Stories by Mike Elgan

Google is inventing something better than Siri, Cortana, Alexa or even Google Now. It's email with a virtual assistant that uses artificial intelligence to help you out.

The first mainstream social virtual world came into existence last week. Oculus VR, the virtual reality company owned by Facebook, released an app called the Oculus Social alpha. But even as we gather and interact in virtual worlds, will VR really bring us together or just isolate us more?

Apple and Facebook are asserting themselves as gatekeepers of necessary information to the public. Can we trust them?

Siri and virtual assistants like her will soon change everything. I. Mean. Everything.

Soon it will be politically incorrect to express enthusiasm for drones or fly them in public. Too bad. Drones are cool.

Listen to this: The world of earbuds is about to be transformed by startups whose products let you customize what you hear.

The latest trend in social networking is the rise of elitism.

There's never been anything quite like Facebook. As a company, Facebook specializes in collecting, hoarding, keeping and engaging users. As a social network, it dominates the market with the largest user base. Facebook has a monopoly as the social network of choice for friends and families.

Apple makes money. A LOT of money.

This column is a little cheerful, slightly analytical, both confident and tentative and just a tiny bit angry. But mostly, it's open, agreeable and conscientious. At least that's what IBM's Watson thinks.

Social problems exist. Sexism, social stigmatization, crime and other problems have always plagued humanity.

When Apple announced it was creating an Internet radio station called Beats 1 to go along with its Apple Music service, I was dismissive.

Both Facebook and Google have been working hard at using computers and algorithms to identify people in photos. They've gotten really good at it.

I'm a huge fan of newspapers. I've been subscribing to the print edition of The New York Times since I was in college.

The future of consumer electronics will be delivered this year in a Puerto Rican food truck.