Stories by Robert X. Cringely

OLPC: Give one, get none

First, let me say I am a big fan of One Laptop Per Child, at least as a concept. Connecting the developing world's children to the Internet in a seamless and low-cost way is a great idea.

Blue rays of hope?

Promises broken, contracts torn up, splashy CES announcements hastily canceled. It was a nasty bit of business all right -- and no, I'm not talking about Warner Brothers' sudden decision to ditch the HD-DVD format in favor of Blu-ray. I'm talking about Intel's abrupt departure from the One Laptop Per Child project, six months after signing on.

Google's Virgin marriage

Yet another billionaire bachelor bites the dust. By now, Google's Larry Page and his betrothed Lucy Southworth have been hitched on Richard Branson's private island in the Bermuda Triangle (actually Necker Island in the British Virgin Isles). Sir Richard himself played best man, and I understand Elvis was master of ceremonies.

Has Facebook jumped the shark?

Or maybe, like the late great Evel Knievel, it tried to jump the Snake River Canyon but suffered an equipment failure halfway over. Either way, I'm over Facebook.

The e-Jihadists are coming!

Stop me if you've heard this one: The Internet arm of Al Queda is targeting 15 anti-Islamist sites on November 11, urging its followers to download the new point-and-click Electronic Jihad 2.0 software and start their attacks. (Actually, you might have heard about it in my blog last week.)

The great social networking swindle of 2007

Sorry Bridget, Claire, Monica, and Shannon. Thanks but no thanks, Dixie, Lola, Shana and Zara. The same goes for Aimee, Willie, Lolita, Cassandra and the three dozen other "people" who sent me bogus MySpace friend requests in the past 24 hours.

Microsoft: Be afraid, be very afraid

Here's a scary thought: Microsoft can take over your computer wherever you are, and do whatever it wants to. On this Halloween day I cant think of few things more frightening (except maybe a blind date with Larry Ellison).

Microsoft: Be afraid, be very afraid

Here's a scary thought: Microsoft can take over your computer wherever you are, and do whatever it wants to. On this Halloween day I can think of few things more frightening (except maybe a blind date with Larry Ellison).

Comcast into the fires of hell

It seems Comcast has been caught playing with its subscribers' naughty bits. In the latest scandal to spread like kudzu across the blogosphere, Comcast has been accused of killing off Bit Torrent file sharing, according to tests by geeks at the Associated Press.

The gathering storm

Got an email the other day that scared the bejesus out of me. It was a security alert from ThaiNetHost.com written entirely in Thai lettering, save for the names of three or four nasty Trojans and the words "Flash, "Internet Explorer," "Powerpoint," and "Outlook."

Oracle to BEA: Better get a bucket

I have to admit things have been a little boring in Cringeville lately. SCO vs the world is so pathetic it's not worth mentioning. Bill Gates is almost out the door and Microsoft is trying to be a good Web citizen, despite the loony rantings of its top executive. The only fun thing left is tweaking the Apple faithful, and that's almost too darn easy.

Caught with their breaches down

In a Special Client Announcement designed to attract as little media attention as possible, TD Ameritrade has admitted that six million customer records have been breached by spammers and other evildoers of the black hat persuasion.

Vista mysteries

Last week, Cringester J. J. decided to upgrade his Vista notebook from Home Premium (original recipe) to Ultimate (extra crispy). Being a savvy digital citizen, he decided to use Vista's Disk Cleanup tool to clean up any messy files before he did the deed. I'll let him take it from there:

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