Mike Elgan

A chorus of tech journalists this week is saying that Google is phasing out its social network, Google+. Where did they get this juicy nugget of information? Well, they made it up. And I’ll tell you why. But first, let’s look at what the press is saying and compare that with reality. Here are a […]

Google rolled out this week a new Bluetooth LE (low energy) beacon technology that competes directly with Apple’s industry-leading iBeacon offering and also does a lot more than iBeacon. It’s called Eddystone. And it’s a big deal, for two reasons. First, beacons have unleashed new capabilities for automation, virtual assistant technology, retail applications, social media […]

In Japan, they love their robots. No, really. They love them. A recent series of stories coming out of Japan uncovers a mini-trend among some fans of the Sony Aibo robot, which launched in 1999. Sony sold about 150,000 of them before the line was discontinued in 2006. The Aibo robots are “dying” now, with […]

Nobody likes boring presentations, so I’ll get right to the point. Microsoft’s new Surface Hub digital whiteboard is so good and so affordable and so well suited for its purpose that it makes existing conference room equipment instantly obsolete. The Surface Hub is essentially a giant tablet built from the ground up to live in […]

As a veteran of four Google I/O conferences, it’s clear that this year’s event was the least exciting for users and attendees, but it was definitely the most exciting for serious developers. Unlike at past I/Os, nobody jumped out of blimps to deliver Google Glass to Sergey Brin. Rock star CEO Larry Page didn’t give […]

Some people were born with photographic memories. They can recall random facts and obscure details instantly. But the rest of us need to augment our memories by taking notes, making lists and keeping files. Does that make sense anymore? With all the technology changes we’ve all seen in the past few decades, we rarely stop […]

The U.S. military says it’s using a nuclear doctrine from the Cold War to prevent the next Sony Pictures Entertainment-style hack. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter trotted out the Pentagon’s new Cyber Strategy in Silicon Valley last month. It replaces the previous strategy rolled out four years ago. The new strategy contains three very new […]

Europe last week officially filed formal charges against Google for violating European antitrust laws. Specifically, regulators say that when European users search for products, Google favors its own Google Shopping service over competing sites and services. America’s own Federal Trade Commission (FTC) made similar accusations before concluding nebulously that Google did favor its own services, […]

European regulators and other government bodies have become obsessed in recent months with using every legal tool at their disposal to harm American technology companies like Facebook, Apple and, above all, Google. It goes beyond protectionism and beyond anti-Americanism. Ultimately it’s a war against the Internet itself. And it’s hurting Europe. One strange element of […]

April 24 is as good a date as any to peg as the day wearable computing goes mainstream. The Apple Watch ships that day. Within a few days of its release—possibly within a few hours (thanks to preorders), Apple could ship more smartwatches than all the smartwatches that had previously shipped from all other companies. […]