Why is Hallowe’en like Christmas? Because both have become commercialized to the point of morphing into insanely materialistic binges fueled by greed maintained by non-stop advertising? Because both, having lost all meaning as holy times, have become holidays with no more true significance than a ski weekend? Because 25 (Dec) = 31 (Oct)? Or, to […]
The Biggest Change to the society of the Fourth Civilization will not be pervasive computing technology per se. Certainly, the compound, sliding, dual bevel mitre saw we call the computing appliance, whether in big iron, small iron, desktop, laptop, pocket, or embedded form, is already ubiquitous. One assumes the embedded form will soon also be […]
Technology News and Views Since 1983 The Future–Not What It Used To Be August 2019 The usual bunch of idiots will be no longer. Mad magazine, which gored everyone’s ox in ways that ranged from hilarious to despicable (depending on whose ox) but were always in exquisitely wretched taste will cease publishing new material. One […]
July 2019 The news of Jony Ives’ Departure from Apple to lead his own design company cannot, despite iCook’s comments, have a positive spin put on it for Apple’s future. Each industry, each profession, each discipline has its practitioners and its leaders. A few of these have iconic founders–people who made themselves the sine qua […]
This column is a little late because the Spy placed it on hold until after the June 3 announcements at the annual keynote WWDC speech. Items put on the table by iCook include those of modest importance to the Spy, but of more note to some people, including: the expected (and leaked) replacement of iTunes […]
It was the best of sheds… until it became the worst of sheds. Oh, wait. Introductory sentences structured that way are yesterday’s news. Well, what the Dickens… The Spy has a small shed used to store his garden technology–tools, fertilizers, a very few chemicals, pots, fencing, poles, rototiller, etc. All of it is low tech. […]
The next great thing has, for some time now, been wearables. Smart watches haven’t made much of their time on the market, though. After all is hard to expect people to buy a smart watch when so few wear watches. And, how many people really need smart T-shirts or running shoes? These are all interesting, […]
The Spy’s Fourth Law reminds us Marketshare Lags Mindshare by two to five years. Long before the Internet was invented but was detailed here as the Metalibrary, the Spy warned that bringing people closer together electronically, far from creating the other pundits’ global village, would exacerbate old prejudices, hatreds, and uninformed beliefs, thus promoting division, […]
The stock market has begun to speak about overpriced valuations, and its coming year looks growly. Much of the recent inflation in prices can be ascribed to the American tax cuts for corporations and the rich, who used their spare income to bid up equities, an option not available to most people, whose incomes have […]
Further On Apple’s latest iterations The Spy notes that Apple parts suppliers have been notifying shareholders of massive reductions in their order books. Stocks have fallen, and Apple shares in turn have led the whole premium high tech stock sector into a deep downward spiral. Indeed at this writing, Apples market cap, having lost some […]
