This goes back a LONG way for me. I really enjoyed his Notes From The Field column in InfoWorld, which was both reliably funny and reliably interesting, from around 1987-1995.
I wouldn't be here if I hadn't somehow obtained and read Accidental Empires as a kid. Still no empire of my own though :(
Recently I've been thinking about the nerds/hippie dichotomy from that book. Really missing the anti-authoritarian streak that was so formative in the early computer industry.
> Really missing the anti-authoritarian streak that was so formative in the early computer industry.
problem is there wasn't any money in it
Michael Swaine tried to restart a few years ago as well. Not easy being the same you 20+ years later.
Same skill, same desire, same willingness. But the same energy is difficult to find.
Neat, maybe he can do a followup on how OrangeDAO X Press Start Cap Fellowship Program for new Web3 entrepreneurs is going.
Okay, bunch of memories came back of getting PBS's online presence going on AvantGo (one of the predecessors to "mobile web") and getting I, Cringely's column hosted on it...
From reading that it seems that he and his crew are working on an AI chip?
I have to warn you that it might just be sarcasm.
Skimming through his posts he was also “back” to writing in 2023. Looks like he wrote 2 things then. Maybe he’ll do a longer run this time, maybe a good half dozen posts before another 3 year break?
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I absolutely loved his "Triumph of the nerds" trilogy. It's my childhood!
Haven't updated it in a long time but hope you find something nice.
You're missing Dealers of Lightning, a great book about Xerox PARC
Thank you for sharing this! Its always fun to realize when either friends or fellow nerds happen to share a MASSIVE intersection of entertainment.
I would love to see a follow-up series that covers the dot com bust, the revival of Silicon Valley’s tech industry thanks to mobile and cloud tech, and the modern AI boom, starting with deep neural networks ran on GPUs and culminating with large language models.
Including all the mentally unwell people/trolls in the comments who have become obsessed with Bob's Minecraft server project that did not work out.
Their righteous indignation will valiantly carry forth forever! Let them never stop obsessing! "But it matters!" "It's really important!" "He's a liar, and boy our society is collapsing because of liars!". Urghh. They are in the comments here too, riding high white horses.
Sure, it's interesting there are still people out there who want to put him in his place or whatever. I think most people understand that's why you don't lie about the things like I've just learned this guy has. Especially if you depend on your name for your livelihood. or in this case, it's a pseudonym?
Maybe they should get over it but IMO everyone should pick their battles carefully, and just because it looks like they aren't doesn't mean it's worth your time. It's Mr. Cringely's cross to bear.
You can choose not to join the Internet outrage machine. That's a personal choice you can make.
You can choose instead to just enjoy the work and shrug at the terrible injustices and unbelievably bad behavior the trolls want to manipulate you to be mad about, multiplying their power. You don't have to obey the trolls when they instruct you that "this person is a liar!", and "what about the minecraft server!".
I don't know what you mean by obeying trolls. Just forget it.
Projects fail all the time. It happens.
It’s simply inexcusable (and criminally fraudulent in many jurisdictions) to lie about your academic credentials—especially when it involves other people’s money.
For clarity, he has a master's degree, not a Ph.D.
Via NYTime Nov. 16, 1998 article "Compressed Data; Stanford Gave Writer A Start, but Not a Ph.D." -
"The San Francisco Chronicle reported last week that Mr. Stephens had not been a professor at Stanford University and had not earned a doctorate there, as he had claimed."
"A university spokeswoman said that Mr. Stephens had worked as a teaching assistant and earned only a master's degree."
This goes back a LONG way for me. I really enjoyed his Notes From The Field column in InfoWorld, which was both reliably funny and reliably interesting, from around 1987-1995.
I wouldn't be here if I hadn't somehow obtained and read Accidental Empires as a kid. Still no empire of my own though :(
Recently I've been thinking about the nerds/hippie dichotomy from that book. Really missing the anti-authoritarian streak that was so formative in the early computer industry.
Michael Swaine tried to restart a few years ago as well. Not easy being the same you 20+ years later.
Same skill, same desire, same willingness. But the same energy is difficult to find.
Neat, maybe he can do a followup on how OrangeDAO X Press Start Cap Fellowship Program for new Web3 entrepreneurs is going.
Okay, bunch of memories came back of getting PBS's online presence going on AvantGo (one of the predecessors to "mobile web") and getting I, Cringely's column hosted on it...
Edit: some of these are still up there!
http://feeds.pbs.org/pbs/cringely/pulpit-audio
It's always fun when an old relic pops up in ye olde RSS reader. His feed would have been one of the originals I started following 25 years ago or so.
Dang we're getting old ey?
Not old. Experienced.
I’m not going to be able to find the reference in my head, but I thought there had been a couple Bob’s over the years.
The descent into IBM hiring/etc is when I sort of last stopped reading.
https://apple.fandom.com/wiki/Robert_X._Cringely
From reading that it seems that he and his crew are working on an AI chip?
I have to warn you that it might just be sarcasm.
Skimming through his posts he was also “back” to writing in 2023. Looks like he wrote 2 things then. Maybe he’ll do a longer run this time, maybe a good half dozen posts before another 3 year break?
I absolutely loved his "Triumph of the nerds" trilogy. It's my childhood!
Me too!
I have a list of similar content here:
https://github.com/superjamie/lazyweb/wiki/General-Tech-Ente...
Haven't updated it in a long time but hope you find something nice.
You're missing Dealers of Lightning, a great book about Xerox PARC
Thank you for sharing this! Its always fun to realize when either friends or fellow nerds happen to share a MASSIVE intersection of entertainment.
I would love to see a follow-up series that covers the dot com bust, the revival of Silicon Valley’s tech industry thanks to mobile and cloud tech, and the modern AI boom, starting with deep neural networks ran on GPUs and culminating with large language models.
Including all the mentally unwell people/trolls in the comments who have become obsessed with Bob's Minecraft server project that did not work out.
Their righteous indignation will valiantly carry forth forever! Let them never stop obsessing! "But it matters!" "It's really important!" "He's a liar, and boy our society is collapsing because of liars!". Urghh. They are in the comments here too, riding high white horses.
Sure, it's interesting there are still people out there who want to put him in his place or whatever. I think most people understand that's why you don't lie about the things like I've just learned this guy has. Especially if you depend on your name for your livelihood. or in this case, it's a pseudonym?
Maybe they should get over it but IMO everyone should pick their battles carefully, and just because it looks like they aren't doesn't mean it's worth your time. It's Mr. Cringely's cross to bear.
You can choose not to join the Internet outrage machine. That's a personal choice you can make.
You can choose instead to just enjoy the work and shrug at the terrible injustices and unbelievably bad behavior the trolls want to manipulate you to be mad about, multiplying their power. You don't have to obey the trolls when they instruct you that "this person is a liar!", and "what about the minecraft server!".
I don't know what you mean by obeying trolls. Just forget it.
Projects fail all the time. It happens.
It’s simply inexcusable (and criminally fraudulent in many jurisdictions) to lie about your academic credentials—especially when it involves other people’s money.
[dead]
Link to actual post: https://www.cringely.com/2026/05/21/im-writing-again/
<insert minecraft server kickstarter joke>
He's best known for Triumph of the Nerds but I really liked Plane Crazy, where he tries to build an airplane while basically having a breakdown:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0164814/
[dead]
[flagged]
For clarity, he has a master's degree, not a Ph.D.
Via NYTime Nov. 16, 1998 article "Compressed Data; Stanford Gave Writer A Start, but Not a Ph.D." -
"The San Francisco Chronicle reported last week that Mr. Stephens had not been a professor at Stanford University and had not earned a doctorate there, as he had claimed."
"A university spokeswoman said that Mr. Stephens had worked as a teaching assistant and earned only a master's degree."
https://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/16/business/compressed-data-...
Thanks for your research and correction of my error.
Can HN be a bit better than to sneer about transgressions that go back nearly three decades and had no real victims? I would have hoped so.
[flagged]
This reading like an em-dash enthusiast wrote it.
I just discovered this and I want to learn more about the AI job you guys are doing! I’ll subscribe!