The Social Analyst

Will Google Glass replace our smartphones? Or is it destined to become the biggest failure in Google's history?

Only one thing is for sure: Google Glass is in for a bumpy ride.

Unlike some journalists, I believe that Glass has great potential, especially when developers build more apps for it. Google faces an uphill battle of Everest proportions spurring mass adoption for the device, though. Just because it's "the future" doesn't mean it will be embraced by the public (see: Segway).

I believe Google Glass faces big obstacles in four key areas: privacy, style, usability, … Read more

I drove from Los Angeles to San Francisco while wearing Google Glass, and I did not get into an accident.

That's the first thing you should know about using Glass while driving. The second thing you should know is this: It's absolutely safer driving with Glass than picking up your phone and looking down -- something that we know we're not supposed to do, but the vast majority of us do anyway.

The Verge wrote a brief review of using Glass while driving, but it wasn't a sufficiently long or thorough test, in my opinion. So … Read more

While we don't know when iOS 7 will make its debut, here's what we do know: it will be the biggest reinvention of Apple's flagship OS in years -- perhaps ever.

iOS was Scott Forstall's baby since its inception. He was an advocate of skeuomorphism, a design philosophy that brings the look and feel of real-world objects into software design. iOS' linen backgrounds, notepads, and famously terrible podcast app are all examples of this philosophy in practice.

Skeuomorphism has dominated iOS for years, thanks to Forstall and Steve Jobs, who also advocated for the approach. Its … Read more

Investors rarely make or break a startup, but they can make life a hell of a lot easier or harder for an entrepreneur. That's why entrepreneurs need to put some thought into who they want to add to their team, instead of taking the first money that's offered to them.

But how do you choose the right investors for your startup?

There are hundreds of factors to consider, but some stand out more than others. While anybody can give you money, only a few can give you the sage-like advice you need to succeed. And while adding a … Read more

The home computing revolution of the 1980s and '90s was defined by a battle between two titans: Apple and Microsoft. After its IPO and the introduction of the Macintosh, Apple was riding high.

The company started losing the PC market in the '90s, though. Microsoft released Windows 3.0 as a cheaper alternative to the Macintosh in 1990, but it was the release of Windows 95, which brought a comparable GUI (graphical user interface) to PCs, that really hurt Apple. And Apple also suffered from a lack of vision, owing to the absence of its visionary leader, Steve Jobs, from … Read more

The annual Game Developers Conference, which attracts tens of thousands from the gaming industry, had all of the usual players this year: Nintendo, Sony, EA, Activision, etc. But they weren't the only players in town this week at GDC.

There was plenty of buzz about Ouya, the new $99, Android-based gaming console that broke Kickstarter records like Adrian Peterson breaks tackles.

Now, before the serious gamers out there savage me, let me be clear: The Ouya isn't going to be displacing the role of traditional consoles like the PlayStation or the Wii (although the Wii U has gone nowhere). … Read more

Like some of you, I was once a power user of Google Reader. I needed it to do my job. But as Twitter started to gain steam, I started checking it less and less. It was less a pleasure and more a chore.

And then suddenly, I just stopped. I created a Twitter account to track tech news, and I never looked back.

I'm fascinated by the outcry resulting from the news that Google is shutting down Reader. The backlash shouldn't surprise anybody: Reader's power users consist primarily of hard-core bloggers, who were obviously going to complain (… Read more

I have to hand it to AOL CEO Tim Armstrong: after struggling with a flurry of departures and internal turmoil, he has steadied the ship and the markets have rewarded him as a result.

A year ago, the Internet media giant lost its CTO, its tech lead, its head of sales, TechCrunch editor Erick Schonfeld, and a slew of technology people in its West Coast office.

Activist investors were calling for a new board or directors, and some were even calling for a new CEO. This launched a three month internal battle that resulted in the AOL was going in the right direction, … Read more

It was a sunny and warm afternoon in July when I dropped by Facebook's old headquarters on California street in Palo Alto, just two blocks from Stanford University. As the editor-at-large of Mashable, I was a frequent visitor of Facebook HQ, mostly for product launches and the occasional interview.

This visit was different, though. I wasn't there as a journalist looking for a story; I was there seeking advice from one of the people I respect most -- Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg.

At the time, I was in talks to start and run the digital arm of a … Read more