Mike Elgan

Apple’s got it, but you can’t do much with it. Microsoft’s got it, but you can’t afford it. And Dell’s got it, but you can’t have it yet. Everyone’s talking about multi-touch. But what is it, exactly, and why should you care? The word multi-touch has become shorthand for a wide range of next-generation user […]

Apple fans have long believed in the perfect superiority of Apple products — and Apple users. Given that superiority, they’ve always chafed at Apple’s niche, one-digit market share status. In the world of hardcore Apple fanboys, only two things can explain why Apple doesn’t have 100% market share in every market it enters: 1) the […]

In a column called God Said The New York Times Is Dead, I wrote that the venerable newspaper had outlived its usefulness, and that the newspaper industry had become “a machine that converts forests into spam and pollution.” The newspaper medium and business model are obsolete, I wrote, but newspaper content — and the people […]

As we wind down another year in technology, it’s a good time to check in on the cults and see how they’re doing. For companies who inspire them, user cults are nice because they motivate customers to overlook strategic blunders, exaggerate product successes and — most importantly — walk the earth “virally” marketing products without […]

If you’re not using Google Calendar, you don’t know what you’re missing. I’m not suggesting that you stop using whatever calendar software you’re currently using. I’m saying that Google is super powerful as a secondary calendar, or even as a non-calendar resource that does all kinds of useful jobs for you. Google calendar is such […]

The technology industry — the companies that provide hardware, software and IT services — is at war with itself over the American H-1B visa program. The H-1B is by definition a non-immigrant, temporary visa — it’s essentially a guest worker program for yuppies. The recipient of an H-1B visa must be championed by a company, […]

2008 UPDATE: 12 Black Friday Secrets Retailers Don’t Want You To Know 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, […]

Or maybe it was evolution. Either way, the newspaper has served us well for 400 years, but has finally outlived its usefulness. I’m not predicting that newspapers will disappear — only that they should. Cancel your subscription already. It’s over. Meanwhile, we need newspapers now more than ever. Let me explain. What’s so bad about […]

If you’re into personal productivity, you’ve probably heard about a newish, Web 2.0ish online list management service that launched earlier this year called Gubb. And you’ve almost certainly heard about David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” productivity system. The Gubb service, the Getting Things Done system and hundreds of other tools and methods for getting your […]

One of my favorite blogs is called Paleo-Future. It’s about yesterday’s visions of tomorrow. The blog finds newspaper, magazine and book clippings, as well as movies, videos and other artifacts from the past that made predictions about the future. The site is entertaining, because now that the future is here, so many of those predictions […]