Robert X. Cringely - Author

Stories by Robert X. Cringely

Article | 6/01/2009 Is the RIAA admitting defeat?

The RIAA has called off some of its pit bulls, but don't expect a kindler gentler trade org to emerge in 2009.

Article | 12/12/2008 Sex, censorship and the Net

I don't know what it is -- the holidays, the waning days of the Bush Administration, or just something in the air -- but the war over sex on the Net h...

Article | 10/11/2008 Is Yahoo dead?

The problem with writing about the endless Microsoft-Yahoo-Google mini-series is eventually you run out of metaphors. So I'll quote Michael Corleone: ...

Article | 9/10/2008 Drop that DVD-copying software and put your hands up

More bad news for fans of the "I bought it, I own it, I can do what I want with it" approach to living.

Article | 2/10/2008 RealDVDs, surreal lawsuits

Like a Brachiosaur sinking into a tar pit, the recording industry as we've known it for the past 70 years is very nearly extinct. But unlike dinosaurs...

Article | 23/09/2008 The RIAA vs ... well, everybody

Most sane humans would greet a law suit from the RIAA the way you'd welcome a surprise audit from the IRS. Not Ray Beckerman. He says, "Bring it on, b...

Article | 16/09/2008 Smoke, mirrors and Google's privacy policies

Hi, my name's Cringely, and I am powerless over my Google addiction. ("Hi, Cringely.")

Article | 4/09/2008 Chrome sweet Chrome?

Google finally enters the browser business (finally fulfilling years of rumors), and you'd think there was nothing else going on in the world -- no po...

Article | 2/09/2008 Is would-be VP Sarah Palin a hacker?

As we've learned over the last few days, the presumptive GOP candidate for vice president is many things: a reformist governor, a hunter, an ex-beauty...

Article | 24/07/2008 Data security meets disco fever

Here's a travel advisory: The next time you find yourself in a foreign city at night with nothing to do, take my advice: rent a movie in your hotel ro...

Article | 17/07/2008 Memo to Microsoft, Yahoo, Icahn: Shut up and deal

If you thought the whole Microsoft-Yahoo-Icahn fandango was twisted and ugly before, well, it just got worse. Over the last three days these clowns ha...

Article | 1/07/2008 Billy we hardly knew ye

It feels strange writing this, I won't have Bill Gates to kick around anymore. (Or, given that he still plans to visit the Redmond campus once a week,...

Article | 26/06/2008 Facebook: What's originality got to do with it?

Pity the innovators -- always hounded by the jealous hordes who clamor for a sliver of their success. And so it goes with Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg...

Article | 16/06/2008 The end of Microhooglemania?

It's over, finito, kaput. The fat lady hasn't merely stopped singing, she's taken off her girdle and waddled home. There are now so many forks stuck i...

Article | 27/05/2008 Turns out Twitter's not so 'tweet'

Bad news for Twitter. The original micro-blogging service (now available in brief, mega-terse, and vowel-free versions) has been accused of aiding and...