Mike Elgan

I hate to say it, but somebody has to: Satellite radio will come crashing down to Earth within the next two years. The newly merged Sirius XM Radio is already living on borrowed time — and borrowed money — and simply will not and cannot survive. First of all, I’m not an anti-satellite guy. I […]

They don’t call the day after Thanksgiving “Black Friday” for nothing. It’s all about launching the megastores “into the black” – into profitability. They profit not by offering goods at a loss, but by using ultra-low prices to lure you into their stores, where they can employ dirty tricks to make money. Because of the […]

Also see: Netbook Smackdown: Compare the Six Top Netbooks And: One Guy, Three Netbooks (a review of three netbooks) Last year I told you the “10 Black Friday Secrets Retailers Don’t Want You To Know.” All these secrets still apply (and the retailers still don’t want you to know them). What’s different this year is […]

Congratulations to Jeff Han for winning the 2008 presidential race! It’s been a long, hard road to victory. Han has been working on this day for years, slowly gathering supporters and fending off better financed rivals. Wait, what? No, I’m not talking about politics. Presidents come and go. But PC user interface paradigms last for […]

There’s no such thing as “Internet addiction.” The Internet is simply the Mother of All Enablers, providing a medium through which addicts can indulge real addictions, including porn, gambling, news, video games and socializing (a.k.a. social media addiction). The Internet is a powerful enabler of addiction because of what experts call the “three A’s”: It’s […]

A new study published this week by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that cell phones and computers are actually good for “nuclear families.” According to Pew research, Internet, cell phones, e-mail, IM and Twitter make nuclear families closer by enabling family members to stay in touch between times when they’re physically together. […]

Microsoft might be getting into the furniture business. The company is apparently contemplating the development of a consumer version of Microsoft Surface, the company’s advanced multi-touch table-top computer now available only to companies that want to use it for promotions in hotels, casinos and at cell phone stores. The evidence for all this is a […]

Stocks are plummeting. Banks are failing. The money’s all gone. If you’re a small or medium-size business owner with employees, I’m going to tell you something you already know: Layoffs are coming, too. You’ve got hard choices ahead. Obviously, nobody knows your business better than you do. But I would like to offer one small […]

I love automated searches. Normal people wait until circumstances arouse their curiosity. Then they go looking for answers. They Google it, or use some other search engine or some other means to find answers. But it takes a special kind of crazy to sign up for, configure, optimize and tweak sites and services that constantly […]

We’re all familiar with Microsoft’s Mojave Experiment. The company’s marketing department gathered 120 Mac, Linux, Windows XP and Windows 2000 users, and showed them the next version of Windows, code-named Mojave. After some praised Mojave, the slight of hand was revealed. No, it wasn’t really a new version of Windows, but Windows Vista in disguise. […]