Articles
October 14, 2010
# The Filter: Instagram Arrives
There is an arrival this week, and the arrival is the filter: the free iPhone app that appeared on the App Store on Wednesday, the photo sharing that took the camera in everyone's pocket seriously, the square format that made every picture look good. The arrival is the story: the two former Google engineers, the check-in app that became a camera, the tens of thousands of users on day one, the six figures within the week, the million photos that followed. The filter is the October 2010 story, and the story is the lesson: the photo app that arrived, the social network that was born, the camera phone that finally had its moment.
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September 2, 2010
# The Bidding: HP and Dell Fight for 3Par
There is a fight this week, and the fight is the bidding: the two weeks in which Dell and Hewlett-Packard chased the storage maker 3PAR, the offers that crossed in the night, the price that more than doubled, the $33 per share that HP agreed to pay on Thursday, the $2.35 billion that won the prize. The fight is the first great bidding war of the cloud era, and the war is the signal: storage and the datacenter were strategic, the cash-rich technology companies were spending again, the crisis hangover was over. The bidding war is the September 2010 story, and the story is the lesson: the storage maker that became the prize, the commodity hardware that the buyers were trying to escape, the two weeks that changed the price of the datacenter.
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August 19, 2010
# The Security: Intel Buys McAfee
There is a bet made this week, and the bet is the security: the 7.68 billion dollars that Intel promised for McAfee on Thursday. The bet is the biggest deal in the chipmaker's history, and the acquisition is the argument: the security that had to move into the hardware, the antivirus that had to live in the chip. The questions began that day: why would the biggest chipmaker of the PC era buy a software security company, was the premium too high, would the regulators approve. The 7.68 billion dollar bet is the August 2010 story, and the story is the lesson: the security that became the third pillar of computing, the defense that moved beneath the operating system, the deal that changed what a chip company is.
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July 26, 2010
# The Exchange: Bitcoin Finds a Price
On Sunday, in the middle of a quiet July, a programmer who had never met the inventor of Bitcoin launched the first real market for the digital currency, and almost no one noticed. The programmer, Jed McCaleb, built the exchange in a weekend after reading about Bitcoin on Slashdot, and the exchange was called Mt. Gox, a name carried over from his earlier project, the Magic: The Gathering Online Exchange. The exchange is the July 2010 story, and the story is the lesson: the ideas that change the world often begin as weekend projects, crude and unnoticed, built by people the world has never heard of.
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June 24, 2010
# The Antenna: iPhone 4 and the Grip of Death
There is a phone that went on sale this week, and the phone is the antenna: the iPhone 4 that launched on Thursday in the United States, in the United Kingdom, in France, in Germany, in Japan, the redesign that Apple had promised, the smartphone that the world had been waiting for. The launch is the story, and the story is the grip: the stainless steel band that framed the glass, the signal that dropped in a left hand, the flaw that the forums named within hours. The launch is the June 2010 story, and the story is the lesson: the product whose most visible design choice had a flaw, the choice that the reviewers had warned about, the phone that everyone was holding.
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May 6, 2010
# The Panic: Markets and the Flash Crash
On Thursday afternoon, the American stock market fell almost a thousand points in a matter of minutes, and the fall was the fastest in the history of the Dow. The biggest intraday drop ever recorded erased about a trillion dollars of value before most of it returned by the close, and the panic was over almost as quickly as it had begun. The Panic is the May 2010 story, and the story is the lesson: the market had become a computer network, and the network had a glitch.
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April 13, 2010
# The Launch: iPad Goes on Sale
There is a line this week, and the line is the storefront: the Apple Stores that opened on Saturday morning, the Best Buy aisles that filled, the crowds that came before the doors. The line is the launch: the iPad that went on sale on April 3, the pre-orders that had sold out in days, the queues that wrapped around the blocks. The line is the April 2010 story, and the story is the lesson: the tablet that the pundits doubted, the device that the public wanted, the launch that felt like the iPhone again.
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March 23, 2010
# The Exit: Google Leaves China
There is a decision made this week, and the decision is the exit: the Monday redirect from google.cn to google.com.hk, the end of the censored search service on the mainland, the principle that was chosen over the market. The decision is the biggest technology story of the week, and the story is the exit: the search engine that left, the users who were redirected, the market that was given up. The questions began that day: would the censored service return, would the business survive without it, would other companies follow the same road. The exit is the March 2010 story, and the story is the lesson: the largest internet market in the world, and the company that walked away from it, the censorship that was refused, the principle that was kept.
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February 18, 2010
# The Marriage: Microsoft and Yahoo Make It Official
On Thursday, the search deal between Microsoft and Yahoo was approved by the regulators, and the approval was the end of a courtship that had dragged on for three years. The two companies had almost merged, had almost married, had spent billions on lawyers and negotiations, and the deal that finally landed was not a merger at all. The deal was a partnership, and the partnership was the surrender of the search war. The approval is the February 2010 story, and the story is the lesson: sometimes the biggest victory is admitting that you cannot win alone.
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January 27, 2010
# The Tablet: Apple Announces the iPad
On Wednesday, Steve Jobs stood on a stage in San Francisco and announced the iPad, and the announcement was the answer to a decade of failed predictions. The tablet had been predicted since the dawn of the personal computer, had been promised by every company and delivered by none, and the promise was finally being kept. Apple was betting that the world was ready for a screen between the phone and the laptop, and the bet was the biggest in the company's recent history. The announcement is the January 2010 story, and the story is the lesson: the products that change the industry are the ones that redefine a category instead of joining it.
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