Is computing speed set to make a quantum leap?

by John Naughton

“Our imagination is stretched to the utmost,” wrote Richard Feynman, the greatest physicist of his day, “not, as in fiction, to imagine things which are not really there, but just to comprehend those things that are there.” Which is another way of saying that physics is weird. And particle physics ...

May 15, 2013

Crude 3-D print tech will make a big bang

by John Naughton

The news that a few jokers in Texas calling themselves Defense Distributed have succeeded in creating a working handgun using 3-D printing technology has thrown the cat into the pigeon coop. The reaction from legislators in the United States has been hyperactive. Democratic Congressman ...

May 8, 2013

Google Glass, half full or half empty?

by John Naughton

The Chinese name their years after animals — the year of the goat, the rat and so on. In the tech world, we name years after devices. Thus, 2007 was the year of the iPhone and 2010 was the year of the iPad. It’s ...

May 1, 2013

Fragile systems make twits of us all

by John Naughton

On Tuesday, April 23, a tweet from Associated Press (AP) revealed startling news. There had been explosions in the White House and Obama had been injured. The tweet was a hoax — the AP Twitter account had been hacked via a clever phishing exploit ...

Apr 24, 2013

Why big IT projects go wrong

by John Naughton

In 1975, a computer scientist named Fred Brooks published one of the seminal texts in the literature of computing. It had the intriguing title of “The Mythical Man-Month” and it consisted simply of a set of essays on the art of managing large software ...

Apr 17, 2013

Facebook spreads like a virus with no cure

by John Naughton

Infectious diseases, says the World Health Organization, “are caused by pathogenic microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses, parasites or fungi; the diseases can be spread, directly or indirectly, from one person to another.” Quite so. Just like Facebook addiction, which also spreads from person to ...

Can we talk?

| Apr 16, 2013

Can we talk?

by Rick Martin

LG’s Optimus G Pro gets a Japan release Customers on NTT Docomo’s network recently received another attractive Android smartphone option in LG’s Optimus G Pro, which launched early this month. Interestingly, the Japanese version of the handset is marginally smaller than the one that ...

Apr 10, 2013

Bitcoin has financial powers nervous

by John Naughton

Among the many unpleasant discoveries made by those who stashed their cash in Cypriot banks is that the island’s government could stop them moving their money elsewhere. Capital controls are supposed to be a thing of the past, a figment of the pre-globalized world. ...

Moleskines are shaping virtual notebooks

Apr 3, 2013

Moleskines are shaping virtual notebooks

by John Naughton

Australian author Bruce Chatwin has a lot to answer for. Specifically, he's responsible for a forthcoming initial public offering (IPO) on the Italian stock market. It all goes back to something he wrote in his 1986 book "The Songlines."