Technology

From 2002 through 2008 I wrote Real Time, a weekly look at how technology is changing our home, work and social lives, for The Wall Street Journal Online. (Originally the column was co-written with my friend Tim Hanrahan.)

While the column could cover anything, the categories I kept coming back to were digital music, e-commerce and how technology is changing the social habits and expectations we take for granted.

A lot of the ideas I returned to most often in Real Time were covered in “Changing Industries and the Rise of Personal Media,” a speech I gave to a group called Nelinet in May 2007. (Accompanying podcast.) Apologies that my snazzy visuals aren’t included; believe me, you didn’t miss anything. The final Real Time column, available here, is an attempt at summing things up that I hope worked OK.

This list also includes other articles written for the Online Journal and the print paper, and a few from Tech Week, a forerunner to Real Time. A couple of weeks after we discontinued Tech Week, the Journal got a frantic call from a Japanese newscast which had turned Tech Week into a regular feature on their broadcasts, and was now high and dry, newswise. Sorry fellas.

Digital Music

Is Radiohead’s Move Revolutionary? (Oct. 15, 2007)

The CD Turns 25 (Aug. 27, 2007)

The Perils of Online Song Lyrics (May 21, 2007)

A Changing Map for Digital Music (April 9, 2007)

A Classical-Music Mystery (Feb. 26, 2007) — subscription required

Portals: The Guilty Pleasures of Digital Downloads (Sept. 20, 2006)

The Ringtone Riddle (Nov. 21, 2005)

What If We Give It Away? (Nov. 7, 2005)

Portals: Why a Music-Enabled Cellphone Won’t Be an IPod Killer (May 23, 2005)

The IPod Mini’s Maxi Price (Jan. 12, 2004) — subscription required

Tech Week: A Band Backs Down From Digital Fight (Sept. 29, 2000)

Blogs, Books, Newspapers and Media

The Era of Bottom-Up Brands (Nov. 5, 2007)

A Reality Check for Newspapers (May 7, 2007)

In Search of Serendipity (Feb. 5, 2007)

Blog Epitaphs? Get Me Rewrite! (Feb. 27, 2006)

Wikipedia’s Woes (Dec. 19, 2005)

How I Became the Accidental Blogger (Oct. 31, 2005)

Why Google Print Is Authors’ Second Chance (Oct. 10, 2005)

Penny Dreadful (May 9, 2005) — subscription required

Lessons of Election Day Afternoon (Nov. 8, 2004) — subscription required

Tech Week: The Pathfinder Effect (April 30, 1999)

Changing Worlds

A Web Page of One’s Own (July 14, 2008)

The Case of the Missing White Pages (June 16, 2008)

A Father’s Dilemma (March 24, 2008)

A Goodbye to Gates (Jan. 14, 2008)

‘Blade Runner’ at 25 (Dec. 31, 2007)

From PET to Net (Dec. 10, 2007)

Meet George Jetson (Nov. 12, 2007)

Growing Up in Public (June 4, 2007)

Mightier Than the Pen (March 5, 2007)

A Fast Track for Buddy-Tracking (Nov. 20, 2006) — subscription required

Traveling Without Leaving (Oct. 30, 2006) — subscription required

The Perils of ‘Digital Double Vision’ (Oct. 16, 2006)

When Photos Are Forever (Oct. 2, 2006) — subscription required

Seeking a ‘Third Place’ Online (Sept. 25, 2006) — subscription required

The Cellphone Age (July 31, 2006) — subscription required

The New Rules of Web Surfing (April 24, 2006) — subscription required

O TiVo Pioneers! (Dec. 12, 2005)

Dialing for Instant Replay (Oct. 25, 2004) — subscription required

Lessons From Being Locked Out (Oct. 4, 2004) — subscription required

E-Commerce

One Family’s E-Commerce (Oct. 29, 2007)

A Sea Change in Shopping (Dec. 4, 2006) — subscription required

Do We Live in the Cardboard Age? (June 26, 2006)

Under Recommendation Engines’ Hood (June 12, 2006)

All Hail the Middleman (May 22, 2006)

E-World: Web Shoppers’ Loyalty Isn’t So Crazy After All (Aug. 13, 2001)

WSJ: The Collector (February 12, 2001) — subscription required

Tech Week: Waiting for Wal-Mart (Oct. 1, 1999)

Tech Week: Starbucks’ Web Strategy Takes Page From ‘Powers’ (July 2, 1999)

E-Mail

Stop the Email Madness! (April 2, 2007)

A Tale of Two Emailers (Jan. 30, 2006) — subscription required

When Talk Isn’t Cheap (Nov. 28, 2005) — subscription required

The Seven Deadly Email Sins (Aug. 19, 2002) — subscription required

Gadgets

The Cellphone Paradox (May 12, 2008)

A Mac Ad You’ll Never See (Feb. 4, 2008) — and see video here. (Warning: I can’t act.)

A Baseball Fan Goes Abroad (Oct. 1, 2007)

In Defense of Gadgetry (Aug. 13, 2007)

The Second Coming of Apple (Dec. 20, 2004) — subscription required

WSJ.com: Remembrance of Arcades Past (Feb. 28, 1998) — subscription required

Copyright

Consumers Stay Out in Copyright Cold (March 26, 2007)

The Revolution May Be Briefly Televised (Nov. 13, 2006)

Miscellaneous

A Videogame Fan’s Fantastic Find (April 28, 2008)

This Is the Modding World (Feb. 25, 2008)

Portals: What’s Your Tech Sign? (Nov. 23, 2005) — subscription required

Tech Week: If We Beat the Y2K Bug, Where’s the Elevator? (Dec. 31,1999)

Tech Week: Mahirmania and Nostalgia (Nov. 19, 1999)

WSJ: ‘Star Wars’ Fans Search Net for Clues (Dec. 23, 1997) — subscription required

WSJ.com: Is There a Secret Code for O’Reilly’s Bestiary? (July 25, 1997) — subscription required

WSJ.com: Bandwidth Heaven? See the Silver Screen (July 18, 1997) — subscription required

WSJ: The Age of Internet Politics (Nov. 6, 1996) — subscription required