Harry McCracken
@harrymccracken.com
Fast Company global technology editor. Boy journalist. Bon vivant. Lefthander. Westcoastian. 🇺🇦 Sign up for my free Plugged In newsletter: https://www.fastcompany.com/section/plugged-in
Fred C. Trump was also awful, but talked a better game than his son.
November 29, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Fred C. Trump was also awful, but talked a better game than his son.
HBO Max’s willingness to laugh at itself is possibly admirable, but feels like it’s just confusing matters: I thought for a moment they meant they’d decided to stay Max after all.
November 29, 2025 at 6:48 AM
HBO Max’s willingness to laugh at itself is possibly admirable, but feels like it’s just confusing matters: I thought for a moment they meant they’d decided to stay Max after all.
FWIW, Moore’s intro says the stories were all Kuttner. I also read and loved it when I was about 11. (I bought it at Woolworths.)
The 1943 Galloway/Gallegher story The Proud Robot involves 3D TV, video piracy, and the decline of theaters because TV got so good. It’s incredibly visionary.
The 1943 Galloway/Gallegher story The Proud Robot involves 3D TV, video piracy, and the decline of theaters because TV got so good. It’s incredibly visionary.
November 28, 2025 at 6:19 AM
FWIW, Moore’s intro says the stories were all Kuttner. I also read and loved it when I was about 11. (I bought it at Woolworths.)
The 1943 Galloway/Gallegher story The Proud Robot involves 3D TV, video piracy, and the decline of theaters because TV got so good. It’s incredibly visionary.
The 1943 Galloway/Gallegher story The Proud Robot involves 3D TV, video piracy, and the decline of theaters because TV got so good. It’s incredibly visionary.
Happy Thanksgiving! Here’s the 1965 Macy’s parade, as seen in two of my father’s photos and one, taken by an unidentified family member, of me atop his shoulders. I still wonder if it’s possible to identify the precise location.
November 27, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Happy Thanksgiving! Here’s the 1965 Macy’s parade, as seen in two of my father’s photos and one, taken by an unidentified family member, of me atop his shoulders. I still wonder if it’s possible to identify the precise location.
Speaking of Deputy Dawg, I sometimes use this question to test AI. Gemini took it more seriously than any other bot I’ve tried, though it seems to have hallucinated the part about the rain dance. (The sheriff made Deputy Dawg release the chief on grounds of jurisdiction and fear of legal issues.)
November 26, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Speaking of Deputy Dawg, I sometimes use this question to test AI. Gemini took it more seriously than any other bot I’ve tried, though it seems to have hallucinated the part about the rain dance. (The sheriff made Deputy Dawg release the chief on grounds of jurisdiction and fear of legal issues.)
I’m a sucker for similes involving and cartoon characters, but I’m sorry, Biden and Trump aren’t Rocky and Bullwinkle. Trump may be Mr. Magoo’s evil twin, though.
(Bill Clinton once compared himself to Baby Huey. Dan Rather inexplicably introduced his colleague Bob Schieffer as Deputy Dawg.)
(Bill Clinton once compared himself to Baby Huey. Dan Rather inexplicably introduced his colleague Bob Schieffer as Deputy Dawg.)
November 26, 2025 at 10:09 PM
I’m a sucker for similes involving and cartoon characters, but I’m sorry, Biden and Trump aren’t Rocky and Bullwinkle. Trump may be Mr. Magoo’s evil twin, though.
(Bill Clinton once compared himself to Baby Huey. Dan Rather inexplicably introduced his colleague Bob Schieffer as Deputy Dawg.)
(Bill Clinton once compared himself to Baby Huey. Dan Rather inexplicably introduced his colleague Bob Schieffer as Deputy Dawg.)
But he did dress up for air travel.
November 24, 2025 at 9:33 PM
But he did dress up for air travel.
I asked Grok about Elon’s coding skills—I’m genuinely curious!—and it gave what seemed to be a fairly measured response. But I’m not sure if any of it is true. Can anyone verify the verbatim quotes near the end?
November 21, 2025 at 9:50 PM
I asked Grok about Elon’s coding skills—I’m genuinely curious!—and it gave what seemed to be a fairly measured response. But I’m not sure if any of it is true. Can anyone verify the verbatim quotes near the end?
Tired: Data caps
Wired: Data thresholds
Wired: Data thresholds
November 20, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Tired: Data caps
Wired: Data thresholds
Wired: Data thresholds
It’s rare to see AI not only acknowledge that it was wrong but that it made up a “fabrication in the moment” to “cover up previous errors.”
(This is the new Gemini—I get in a lot of arguments with chatbot about obscure facts relating to comics and animation history.)
(This is the new Gemini—I get in a lot of arguments with chatbot about obscure facts relating to comics and animation history.)
November 19, 2025 at 5:56 PM
It’s rare to see AI not only acknowledge that it was wrong but that it made up a “fabrication in the moment” to “cover up previous errors.”
(This is the new Gemini—I get in a lot of arguments with chatbot about obscure facts relating to comics and animation history.)
(This is the new Gemini—I get in a lot of arguments with chatbot about obscure facts relating to comics and animation history.)
I’m assuming this Sierra Club ad may possibly be a few years old, but it feels newly resonant in the Musk era.
November 19, 2025 at 1:39 AM
I’m assuming this Sierra Club ad may possibly be a few years old, but it feels newly resonant in the Musk era.
Now that MSNBC is no longer MSNBC, here’s its earliest explanation of itself I could find on the Internet Archive, from 1997.
November 17, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Now that MSNBC is no longer MSNBC, here’s its earliest explanation of itself I could find on the Internet Archive, from 1997.
It’s Petula Clark’s birthday! She signed my iPod, as did Burt Bacharach. (And then I ran out of room, which was OK.)
November 16, 2025 at 6:19 AM
It’s Petula Clark’s birthday! She signed my iPod, as did Burt Bacharach. (And then I ran out of room, which was OK.)
Web Summit has self-serve beer dispensing stations. I didn’t partake and am not sure if they somehow card you. Then again, everyone here seems to be adults and I’m not sure what the drinking age is in Portugal.
November 12, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Web Summit has self-serve beer dispensing stations. I didn’t partake and am not sure if they somehow card you. Then again, everyone here seems to be adults and I’m not sure what the drinking age is in Portugal.
This humanoid robot from China’s Unitree is attracting a crowd in the Web Summit speakers’ lounge. It’s whipping about VERY quickly, in a way that’s a little unsettling.
November 11, 2025 at 12:42 PM
This humanoid robot from China’s Unitree is attracting a crowd in the Web Summit speakers’ lounge. It’s whipping about VERY quickly, in a way that’s a little unsettling.
I’m among the throngs attending Web Summit’s opening night.
November 10, 2025 at 6:17 PM
I’m among the throngs attending Web Summit’s opening night.
I’m in Lisbon at Web Summit’s Future of Media Summit. NPR’s Katherine Maher is kicking it off.
November 10, 2025 at 10:14 AM
I’m in Lisbon at Web Summit’s Future of Media Summit. NPR’s Katherine Maher is kicking it off.
Are we supposed to be impressed when our airline app says it uses generative AI to provide flight status? Or concerned?
(So needy.)
(So needy.)
November 6, 2025 at 1:23 AM
Are we supposed to be impressed when our airline app says it uses generative AI to provide flight status? Or concerned?
(So needy.)
(So needy.)
Happy Halloween. (This is the tallest pumpkin I’ve ever carved, by a lot.)
November 1, 2025 at 2:08 AM
Happy Halloween. (This is the tallest pumpkin I’ve ever carved, by a lot.)
My best Halloween costume, which I apparently put back on at Christmas to impress my grandmother.
October 31, 2025 at 8:47 PM
My best Halloween costume, which I apparently put back on at Christmas to impress my grandmother.
My Aunt Elizabeth dressed as a bullfighter for a Greenwich Village Halloween party, 1965.
October 31, 2025 at 8:42 PM
My Aunt Elizabeth dressed as a bullfighter for a Greenwich Village Halloween party, 1965.
Working on a newsletter, I was trying to remember when I got my first digital camera, My ancient email told me it was May 1999. I was impressed by the 12MB of onboard RAM and the (I don’t remember what this was) “sun window.”
October 30, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Working on a newsletter, I was trying to remember when I got my first digital camera, My ancient email told me it was May 1999. I was impressed by the 12MB of onboard RAM and the (I don’t remember what this was) “sun window.”
Nolan Bushnell’s 1983 ad for his Topo home robot is still one of my favorite things ever, from the photo to the gold-plated statuett to the fact you mailed the order form to Nolan himself.
October 24, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Nolan Bushnell’s 1983 ad for his Topo home robot is still one of my favorite things ever, from the photo to the gold-plated statuett to the fact you mailed the order form to Nolan himself.