Technology Articles
Below is a selection of technology features and straight reporting I wrote since 1999, for a variety of clients. They're grouped by publisher or publication. Note that this section does not include research analyst reports. To view those, please visit my Reports page.
Please note that the technology articles here are posted to serve as a showcase for my writing, programming and information design. Because I have been working as an industry analyst for some time, the information about once-bleeding edge technologies contained in the articles in this section (written for newspapers and magazines in Europe and the US) has been rendered quaint (to ridiculous) by the passage of time. Having said that, my comments in 2000 about the future of 3G and the European mobile telecoms industry were damned prescient.
Linux Gets Easier. Businesses Are Noticing.
A Cannes-based private investigator, Alain Stevens, recently switched computer operating systems from Windows to Linux. "It's a security issue," Stevens said. "Viruses which target Windows could send confidential documents from my machines to random people - and that could send me to prison." Citing cost savings, open standards and enhanced security,... [Read article]
A Cannes-based private investigator, Alain Stevens, recently switched computer operating systems from Windows to Linux. "It's a security issue," Stevens said. "Viruses which target Windows could send confidential documents from my machines to random people - and that could send me to prison." Citing cost savings, open standards and enhanced security,... [Read article]
E-Tail Sales Burst Through The Rooftops
From the U.S. bellwether Amazon.com to the German catalog retailer Neckermann.de to HK.Yahoo.com in Hong Kong, online shops around the world are hoping for a holiday season of double-digit sales growth - a small beacon of light amid stock downturns, flagging tech spending and stagnant corporate sales. Leading the charge is... [Read article]
From the U.S. bellwether Amazon.com to the German catalog retailer Neckermann.de to HK.Yahoo.com in Hong Kong, online shops around the world are hoping for a holiday season of double-digit sales growth - a small beacon of light amid stock downturns, flagging tech spending and stagnant corporate sales. Leading the charge is... [Read article]
Happy Days In The Bird Business
With political intrigue, high finance and customers in exotic locales, it's not a boring time to be in the "bird" business. Despite a global communications sector slowdown and tepid business climate, revenues of satellite services companies grew 7 percent to $49.8 billion in 2002, according to the Satellite Industry Association. But it's... [Read article]
With political intrigue, high finance and customers in exotic locales, it's not a boring time to be in the "bird" business. Despite a global communications sector slowdown and tepid business climate, revenues of satellite services companies grew 7 percent to $49.8 billion in 2002, according to the Satellite Industry Association. But it's... [Read article]
Location Based Services Find Their Niche
On Thursday, the Hong Kong mobile phone company Sunday Communications Ltd. started "Loved-Ones Radar," allowing parents to track, within 150 meters (500 feet), the location of their cellular-toting child. Last week in Britain, the makers of London's black taxis began an automated service that locates a cell phone caller, identifies the... [Read article]
On Thursday, the Hong Kong mobile phone company Sunday Communications Ltd. started "Loved-Ones Radar," allowing parents to track, within 150 meters (500 feet), the location of their cellular-toting child. Last week in Britain, the makers of London's black taxis began an automated service that locates a cell phone caller, identifies the... [Read article]
Dell? He's All Wrong In Europe...
To hear Hermann Oberlehner tell it, Michael Dell has got it wrong in Europe. "We've looked at this very carefully," he said, "and in Europe outside the U.K., the Dell model just won't work." This statement might ordinarily be dismissed as having come from a jealous also-ran. But Oberlehner is founder... [Read article]
To hear Hermann Oberlehner tell it, Michael Dell has got it wrong in Europe. "We've looked at this very carefully," he said, "and in Europe outside the U.K., the Dell model just won't work." This statement might ordinarily be dismissed as having come from a jealous also-ran. But Oberlehner is founder... [Read article]
Standards Battle? What Standards Battle?
A standards battle of VHS-Betamax proportions has been brewing, and the winner will control how you copy DVDs on your home computer. Among those least concerned about who wins is Roland Lacher, the outspoken chief executive of Singulus Technologies AG, based in Kahl, Germany. "Philips DVD+RW will win the battle," Lacher... [Read article]
A standards battle of VHS-Betamax proportions has been brewing, and the winner will control how you copy DVDs on your home computer. Among those least concerned about who wins is Roland Lacher, the outspoken chief executive of Singulus Technologies AG, based in Kahl, Germany. "Philips DVD+RW will win the battle," Lacher... [Read article]
All I Want Is A Combo WiFi/GSM/CDMA Device. In Black.
Despite a predilection for triple-shot lattes, it wasn't just caffeine that had me spending hours a day in coffee bars across America recently, shouting into my mobile phone above the din of the grinders. Mostly, it was the Wi-Fi connection. For three months I've lived a salesman's life away from my... [Read article]
Despite a predilection for triple-shot lattes, it wasn't just caffeine that had me spending hours a day in coffee bars across America recently, shouting into my mobile phone above the din of the grinders. Mostly, it was the Wi-Fi connection. For three months I've lived a salesman's life away from my... [Read article]
Infineon Posts Eighth Straight Loss
Infineon Technologies AG on Tuesday posted its eighth consecutive quarterly net loss - E328 million ($356.5 million), triple its year-earlier loss - despite a 13 percent rise in revenue to E1.48 billion. The company is the second-largest semiconductor manufacturer in Europe. Infineon and rivals in its main business - making memory... [Read article]
Infineon Technologies AG on Tuesday posted its eighth consecutive quarterly net loss - E328 million ($356.5 million), triple its year-earlier loss - despite a 13 percent rise in revenue to E1.48 billion. The company is the second-largest semiconductor manufacturer in Europe. Infineon and rivals in its main business - making memory... [Read article]
SAP profit surges 60% as profile rises in U.S
SAP AG, the German-based business software giant, said Thursday that first-quarter net earnings rose 60 percent from a year earlier, to E298 million ($325 million), but revenue dropped 8 percent to E1.52 billion. The company makes software that businesses use for accounting, supply-chain management and customer relationship management. Headquartered in Walldorf,... [Read article]
SAP AG, the German-based business software giant, said Thursday that first-quarter net earnings rose 60 percent from a year earlier, to E298 million ($325 million), but revenue dropped 8 percent to E1.52 billion. The company makes software that businesses use for accounting, supply-chain management and customer relationship management. Headquartered in Walldorf,... [Read article]
Infineon Breaks Losing Streak
Infineon Technologies on Monday posted a fourth-quarter profit, ending nine quarters of losses. Infineon, the world's sixth-largest maker of semiconductors, said net income was E49 million, or $56.5 million, compared with a loss of E505 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 37 percent to E1.76 billion. For the year through September, the... [Read article]
Infineon Technologies on Monday posted a fourth-quarter profit, ending nine quarters of losses. Infineon, the world's sixth-largest maker of semiconductors, said net income was E49 million, or $56.5 million, compared with a loss of E505 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 37 percent to E1.76 billion. For the year through September, the... [Read article]
Type This...I Said, THIS!!
The idea of speaking into my computer and having it correctly type what I say has intrigued me since I saw the Star Trek episode Assignment: Earth, in which Gary Seven dictates to his IBM Selectric typewriter while plotting to sabotage a NASA launch. The thought that I can now actually... [Read article]
The idea of speaking into my computer and having it correctly type what I say has intrigued me since I saw the Star Trek episode Assignment: Earth, in which Gary Seven dictates to his IBM Selectric typewriter while plotting to sabotage a NASA launch. The thought that I can now actually... [Read article]
Soviet Spoke In The Wheels Of Progress
Life has changed very little over the past few years for Stanislaw Kudrzycki, a shift supervisor for the Polish national railway (PKP) and his 19-person crew at Kuznica on what is now the Poland-Belarus border. At the railway station of this desolate town, a 24-hour a day operation functions a... [Read article]
Life has changed very little over the past few years for Stanislaw Kudrzycki, a shift supervisor for the Polish national railway (PKP) and his 19-person crew at Kuznica on what is now the Poland-Belarus border. At the railway station of this desolate town, a 24-hour a day operation functions a... [Read article]
Setting up Squid. Then Using It.
So I'm here in California, staying at a hotel for ten days and want to look at some websites. Nothing too fancy, some blog entries, research for upcoming reports, maybe some racy stuff like No-Load Mutual Funds. And I am, of course, like you, on a free, open, wireless connection.... [Read article]
So I'm here in California, staying at a hotel for ten days and want to look at some websites. Nothing too fancy, some blog entries, research for upcoming reports, maybe some racy stuff like No-Load Mutual Funds. And I am, of course, like you, on a free, open, wireless connection.... [Read article]
Eaten By Snakes: Virus Hoaxes & How To Spot Them
Every year businesses worldwide spend more money soothing the nerves of employees who've received hoax virus warnings than they do on actual viruses. So before you pass on the note your friend Ned sent you about a new virus that will make snakes eat your hard drive, give it a... [Read article]
Every year businesses worldwide spend more money soothing the nerves of employees who've received hoax virus warnings than they do on actual viruses. So before you pass on the note your friend Ned sent you about a new virus that will make snakes eat your hard drive, give it a... [Read article]
Family Radios Keep You In Touch
It's a holiday nightmare: your child, found tearfully tugging at the skirts of a grinning theme park employee, has ratted you out as the parents that lost him. As hundreds of university students in air conditioned fur character suits have your description, the net closes in. Goofy's speaking into his... [Read article]
It's a holiday nightmare: your child, found tearfully tugging at the skirts of a grinning theme park employee, has ratted you out as the parents that lost him. As hundreds of university students in air conditioned fur character suits have your description, the net closes in. Goofy's speaking into his... [Read article]
Software Pirates Rule In Russia
Every day here and in dozens of other Russian cities, pirate dealers sell copies of the world's most popular software titles at $5 per CD-ROM. Despite fears about the economy, small and medium-sized businesses are flourishing in this elegant northwestern Russian city - and pirated software is installed on almost all... [Read article]
Every day here and in dozens of other Russian cities, pirate dealers sell copies of the world's most popular software titles at $5 per CD-ROM. Despite fears about the economy, small and medium-sized businesses are flourishing in this elegant northwestern Russian city - and pirated software is installed on almost all... [Read article]
The Future Of 3G
The future is wireless, or at least that is what Nokia, Ericsson and a host of startups and network operators are earnestly hoping. But the quick success of 3G - The Third Generation of mobile telephony - is more than profitable icing for these companies; it has now become a... [Read article]
The future is wireless, or at least that is what Nokia, Ericsson and a host of startups and network operators are earnestly hoping. But the quick success of 3G - The Third Generation of mobile telephony - is more than profitable icing for these companies; it has now become a... [Read article]
Visiting The Front Lines
The future is wireless, or at least that is what Nokia, Ericsson and a host of startups and network operators are earnestly hoping. But the quick success of 3G - The Third Generation of mobile telephony - is more than profitable icing for these companies; it has now become a... [Read article]
The future is wireless, or at least that is what Nokia, Ericsson and a host of startups and network operators are earnestly hoping. But the quick success of 3G - The Third Generation of mobile telephony - is more than profitable icing for these companies; it has now become a... [Read article]
Ericsson: Hothousing To The Core
The future is wireless, or at least that is what Nokia, Ericsson and a host of startups and network operators are earnestly hoping. But the quick success of 3G - The Third Generation of mobile telephony - is more than profitable icing for these companies; it has now become a... [Read article]
The future is wireless, or at least that is what Nokia, Ericsson and a host of startups and network operators are earnestly hoping. But the quick success of 3G - The Third Generation of mobile telephony - is more than profitable icing for these companies; it has now become a... [Read article]
Nokia: Let 'em Make Cake...
The future is wireless, or at least that is what Nokia, Ericsson and a host of startups and network operators are earnestly hoping. But the quick success of 3G - The Third Generation of mobile telephony - is more than profitable icing for these companies; it has now become a... [Read article]
The future is wireless, or at least that is what Nokia, Ericsson and a host of startups and network operators are earnestly hoping. But the quick success of 3G - The Third Generation of mobile telephony - is more than profitable icing for these companies; it has now become a... [Read article]
There's Money In The Middle
In 1997, when WAP was unveiled to the world, the proposed information flow chain neatly stated that content would be provided in wireless markup language (WML), converted to binary WML, sloshed through a WAP Gateway, blown out on cellular networks like GSM, and finally sucked into and displayed on mobile... [Read article]
In 1997, when WAP was unveiled to the world, the proposed information flow chain neatly stated that content would be provided in wireless markup language (WML), converted to binary WML, sloshed through a WAP Gateway, blown out on cellular networks like GSM, and finally sucked into and displayed on mobile... [Read article]
Location Based Services: A Primer
[This article was jointly written with Rick Mitchell] One of the hottest buzz terms these days [2000] is "location-based services" - products that can serve up extremely localized content to mobile phone users. Let's say you are standing on a corner in Amsterdam and punch in a request to your handset... [Read article]
[This article was jointly written with Rick Mitchell] One of the hottest buzz terms these days [2000] is "location-based services" - products that can serve up extremely localized content to mobile phone users. Let's say you are standing on a corner in Amsterdam and punch in a request to your handset... [Read article]
Phoenix Struts Its Wireless Stuff
I'm watching on a wide-screen television the most painfully revolting thing I've ever seen, and Mikael Hällström is gleefully pointing at the screen. "This is almost...almost...broadcast quality, and there's no delay at all," he said proudly. Hällström's biggest problem in the coming months is whether to stay at Ericsson, where... [Read article]
I'm watching on a wide-screen television the most painfully revolting thing I've ever seen, and Mikael Hällström is gleefully pointing at the screen. "This is almost...almost...broadcast quality, and there's no delay at all," he said proudly. Hällström's biggest problem in the coming months is whether to stay at Ericsson, where... [Read article]
Job Hunter's Heaven
The loneliest people at this week's European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC) in Munich were upstairs, through the small fire door, around the corner and down the hall. If you were to enter through the first door on your right, about two dozen heads would pop out from behind paper-plastered... [Read article]
The loneliest people at this week's European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC) in Munich were upstairs, through the small fire door, around the corner and down the hall. If you were to enter through the first door on your right, about two dozen heads would pop out from behind paper-plastered... [Read article]
Clinitrac's Brick Could Save Pharmaceutical Companies Millions
The development cost of a pharmaceutical drug can easily run between $500 million to $800 million, and clinical trials alone can cost between $1 million and $2 million per day in lost future revenues. So imagine a service that could reduce by a year the time it takes to perform... [Read article]
The development cost of a pharmaceutical drug can easily run between $500 million to $800 million, and clinical trials alone can cost between $1 million and $2 million per day in lost future revenues. So imagine a service that could reduce by a year the time it takes to perform... [Read article]
There's Money In Them Thar Parts
When you find your 14 year-old son in the middle of the living room with a guilty look on his face, a screwdriver in his hand and your nifty new UMTS cell phone in a million pieces on the floor, hold off on blowing up for a second - the... [Read article]
When you find your 14 year-old son in the middle of the living room with a guilty look on his face, a screwdriver in his hand and your nifty new UMTS cell phone in a million pieces on the floor, hold off on blowing up for a second - the... [Read article]
Venture Fever Hits Scandinavia
As recently as three years ago, "venture capitalism" in Scandinavia meant lending 50 bucks to your friend Soren - the one who's fond of the racetrack. And even though Scandinavia is known throughout Europe as a hotbed of really smart people making exceptionally sexy technology, until recently entrepreneurs were, in... [Read article]
As recently as three years ago, "venture capitalism" in Scandinavia meant lending 50 bucks to your friend Soren - the one who's fond of the racetrack. And even though Scandinavia is known throughout Europe as a hotbed of really smart people making exceptionally sexy technology, until recently entrepreneurs were, in... [Read article]
Startups To Benefit From UMTS Spending
Imagine you're a telecom, and you wake up this sunny Friday to realize it's not a dream, you really did just pay £8 billion for two German third-generation mobile license blocks. Yes, you paid much more than you wanted for fewer license blocks than you'd hoped. And when your friends... [Read article]
Imagine you're a telecom, and you wake up this sunny Friday to realize it's not a dream, you really did just pay £8 billion for two German third-generation mobile license blocks. Yes, you paid much more than you wanted for fewer license blocks than you'd hoped. And when your friends... [Read article]
VCs Eye Location-Based Startups
With UMTS license bids in Germany in full swing [2000], there's tons of hype about the coming of the mobile Internet. Signs are encouraging that the new mobile Internet will in fact allow VCs to look at some rapidly emerging technologies that will indeed change the way Europeans use information.... [Read article]
With UMTS license bids in Germany in full swing [2000], there's tons of hype about the coming of the mobile Internet. Signs are encouraging that the new mobile Internet will in fact allow VCs to look at some rapidly emerging technologies that will indeed change the way Europeans use information.... [Read article]
Eurolabels Have To Wake Up And Smell The Gnutella
The debate in the US over Napster, which allows people to trade music files from one another's computers via the Internet, is affecting more than just disgruntled college students and sullen heavy metal bands. European record labels, conscious of the overwhelming tide of digital free-trading that's sprouted in the past... [Read article]
The debate in the US over Napster, which allows people to trade music files from one another's computers via the Internet, is affecting more than just disgruntled college students and sullen heavy metal bands. European record labels, conscious of the overwhelming tide of digital free-trading that's sprouted in the past... [Read article]
Europe's Dirty Little Secret: Porn Is Prince
The new report by Forrester Research (NASDAQ: FORR) on broadband usage in Europe claims that technological and hardware issues aside, the main barrier to widespread acceptance of broadband is not cost, but lack of sufficient rich, broadband-specific content to allow consumers to justify the expense. "Compelling content unavailable over dial-up could... [Read article]
The new report by Forrester Research (NASDAQ: FORR) on broadband usage in Europe claims that technological and hardware issues aside, the main barrier to widespread acceptance of broadband is not cost, but lack of sufficient rich, broadband-specific content to allow consumers to justify the expense. "Compelling content unavailable over dial-up could... [Read article]
Bertelsmann Wants It All. They May Already Have It.
The announcement of a deal between Terra Networks, Lycos and Bertelsmann to create effectively the world's broadest-based Internet portal is the latest in a series of Bertelsmann plays to aggressively expand their Internet activities. This fits nicely into Bertelsmann's core strategy to leverage their enormous content pool into the one... [Read article]
The announcement of a deal between Terra Networks, Lycos and Bertelsmann to create effectively the world's broadest-based Internet portal is the latest in a series of Bertelsmann plays to aggressively expand their Internet activities. This fits nicely into Bertelsmann's core strategy to leverage their enormous content pool into the one... [Read article]
Whither The Euro Portal
In the aftermath of the disasterous Lastminute.com, World Online and Lycos Europe IPOs, and with softening expectations for T-Online's mid-April IPO, web insiders are taking a fresh look at the European portal business. To industry experts, the "bigger is better" American portal model just doesn't work over here. Instead, new... [Read article]
In the aftermath of the disasterous Lastminute.com, World Online and Lycos Europe IPOs, and with softening expectations for T-Online's mid-April IPO, web insiders are taking a fresh look at the European portal business. To industry experts, the "bigger is better" American portal model just doesn't work over here. Instead, new... [Read article]
Hats Off: An E-Tailer Who's Doing It Right
When each of your 200,000 customers gets a hand-signed "thank-you" note in every order box, you'd think they'd notice. Sadly, according to Darryl Collins, CEO of Belfast, Ireland-based online video retailer BlackStar.co.uk, "People don't really realize how good we are until something goes wrong." That's certainly true of this reporter,... [Read article]
When each of your 200,000 customers gets a hand-signed "thank-you" note in every order box, you'd think they'd notice. Sadly, according to Darryl Collins, CEO of Belfast, Ireland-based online video retailer BlackStar.co.uk, "People don't really realize how good we are until something goes wrong." That's certainly true of this reporter,... [Read article]
Euronerds Have It...When Will You Get Broadband?
A paltry 362,000 predominantly young, white and male Euronerds--about 0.2% of all European households--currently have broadband Internet access [1999]. Broadband, which enables super-fast, always-on Internet connections, allows users to download and upload data substantially faster than with traditional dial-in modems. But a new report by Forrester Research (NASDAQ: FORR) said that... [Read article]
A paltry 362,000 predominantly young, white and male Euronerds--about 0.2% of all European households--currently have broadband Internet access [1999]. Broadband, which enables super-fast, always-on Internet connections, allows users to download and upload data substantially faster than with traditional dial-in modems. But a new report by Forrester Research (NASDAQ: FORR) said that... [Read article]
Bluetooth Is Coming...And How...
What do feisty contenders like Germany's Hüft and Wessel and Sweden's C-Technologies have in common with giants such as Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens? Bluetooth technology: the most quickly adopted industry standard in history. And very soon you'll own something that's Bluetooth enabled - whether you know it or not. Analysts say... [Read article]
What do feisty contenders like Germany's Hüft and Wessel and Sweden's C-Technologies have in common with giants such as Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens? Bluetooth technology: the most quickly adopted industry standard in history. And very soon you'll own something that's Bluetooth enabled - whether you know it or not. Analysts say... [Read article]
The Consolidating Fiber Industry
The proposed $100 billion merger between Corning and Canadian network provider Nortel Networks would create a fiber optics company with a market cap of $170 billion. Analysts say that this is just one of a series of upcoming mergers and acquisitions that will transform and consolidate the lucrative fiber optics... [Read article]
The proposed $100 billion merger between Corning and Canadian network provider Nortel Networks would create a fiber optics company with a market cap of $170 billion. Analysts say that this is just one of a series of upcoming mergers and acquisitions that will transform and consolidate the lucrative fiber optics... [Read article]
Europe Develops An Online Brokerage Culture
Further evidence of the development of an online European brokerage culture emerged Monday when German online broker Comdirect AG, which will soon replace LHS Group Inc. on the Neuer Markt's Nemax 50 Index, announced that it almost doubled its customers in the first half of 2000. Comdirect's customer head count... [Read article]
Further evidence of the development of an online European brokerage culture emerged Monday when German online broker Comdirect AG, which will soon replace LHS Group Inc. on the Neuer Markt's Nemax 50 Index, announced that it almost doubled its customers in the first half of 2000. Comdirect's customer head count... [Read article]
ASPs Heat To Red Hot
In the midst of early April's [2000] major tech sell-off, a company called Update.com Software AG had an oversubscribed and successful IPO on the Neuer Markt, and analysts say that a major reason for the successful launch was that the Update is an early mover as an Application Service Provider,... [Read article]
In the midst of early April's [2000] major tech sell-off, a company called Update.com Software AG had an oversubscribed and successful IPO on the Neuer Markt, and analysts say that a major reason for the successful launch was that the Update is an early mover as an Application Service Provider,... [Read article]
Germans Flip Over Tax Reform (In A Good Way)
German business leaders are euphoric over a tax overhaul that lets them redirect investment once tied up in other German companies, and funnel it into high-growth sectors like high-tech. But there is growing concern among German retail investors that the package, introduced by the German government after years of debate... [Read article]
German business leaders are euphoric over a tax overhaul that lets them redirect investment once tied up in other German companies, and funnel it into high-growth sectors like high-tech. But there is growing concern among German retail investors that the package, introduced by the German government after years of debate... [Read article]
Broadband's Here. Where's The Content?
With the launch of BTOpenworld and broadband announcements by major telcos across Europe, investors have been increasingly wondering just what it is that will be delivered so quickly. As hardware manufacturers from Nokia and Alcatel to Hewlett Packard and IBM are gearing up to deliver rich, interactive content such as... [Read article]
With the launch of BTOpenworld and broadband announcements by major telcos across Europe, investors have been increasingly wondering just what it is that will be delivered so quickly. As hardware manufacturers from Nokia and Alcatel to Hewlett Packard and IBM are gearing up to deliver rich, interactive content such as... [Read article]
