5 posts and columns on typewriter

BoomTown Prediction: Chasing Away the Mice (And Keyboards Too)

in News on May 7, 2010 at 10:30 am PT

The Washington Post, where I once toiled, asked me to do a short piece recently for a spring-cleaning feature in its Outlook section. It was titled “Twelve Things the World Should Toss Out,” and BoomTown’s choice was physical computer keyboards and mice. Before you go all technical on me, be warned: I wrote the piece on an Apple iPad with a virtual keyboard and touchscreen. And frankly, if I could have all my blog posts downloaded directly from my noggin, it would be okay by me.

Mainframes Remain Lucrative Business for IBM

in News on October 9, 2009 at 11:44 am PT

A mainframe computer may seem as out-of-date as a typewriter in the age of Google and iPhones. But the half-century-old business is still crucial and lucrative enough to be drawing scrutiny from U.S. antitrust investigators. International Business Machines Corp. is now almost alone in the market for mainframes: high-end computers that run everything from Amtrak’s reservation system to benefits payments for the Social Security Administration.