Stories by Paul McNamara

A look back at the most memorable tech-related happenings of 1988

A report surfaced recently contending that BlackBerry OS 10 will include a list of 106 prohibited passwords designed to prevent the clueless from choosing the likes of 123456, blackberry, or the ever-popular "password" as their password.

That there is nothing unusual about either of these anecdotes is what makes them so remarkable.

Even back in 1982, the astonishing emergence of a large black weather balloon from beneath the field during the annual Harvard-Yale football game was enough to have police officers drawing their guns.

Software engineer using mind-controlled prosthetic limb scales Chicago tower

Thin-client maker Pano Logic, headed by former Wyse CEO John Kish, has gone out of business ... without so much as a public word to the customers it has left high and dry, or anyone else who might be wondering why.

One of my favorite parts of Reddit is a section called "Today I Learned," where readers submit stories and facts that maybe not everybody knows. Last week while browsing there, I learned that the famous astronomer Carl Sagan, who died in 1996, sued Apple for libel two years earlier. The details of the matter are highly amusing, as they apply to Apple, and at least slightly disappointing as they apply to Sagan.

Steve Jobs unveiled first iPhone at Macworld on Jan. 9, 2007

Pundits who got it wrong explain why ... or deny that they did

For anyone bearing the brunt of an Internet hoax that just won't die, there's little more to hope for in terms of potential relief than a story on Snopes.com stating unequivocally that the hoax is indeed a hoax. After all, Snopes is the gold standard when it comes to debunking nonsense.

Company touts multi-device capabilities - and other Xbox news - at E3

Last week I posted to Buzzblog a list of the 50 best "bragging rights" claimed by users of Google+.

Devotees waiting in line in China, Germany, Australia and U.S.

At first blush, it's another one of those, "Sure, it will happen ... eventually," type of situations. I mean does anyone envision a commercial air fleet without readily available Internet service 20 years down the runway?

Three congressional aides recently lost their jobs in part because they are worthless layabouts who drink on the job, but also because they are but the latest to forget that <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/slideshows/2010/052610-twitter-quiz.html">Twitter</a> lives on the Internet and tweets - especially those badmouthing your boss -- are visible to one and all.