obsolete

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So glad Cadillac got the ATS to market largely as expected. This company has been trying to do a small car that doesn't strike a false note for decades. The ATS may be my favorite Cadillac because, thanks to its market segment, it has the least amount of all that Caddy gilding that has always spelled Tommy Bahama to me -- which is not a compliment.

We've been getting some great ideas from you for Car Tech 101 segments, … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- CNET goes hands-on with the iPad Mini: $329, 7.9-inch screen.

- Apple updates 13-inch MacBook Pro, adding Retina Display, for $1,699.

- Hands-on: Apple updates iMac with gorgeous new display.

- Peeved? Apple will exchange your 3rd-gen iPad for the newer model.

- To Apple: Thanks for making my 'new iPad' obsolete.… Read more

Every now and then, having the ability to look up old Mac models can be fun. If not for nostalgic reasons, you might be needing to help someone revive an old Mac and wish to look up some of the specifications and capabilities of the system. For instance, if you have some spare RAM modules and wish to see if they can be used in an old Mac, then checking the Mac's RAM type as well as its maximum supported RAM may be useful information to have.

You can always use a search engine like Google to find information … Read more

You thought you had killed another one, techies.

With your boundless need to show how clever you are and how you can force people to change their ways of life, you were sure you had put paid to another traditional industry. But you're not as smart as all that.

Yes, Godrej & Boyce--which a news story claimed was the last known producer of typewriters in the world--declared recently that it was giving up trying to market machines that weigh more than the Taj Mahal and write slower than Thomas Pynchon.

According to India's Business Standard, the company just … Read more

Every few years, some new technology or application comes along that everyone's sure will miraculously conquer every obstacle in its path and, in some ludicrously short time period, make existing technology obsolete. And then, long after all the media hype fades away and investors' checkbooks disappear, well, nothing happens.

So what? Who cares? Why bother talking about our industry's bombs, the next big things that weren't? Well, for one thing, it's interesting to note how hungry we all are for news about new technology. It gets us excited. We complain about media hype, but love the hype.

It's also fascinating how existing technology has this way of hanging on by its fingernails way past the point of its predicted obsolescence. More importantly, we learn more from mistakes than we do from successes. That's part of the scientific method: hypothesis, test, learn, repeat until you get it right.

Lastly, those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. Those are all good enough reasons for me. So here are my top 10 technology flops. But first, some ground rules. I stuck to the last 50 years or so. And I avoided specific company products. We've heard enough about the IBM PCjr, Apple Newton, Microsoft Bob, and OS2 to last 10 lifetimes.… Read more

Trends are a funny thing in technology. Even when major changes are under way, such as the convergence of phones and media players, companies will grasp onto old notions like grim death.

Case in point: the Philips 598, a so-called music phone that Slashphone says was created particularly for female consumers. The supposedly gender-specific features: "women's diary and calendar, buying list, discounts manager, price table, personal card info, body weight index and basal metabolic rate measurement." So are we to believe that shopping, more shopping and dieting compose most of a woman's day?

Even when the … Read more