Mike Elgan

I hate product placement in movies and TV shows. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, product placement is a form of advertising where companies pay or barter for their products to be used as “props.” So, for example, Batman uses the not-yet-released Nokia XpressMedia 5800 cell phone to foil the Joker in “The Dark Knight,” […]

While nobody was looking, the Internet, the blogosphere and the Twitosphere have rendered the old-fashioned press conference obsolete. Don’t tell the media! A press conference is a meeting of journalists called by an organization with something to say. Spokespeople make prepared statements and usually invite questions. Journalists love press conferences because they provide exclusive information […]

Social networking is huge and growing. Some people don’t “get it.” Others participate, but reluctantly. And, of course, still others are rabid enthusiasts (including Yours Truly). There are three types of people in this world: 1) anti social networkers; 2) closed social networkers; and 3) open social networkers. Anti social networkers think social networking is […]

Obesity is rampant. And I’m not talking about body flab. I’m talking about obesity of language. Much of what we read these days is bloated, flabby, supersized prose. I believe there are three reasons for that: 1) the death of the typewriter; 2) the end of length limits; and 3) the rise of the amateur. […]

The consumer electronics industry is finally discovering what other industries have known for a long time: “Green” products sell. I’ve got nothing against the environment. I’m all for real improvements in the manufacturing, distribution, sales, use, re-use and disposal of products that cut carbon footprints, gag greenhouse gases and put a lid on pollution. But […]

Everybody is talking about “cloud computing,” the latest and most problematic major buzzword to plague IT jargon. Here’s why I think we should all just stop using it. “Cloud computing” is confusing. Just about everyone in technology seems to like throwing around “cloud computing,” but either don’t know, or don’t agree on, what it means. […]

By the end of the Olympic games, we’ll know whether the Chinese government’s unprecedented application of state-of-the-art digital technology to Orwellian social control can actually work. Call it Orwellian IT. If you’re attending the Olympics: Oh, boy, is Big Brother watching you. According to Chinese authorities, the government has installed: • 300,000 surveillance cameras • […]

The conventional wisdom about Microsoft Windows Vista is that it’s a mixed bag, and generally inferior to Windows XP. Problems with Vista fall broadly into categories of compatibility, performance and usability: • Compatibility. The company launched Vista before the industry was ready, and during the first six months driver issues were pandemic. This is where […]

The Beijing Olympics begin in two weeks. But for Apple, the China games have already begun. The company opened a shiny new Apple store in Beijing Saturday — the “first of many” in China, according to an Apple official. The race is on. But is this an event Apple can win? China is a coveted […]

Think of Apple, and elegant, minimalist product design comes to mind. But the less-glamorous unseen force behind the products is Apple’s amazing ability to execute — to coordinate things like hardware supply and distribution, software rollouts and updates, network functionality and availability, and forcing suppliers and partners to march in lock-step with the Cupertino giant. […]