is Out of Control
The Atlantic - Taylor Lorenz
“Bird hunting” has become a pastime and a side hustle for teens and young professionals, but for some it’s a cutthroat business. Every afternoon around 4 p.m., when school lets out, Brandon, an 18-year-old
Starbucks Brews A Tech-Infused Future, With Help From Microsoft
Fast Company - By Harry McCracken
When the biggest name in coffee sought to use tech to make its stores both more human and more efficient, it found a partner in another Seattle institution. You’d expect a Starbucks at the company’s corporate
Instagram Looks Like Facebook’s Best Hope
Bloomberg
Through the glass doors, beyond the giant camera logo and before the artisan coffee stand, visitors to Instagram’s headquarters in Menlo Park, …
AirPods and the Three Stages of Apple Criticism
medium.com
Jonathan KimBlockedUnblockFollowFollowing Apr 2, 2018 It’s rare for critics, commentators, and especially commenters to admit that they were wrong. One …
Theranos
The Seven Biggest Lies Theranos Told
BuzzFeed
Elizabeth Holmes once dazzled the world with a story that seemed almost too good to be true: Theranos, her Silicon Valley startup, was going to revolutionize medicine with its blood-testing technology.
This Is Why It’s So Hard To Calculate How Much Uber Drivers Earn
Fast Company - By Ruth Reader
An MIT study measuring low driver wages was quickly debunked, but researchers need better data, and ride-hail companies rarely cooperate. Last week, a working paper from MIT claimed that a third of Uber
Inciting a new future
TechCrunch - Matt Burns
Swati Mylavarapu and Matt Rogers are the definitive Silicon Valley power couple. Rogers, a cheerful, be-fuzzed technologist, co-founded Nest Labs. Swati, a sharp visionary, was at Square for four years
How Facebook Figures Out Everyone You've Ever Met
Gizmodo - Kashmir Hill
In real life, in the natural course of conversation, it is not uncommon to talk about a person you may know. You meet someone and say, “I’m from …
Tony Fadell’s Next Act? Taking on Silicon Valley—From Paris
WIRED - Adam Fisher
Tony Fadell is at the Grove, a spectacularly beautiful country estate outside of London. The event is Founders Forum: the ultra exclusive …
Mark Zuckerberg’s Fake News Problem Isn’t Going Away
Bloomberg
Technically speaking, Mark Zuckerberg has been on paternity leave. In late August his wife, Priscilla Chan, gave birth to their second child, a girl. …
Satya Nadella Rewrites Microsoft’s Code
Fast Company - By Harry McCracken
Microsoft’s CEO has stopped infighting, restored morale, and created more than $250 billion in market value. All it took was focusing on what matters most. Satya Nadella’s corner office, on the fifth of
Polaroid is back in the instant photography business it created and abandoned
Fast Company - Harry McCracken
When Polaroid stopped making instant film cameras in 2007 and ceased instant-film production the following year, it was sad—but also, in the era of digital photography, perfectly understandable. Left little
15 Questions I Still Have After Apple’s Big Event
Fast Company - By Harry McCracken
What we don’t yet know about Apple’s new product lineup is at least as interesting as what became official on Tuesday. If you were paying attention to the pre-event scuttlebutt, Apple’s product launch
WhatsApp’s Cofounder On How It Reached 1.3 Billion Users Without Losing Its Focus
Fast Company - Harry McCracken
Even under Facebook ownership, Jan Koum says that the simplicity and efficiency that made WhatsApp a hit in the first place remain all-important. Three and a half years ago, Facebook announced its plan
How Apple Plans to Change the Way You Use the Next iPhone
Bloomberg - Mark Gurman
Apple Inc. plans to transform the way people use its next high-end iPhone by eliminating the concept of a home button and making other adjustments to …
Google Critic Ousted From Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant
The New York Times - By KENNETH P. VOGEL
WASHINGTON — In the hours after European antitrust regulators levied a record $2.7 billion fine against Google in late June, an influential Washington think tank learned what can happen when a wealthy
Uber’s New CEO
stratechery.com - Ben Thompson
In the last seven months, Uber has endured: The #DeleteUber campaign • The fallout from Susan Fowler Rigetti’s blog post, including the Holder …
FOIA: Internal Emails Show Government Officials Scrambling to Explain Why Climate Scientist’s Meeting With Mark Zuckerberg
VICE - Sarah Emerson
Unpublished documents reveal new details about the circumstances behind the high-profile Facebook event. On a sunny Saturday afternoon, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg dropped into Montana's famed Glacier
Samsung Verdict Sends a Tough New Message to South Korea Inc.
The New York Times - By CHOE SANG-HUN, JEYUP S. KWAAK and PAUL MOZUR
SEOUL, South Korea — More than two decades ago, South Korean prosecutors indicted the chairman of the powerful Samsung conglomerate on charges of bribing the president. He was let off with a suspended
What’s New in the iPhone X
Bloomberg
Better Late Than Never While Apple invented the modern smartphone, it has since mostly played catch-up with competitors. A few times it got there …
What The End Of 32-Bit Support In iOS 11 Really Means
Fast Company - By Jared Newman
Most iOS apps are ready for the end of 32-bit support, but some beloved ones are falling through the cracks. For years, Eddy Boxerman thought his company’s critically acclaimed iOS game Osmos would never
Tech Industry
These texts show Uber’s Travis Kalanick and Otto’s Anthony Levandowski plotting a press blitz
Recode - Peter Kafka
“We should have a undertone of scorched earth.” 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. But here’s
Google Has Paid Thousands to Academics Writing About Google
New York Magazine - Madison Malone Kircher
Over the last ten years, Google (er, um, Alphabet) has paid thousands of dollars to people in the academic community working on research that …