The Day the Market Forgot How to Talk
Everyone's talking about Ballmer's exit, but the story that actually rattled me this week was Nasdaq freezing for three hours on a bad data feed.
The Stock Market Ran on a Bug for Three Hours
A software failure in Nasdaq's quote-data system froze US stock trading for three hours yesterday, and it's really a story about brittle infrastructure, not finance.
The Internet Broke For Forty Minutes And I Was Buying Cat Litter
Amazon went down for the better part of an hour Sunday night mid-checkout, and it got me thinking about how much of the internet quietly depends on it.
Amazon Went Down for Lunch
Amazon.com went down for about 40 minutes today mid-checkout on my end, a small expensive reminder of how much of the internet now runs through a handful of server rooms.
BlackBerry Is Basically Up For Sale Now, and My Bold 9900 Doesn't Care
BlackBerry announced last week it's exploring a sale of the whole company. I've still got a work Bold 9900 in my bag and I'm weirdly sad about all this.
My BlackBerry Doesn't Know It's Being Sold
BlackBerry announced it's exploring a sale of the whole company this week, and it sent me digging up my old Bold 9900 to figure out why I still can't quit it.
When Email Providers Would Rather Close Than Comply
Lavabit and Silent Circle both shut down their encrypted email products this week rather than comply with government pressure. A look at what that actually means for the rest of us.
The BlackBerry in My Bag
BlackBerry put itself up for sale this week, and I'm still typing this on a company Bold with a worn-out keyboard. Plus: my long-delayed Chromecast finally showed up.
The Hyperloop Whitepaper's Weirdest Number
Everyone's covering the Hyperloop whitepaper Musk dropped yesterday, but the number I can't stop thinking about is the $20 ticket price, not the top speed.
Lavabit Just Quit Rather Than Roll Over
Lavabit shut itself down rather than comply with a secret order, and Silent Circle followed days later. A few thoughts on why that's braver than it sounds, and why I still haven't switched off Gmail.
Two Weeks With The $35 Chromecast
Two weeks with Google's $35 Chromecast: the power cable quirk nobody warns you about, what actually works today, and why I'm not ditching my Roku yet.
Lavabit Shut Itself Down Rather Than Rat Anyone Out
Lavabit and Silent Circle both killed their encrypted email services this week rather than comply with government demands, and it says something ugly about what "private" email actually means in 2013.