Machine Error The Case for Paper Ballots Hal Plotkin, Special to SF Gate Thursday, December 21, 2000 ,/p> URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/technology/archive/2000/12/21/evoting.dtl Now that the jokes about hanging chads are beginning to subside, many are looking to new voting technologies in the hope they will help us clean up the sloppy election procedures that surfaced so alarmingly...
Technical Correction "The Numbers Guy" And Wall Street Hal Plotkin, Special to SF Gate Tuesday, November 21, 2000 URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/technology/archive/2000/11/21/peratio.dtl The stock market's resemblance to a casino is becoming increasingly hard to ignore. It's common these days to see the stocks of respected, big-name firms such as Intel, Oracle and Apple Computer rise or...
Faster Than Light Travel Will We Ever Travel to the Stars? Hal Plotkin, Special to SF Gate Wednesday, October 18, 2000 URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2000/10/18/lightspeed.DTL In the two years I've been at this column, I've been overwhelmed by the many intelligent and well-informed e-mails that have come pouring in. The response has been so good I've decided...
Burn Your Cubicle Virtual Teams Are the Future of Work Hal Plotkin, Special to SF Gate Thursday, September 21, 2000 URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/technology/archive/2000/09/21/cubicle.dtl Woody Allen once observed that 80 percent of success is just showing up. He must not have had the future American workplace in mind. These days, letting knowledge workers not show up is fast...
Fast and Easy New Browserless Apps Allow One-Click Searching Hal Plotkin, Special to SF Gate Thursday, August 31, 2000 URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/technology/archive/2000/08/31/oneclick.dtl What if I told you I could save you not just a few seconds but a few minutes every time you do an Internet search? Now you can, with a new breed of software...
Little Man, Big Mind New Media Pioneer Gary Brickman's Remarkable Life Hal Plotkin, Special to SF Gate Monday, July 31, 2000 URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/technology/archive/2000/07/31/brickman.dtl Bay Area new media pioneer Gary Brickman passed away quietly in his sleep last month. He was only 38. If you've attended any big tech events here in the Bay Area over...
Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Coming Up With the Next Big Thing Hal Plotkin, Special to SF Gate Wednesday, June 28, 2000 URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/technology/archive/2000/06/28/bigthing.dtl The introduction of any major new technology usually gives rise to a fresh new crop of multi-millionaires. Often, the doting news media dubs them geniuses. But having met and covered many...
Talking Computers Microsoft's Long-Range Plan to Thwart the Feds Hal Plotkin, Special to SF Gate Wednesday, June 7, 2000 URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/technology/archive/2000/06/07/voicerec.dtl You've probably seen the ads yourself. A comfortably dressed, relaxed looking Bill Gates is talking directly into the camera. Blithely, he shrugs off the charges against his company, promising that Microsoft's "best days are...
Digital Food Online Groceries Set Stage for Long-Awaited Revolution in the Aisles Hal Plotkin, Special to SF Gate Friday, May 26, 2000 URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/technology/archive/2000/05/26/grocers.dtl Leading online grocers Webvan and Peapod are in some serious trouble on Wall Street. A growing chorus of analysts claim it's impossible for online grocers to generate decent profits by making...
Highway Robbery New electronic toll collection system won't fix traffic woes Hal Plotkin, Special to SF Gate Wednesday, May 10, 2000 URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/technology/archive/2000/05/10/tollbooth.dtl The long-awaited electronic toll collection system for the Golden Gate Bridge that is finally slated to be up and running by mid-summer demonstrates that technology used without intelligence can be...
Napster How free music will change the planet Hal Plotkin, Special to SF Gate Thursday, April 6, 2000 URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/technology/archive/2000/04/06/napster.dtl It's hard to overstate the significance of the rise of Napster. Some say it's just another expression of human greed, a manifestation of the desire to get something for nothing. But the seemingly inconsequential act...
Patently False Time for Bezos to get serious Hal Plotkin, Special to SF Gate Friday, March 17, 2000 URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/technology/archive/2000/03/17/bezos.dtl Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos has been getting a lot of praise lately for his deft handling of the growing controversy over whether his firm's patents might enable him to impose what amounts to a...
Deposit This On the Internet, your bank is not your friend Hal Plotkin, Special to SF Gate Wednesday, February 23, 2000 URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/technology/archive/2000/02/23/netbank.dtl When the notorious bank robber Willie Sutton was finally apprehended, a reporter asked him: "Mr. Sutton, can you tell us why you rob banks?" Sutton's famous reply: "Because that's where they keep...
Open Source TV Broadcasters should jump on the open source bandwagon, pronto Hal Plotkin, Special to SF Gate Thursday, January 5, 2000 URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/technology/archive/2000/01/05/opensourcetv.dtl "There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling the transmission...