Mark Pesce

Portable Large Language Models – not the iPhone 15 – are the future of the smartphone

Column Personal AI can redefine the handheld experience and perhaps preserve privacy too

Personal Tech13 Sep 2023 | 65

Conversational AI tells us what we want to hear – a fib that the Web is reliable and friendly

Opinion As Google and Microsoft make us all AI consumers, remember that to err is human, but to really mess things up at scale takes a computer

AI + ML08 Feb 2023 | 50

AI may finally cure us of our data fetish

Column There's still a place in the world for good old-fashioned human intelligence

AI + ML18 Jan 2023 | 27

Voice assistants failed because they serve their makers more than they help users

Opinion Siri? Google? Alexa? Could ChatGPT save us from this data harvesting nightmare?

AI + ML14 Dec 2022 | 172

If Apple's environmental rhetoric is meaningful, Macs and iPads should converge

Opinion An Apple a day keeps the doctor away, but too many might be a burden on the planet.

Personal Tech23 Nov 2022 | 48

AI-driven creativity gives overpowered PCs something worthwhile to do, at last

Column Take your desktop rig out for a proper run, turning words into images, 3D models and videos – if it can

AI + ML26 Oct 2022 | 10

To preserve Earth's treasures, digital silence is golden

Column There are beautiful, undisturbed places in the world. You do not have to catch 'em all

Software14 Sep 2022 | 56

Amazon has repackaged surveillance capitalism as reality TV

Column Smile! You're on Candid Doorbell – and the joke's on us all

Personal Tech24 Aug 2022 | 195

After 40 years in tech, I see every innovation contains its dark opposite

Column From modems to the Metaverse, Mark Pesce has seen it all

Software20 Jul 2022 | 138

If you didn't store valuable data, ransomware would become impotent

Column Start by pondering if customers could store their own info and provide access

Storage23 Jun 2022 | 44

LIDAR in iPhones is not about better photos – it's about the future of low-cost augmented reality

Column The cost of kit to capture the real world is plummeting, thanks to Apple

Personal Tech11 May 2022 | 35

'Bigger is better' is back for hardware – without any obvious benefits

Column Software was supposed to eat the world, but it's scarcely snacking on today's monstrous silicon

On-Prem13 Apr 2022 | 49

The right to repairable broadband befits a supposedly critical utility

Column A bolt of lightning has caused me days of misery, because the fix requires too much proprietary tech

Networks16 Mar 2022 | 85

Apple has missed the video revolution

Column COVID-19 turned many of us into media producers, but the tools favour Windows

On-Prem01 Mar 2022 | 62

COVID-19 was a generational opportunity for change at work – and corporate blew it

Column Faux flexibility – and then back in the office where we can keep an eye on you ...

On-Prem19 Jan 2022 | 106

A proposal to beat below-the-belt selfies: Crowdsourced machine learning using victims' image stashes

Column Empty your inboxes, people, we can duck this problem together

Bootnotes22 Dec 2021 | 77

Zuck didn't invent the metaverse, but he's started a fight to control it

Column Begun, the Metaverse Wars have. And the metaverse will fight Facebook's attempts at domination

Software11 Nov 2021 | 70

It's one thing to have the world in your hands – what are you going to do with it?

Column Google won the patent battle against ART+COM, but we were left with little more than a toy

Off-Prem19 Oct 2021 | 18

Through the Looking Glass – holographic display hardware is great, but it's not enough

Review An intriguing proof of concept for real-time 3D arrives, but without the software it's just a gimmick

Personal Tech29 Sep 2021 | 45

Measuring your carbon footprint? There's no app for that

Column Smartphones can keep us informed about everything other than environmental impact. That needs to change

Applications15 Sep 2021 | 58

The web was done right the first time. An ancient 3D banana shows Microsoft does a lot right, too

Column It's wonderful that code written for Windows 3.1 still works well today

Columnists11 Aug 2021 | 136

Great reset? More like Fake Reset: Leaders need a reality check if they think their best staff will give up hybrid work

Column Fortune favours the flexible in the new normal

Offbeat28 Jul 2021 | 98

Restoring your privacy costs money, which makes it a marker of class

Column Opting out of data monetisation is neither easy nor cheap

Security15 Jul 2021 | 89

Imagine a world where Apple shacked up with Xerox in the '80s: How might it look today?

Feature An alternative history of the computer revolution

On-Prem14 Jul 2021 | 91

Data collected to promote public health must never be surrendered to police

Column Voluntary location-tracking to crimp COVID is too good a tool to waste

Legal01 Jul 2021 | 108

The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The best time to build a semiconductor foundry is 5 years ago

Column The history of computing is all change, all the time. Yet silicon-slingers let the chips fail where they may

On-Prem09 Jun 2021 | 50

Blessed are the cryptographers, labelling them criminal enablers is just foolish

Column Preserving privacy is hard. I know because when I tried, I quickly learned not to play with weapons

Security12 May 2021 | 171

Harassers and bullies succeed in tech because silence is encouraged

Column Countless people signed away the right to have their trauma acknowledged, and that can’t stand

Legal20 Apr 2021 | 136

A Code War has replaced The Cold War. And right now we’re losing it

Column There’s always someone to blame for bad infosec, but never a willingness to make meaningful change

Columnists10 Mar 2021 | 85

How do we combat mass global misinformation? How about making the internet a little harder to use

Column We’re blinded by our trust of the Search box and its inscrutability

Networks08 Feb 2021 | 162

Breaking up big tech can make smartphones interesting again

Column We’re not upgrading to gorgeous new hardware because cloud services have stagnated

SaaS14 Dec 2020 | 40

The revolution will not be televised because my television has been radicalised

Column When recommendation engines promote misinformation during a pandemic, it's a matter of life and death

Science16 Nov 2020 | 119

To stop web giants abusing privacy, they must be prevented from respawning. Ever

Column History tells us tech companies just get bigger, even after being broken up or battered

Security16 Oct 2020 | 103

Sadly, the web has brought a whole new meaning to the phrase 'nothing is true; everything is permitted'

Column Well, isn't this a lovely paranoid bed we've made for ourselves

Security05 Mar 2020 | 124

Built to last: Time to dispose of the disposable, unrepairable brick

Column Maybe sustainability's not just for hipsters?

Personal Tech10 Feb 2020 | 213

What if everyone just said 'Nah' to tracking?

Column Privacy is nearly dead, but we're not even close to getting over it

Security08 Jan 2020 | 223

I cannae do it, captain, I'm giving it all she's got, but she just cannae take another dose of bullsh!t

Column A tricorder for food is possible, but the truth is trickier

Science04 Nov 2019 | 97

The immovable object versus the unstoppable force: How the tech boys club remains exclusive

Comment The solution? A generation of woman being preferred for promotion over men

Legal04 Oct 2019 | 150

Like a grotty data addict desperately jonesing for its next fix, Google just can't stop misbehaving

Column It's time for an intervention

Legal09 Sep 2019 | 109

Silly money: Before you chuck your chequebook away, triple-check that super-handy digital coin

Feature Only fools rush into mobile payments and cryptocurrencies

Science23 Jul 2019 | 115

It's all in the wrist: Your fitness tracker could be as much about data warfare as your welfare

Column Tick, tick, boom?

Personal Tech19 Jun 2019 | 101

Minecraft's my Nirvana. I found it hard, it's hard to find. Oh well, whatever... Never Mined

Column What on Earth are you playing at, Microsoft?

Personal Tech23 May 2019 | 49

Complex automation won't make fleshbags obsolete, not when the end result is this dumb

Column We're messy, expensive, lazy, difficult – and entirely necessary

AI + ML25 Apr 2019 | 81

FAANGs for the memories: Breaking up big tech's biggest isn't a matter of if, but of when

Column Everyone's had enough of their sh!t

Legal26 Mar 2019 | 45

Cheap as chips: There's no such thing as a free lunch any Moore

Column Industry faces down Spectre of performance optimisation

Personal Tech05 Mar 2019 | 44

Having AI assistants ruling our future lives? That's so sad. Alexa play Despacito

Column It's Amazon how quickly these monopolies begin

AI + ML17 Jan 2019 | 88

Between you, me and that dodgy-looking USB: A little bit of paranoia never hurt anyone

Let's lift our eyes from the balance sheet and take a look around...

Security13 Nov 2018 | 155

'Moore's Revenge' is upon us and will make the world weird

When everything's smart, the potential for dumb mistakes becomes enormous

Security04 Jun 2018 | 107

Social networks have already violated the spirit of GDPR

Closing off researchers’ access to APIs in the name of ‘safety’ means we’ll never know how we’re being screwed

On-Prem08 May 2018 | 35

Tech’s big lie: Relations between capital and labor don't matter

IBM shafting fifty-somethings shows business-as-usual hasn't been disrupted

On-Prem03 Apr 2018 | 44

Fear the wrath of robots, for their judgement is final and irrevocable

The right to be forgiven will soon be more important than the right to be forgotten

Science12 Mar 2018 | 26

Voice assistants are always listening. So why won't they call police if they hear a crime?

We've given away our privacy for the wrong rewards

AI + ML26 Feb 2018 | 126

Face, face, face! Apple, TrueDepth and a nose-driven iPhone X game

Selfie-satisfied to augment reality with their mugs

Science13 Feb 2018 | 20

Talk down to Siri like it's a mere servant – your safety demands it

Voice assistants get samples of our voice that can be remixed and faked

AI + ML12 Feb 2018 | 71

Topics

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Portable Large Language Models – not the iPhone 15 – are the future of the smartphone

Bad software destroyed my doctor's memory

Social media is too much for most of us to handle

Open the pod bay doors, GPT, and see if you're smart enough for the real world

Open source AI makes modern PCs relevant, and subscriptions seem shabby

It's time to reveal all recommendation algorithms – by law if necessary

Once AI can create endless viral videos, good luck switching off social media

Conversational AI tells us what we want to hear – a fib that the Web is reliable and friendly

AI may finally cure us of our data fetish

Voice assistants failed because they serve their makers more than they help users

If Apple's environmental rhetoric is meaningful, Macs and iPads should converge

AI-driven creativity gives overpowered PCs something worthwhile to do, at last

To preserve Earth's treasures, digital silence is golden

Amazon has repackaged surveillance capitalism as reality TV

After 40 years in tech, I see every innovation contains its dark opposite

If you didn't store valuable data, ransomware would become impotent

LIDAR in iPhones is not about better photos – it's about the future of low-cost augmented reality

'Bigger is better' is back for hardware – without any obvious benefits

The right to repairable broadband befits a supposedly critical utility

Apple has missed the video revolution

COVID-19 was a generational opportunity for change at work – and corporate blew it

A proposal to beat below-the-belt selfies: Crowdsourced machine learning using victims' image stashes

Zuck didn't invent the metaverse, but he's started a fight to control it

It's one thing to have the world in your hands – what are you going to do with it?

Through the Looking Glass – holographic display hardware is great, but it's not enough

Measuring your carbon footprint? There's no app for that

The web was done right the first time. An ancient 3D banana shows Microsoft does a lot right, too

Great reset? More like Fake Reset: Leaders need a reality check if they think their best staff will give up hybrid work

Restoring your privacy costs money, which makes it a marker of class

Imagine a world where Apple shacked up with Xerox in the '80s: How might it look today?

Data collected to promote public health must never be surrendered to police

The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The best time to build a semiconductor foundry is 5 years ago

Blessed are the cryptographers, labelling them criminal enablers is just foolish

Harassers and bullies succeed in tech because silence is encouraged

A Code War has replaced The Cold War. And right now we’re losing it

How do we combat mass global misinformation? How about making the internet a little harder to use

Breaking up big tech can make smartphones interesting again

The revolution will not be televised because my television has been radicalised

To stop web giants abusing privacy, they must be prevented from respawning. Ever

Sadly, the web has brought a whole new meaning to the phrase 'nothing is true; everything is permitted'

Built to last: Time to dispose of the disposable, unrepairable brick

What if everyone just said 'Nah' to tracking?

I cannae do it, captain, I'm giving it all she's got, but she just cannae take another dose of bullsh!t

The immovable object versus the unstoppable force: How the tech boys club remains exclusive

Like a grotty data addict desperately jonesing for its next fix, Google just can't stop misbehaving

Silly money: Before you chuck your chequebook away, triple-check that super-handy digital coin

It's all in the wrist: Your fitness tracker could be as much about data warfare as your welfare

Minecraft's my Nirvana. I found it hard, it's hard to find. Oh well, whatever... Never Mined

Complex automation won't make fleshbags obsolete, not when the end result is this dumb

FAANGs for the memories: Breaking up big tech's biggest isn't a matter of if, but of when

Cheap as chips: There's no such thing as a free lunch any Moore

Having AI assistants ruling our future lives? That's so sad. Alexa play Despacito

Between you, me and that dodgy-looking USB: A little bit of paranoia never hurt anyone

'Moore's Revenge' is upon us and will make the world weird

Social networks have already violated the spirit of GDPR

Tech’s big lie: Relations between capital and labor don't matter

Fear the wrath of robots, for their judgement is final and irrevocable

Voice assistants are always listening. So why won't they call police if they hear a crime?

Face, face, face! Apple, TrueDepth and a nose-driven iPhone X game

Talk down to Siri like it's a mere servant – your safety demands it

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