Stories by Robert X. Cringely

Lies, damned lies, and technology hype

Hyperbole seems to be an inevitable by product of new technology; you build a new gizmo, you end up getting a certain amount of hype all over your clothes. But lately the hype has been gushing out faster than an oil under the Gulf of Mexico.

CEOs gone wild

They're like out-of-control teenagers - flouting authority, spewing abuse, wrecking the car, allowing 10 billion gallons of crude oil to slime up the planet. I am, of course, talking about the world's chief executive officers - and the bootlicking lackeys who do their dirty work.

Microsoft is dead, long live GoogApple

I recently had an experience that epitomizes everything that's wrong with Microsoft and why it is rapidly being tossed into the Recycling Bin of history.

Microsoft's real problem is Ballmer

Whole lotta shakin' coming from the Redmond, Wash., vicinity, and I'm not talking about an earthquake. Yesterday Steve Ballmer beheaded his president of entertainment and devices, 22-year veteran Microsoftie Robbie Bach. Bach's top design guy, J Allard, went with him, though Allard is apparently being kept on in some vague advisory capacity (probably to keep him out of the hands of Google).

Is Facebook truly sorry for its privacy sins?

Want an expert lesson in how to respond without actually responding and how to apologize without saying you're sorry? Then you need to read Facebook CEO Mark Zukerberg's quasi-mea culpa in today's Washington Post. Do it now; I'll wait.

Psst, pass it on: Apple has no secrets

It appears that yet another Apple iPhone prototype has gone on a walkabout -- and this time not merely to a beer garden in Redwood City, but all the way to the South Pacific.

Apple comes down hard on iPhone leakers

What do you do when one of your employees takes your company's top-secret prototype and leaves it behind in a beer garden, only to have it end up in the hands of a gadget blog? Call in the authorities and let them play the heavy.

Google: A bull in China's shop

So Google finally made good on its promise to uncensor its Chinese search engine and/or leave the Chinese market. And China is now making good on its promise to make Google very sorry for ever bringing it up.

Did Uncle Sam try to kill Wikileaks?

I just received an email from Wikileaks editor Julian Assange that's pretty wild. It accuses the U.S. government ofdeliberately trying to take down the whistle-blower site PDF two years ago.

Newegg: Get your fake Intel CPUs here

This story is just too wild to ignore: It seems Newegg has quite a bit of old egg on its face this week after it shipped customers "counterfeit" Intel CPUs that were more like movie props than actual working electronics.

Apple vs. HTC: No matter who wins, we lose

Apple has lawyered up and is out for blood -- or at least, blood money. Its patent suit against Taiwanese handset maker HTC is further proof that the cold war between Cupertino and Mountain View is quickly escalating into a shooting match with live ammo.

Spam? No thank you, m'am

I don't know about you, but beautiful Russian girls are just dying to meet me. They're all 26 years old, most of them are named Olga, and from their descriptions they sound totally hot. But first I have to buy a fantastic luxury timepiece, change my Facebook login, get a bucketful of knockoff prescriptions, and pick up that parcel waiting for me at UPS or DHL (even though I never ordered anything).

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