Stories by Mike Elgan

Why cell phones are still grounded

How many times have you heard this?: "At this time, all electronic devices, including cell phones and two-way pagers, must be turned off and put away. After takeoff, I'll let you know when you may use approved electronic portable devices."

Freedom from the office -- the Bedouin way

No matter who you are, you can embrace the new Bedouinism. You don't have to live in the Bay Area or the desert or work for a start-up. You don't even need access to a coffeehouse. It's easy, and I'll tell you how. But first, let me tell you why becoming a Bedouin can improve your life.

Why 'smartphone' is a dumb label

ABI Research analysts ruffled gadget-enthusiast feathers recently by suggesting that Apple's upcoming iPhone, though "clever and capable" cannot be considered a "smartphone." The reason, they said, was that a smartphone features an "open, commercial operating system that supports third party applications."

The decline and fall of the Palm empire

The once-mighty Palm, still successful on paper from the momentum of past glories, is doomed to decline and failure. It wasn't always thus. Here's my preemptive post-mortem.

BlackBerry Pearl is the smartphone of the future

Like today's best smart phones, the pocket communication gadget of the future will be an "everything device." At a minimum, it will function as a laptop, digital camera, video-capable media player, voice recorder, handheld, speakerphone and more. But unlike today's bulky, boxy, bloated Treos, BlackBerries and Windows Mobile smart phones, future offerings will be as tiny, thin, light and sleek as the smallest of today's not-so-smart phones.

Saving the planet, the easy way

Environmentalists have been urging consumers for decades to wake up to impending disaster and change their buying, driving and living habits to reduce pollution, cut energy consumption and help reverse global warming.

Windows Vista: The 'huh?' starts now

Microsoft is losing consumer operating system market share to Apple for many reasons, but most of those reasons can be oversimplified thus: Mac OS is simple, and Windows is complicated.

Wait! Don't buy Windows Vista!

Unless you've recently emerged from a coma, you know the consumer versions of Microsoft's new Vista operating system have already shipped to the public.

How Steve Jobs blew his iPhone keynote

Steve Jobs' blockbuster keynote at last week's Macworld was brilliantly and powerfully delivered -- one of his best ever. It was also a colossal mistake.

Moving beyond hope as a backup strategy

You can find volumes of information about mobile data security -- everyone knows that data on mobile devices, especially laptops, is at risk. But almost every article describes how to protect your company financially and legally from data loss. There's precious little guidance on how you can continue working on the road once that data is gone.

20 things we don't know about the iPhone

Steve Jobs unveiled his breathtaking iPhone vision Tuesday, calling it a "magical" device that would "change the world" when it ships in June. Jobs' use of the word "magical" hit the nail on the head. Jobs' keynotes are more than just speeches. They're magic shows.

The new hotness: Personal tech in 2007

As Moore's Law, or something like it, continues to drive down the cost and size of electronics, increasingly sophisticated technology will find its way this year into consumer electronics products of all kinds. If you're a gadget freak, fasten your seat belt and hang on. It's going to be one hell of a year.

Zune: So you want to be an iPod killer

Microsoft's Zune finally shipped, and everyone agrees: It's nice but definitely no "iPod killer." But it could be. And should be. I'll tell you how in a minute.

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