David Pogue

Morgan Stickney, of Bedford, New Hampshire, has always been something of a mermaid. By age 14, she had a room full of swimming medals. Ranked top 20 in the country, she was dreaming of the Olympics. But one day in eighth grade, her entire life…

Techno Claus, who looks suspiciously like "Sunday Morning" contributor David Pogue (but sounds like no one else), is reading from a Christmas storybook by a crackling fire. "And what, to our wondering eyes should appear, But Techno Claus! Guru of…

Thanks to GPS, your car, your phone, even your watch knows exactly where you are on the planet, by listening to a satellite signal from 12,000 miles over your head. GPS is always on, you don't pay anything to use it, and you never need to know how it…

I'm not gonna lie: Being a "CBS Sunday Morning" correspondent has its privileges. Like getting to meet your musical idol. As a teenager, I was obsessed with the British band ELO, the Electric Light Orchestra. I was a budding composer myself, and the…

In the 1970s and '80s, the Electric Light Orchestra, the British rock band with a string section, lit up the charts. ELO, as fans called it, sold more than 50 million albums, with songs like "Livin' Thing," "Evil Woman," and "Mr. Blue Sky." Jeff…

Imagine the 1973 horror movie "The Exorcist" without its ominous score. Would "Psycho" be the same without Bernard Herrmann's music? It's no surprise that a good scare and a good score go hand-in-hand. Michelle DiBucci, a horror film composer and…

Jason Lee/Reuters Every September, Apple offers the world a new update of its iOS software for iPhones. This year’s version, iOS 13, didn’t exactly have a graceful landing; since its release in September, Apple has produced no fewer than five…

At this point, let’s assume everyone is familiar with home voice assistants like the Amazon Echo (a.k.a. Alexa) and Google Home. Ask them questions and get news/weather/traffic, order an Uber, have them tell jokes, make free phone calls — and, of…

Graham Roumieu Google and Facebook collect information about us and then sell that data to advertisers. Websites deposit invisible “cookies” onto our computers and then record where we go online. Even our own government has been known to track…

In the spring of 2018, the citizens of several American cities awoke to find something new: Thousands of electric scooters, mysteriously deposited all over town, unannounced. They were put there by a new breed of well-funded companies with…

The work bag is a highly personal purchase, just as self-expressive as your tote bag or phone case. Beyond phone, keys, and wallet, I suspect the next thing millions of people reach for when they walk out the door (at least on weekdays) is that bag.…

Even if you're not a New Yorker, you may know New York magazine. It was the original city magazine, one of the first magazines for both men and women. It's won 48 National Magazine Awards, and not long ago it celebrated its 50th anniversary. The…

Graham Roumieu Un niño pequeño ve a un hombre calvo en la tienda. “¡Mamá, mira! ¡Ese señor no tiene pelo!”, dice. Su madre lo agarra del brazo y le susurra nerviosa: “¡Cállate! ¡Te puede escuchar!”. El niño, perplejo, mira a su madre y le dice:…

I’ll never forget my astonishment at losing four pounds in the first two weeks of Fitbit-wearing. These fitness trackers translate activity and sleep patterns into graphs and stats (and, if you like, offer prompts to do better); as a result, my…

Graham Roumieu A little boy sees a bald man in the store. “Mommy, look! That man has no hair!” he says. His mother grabs his arm and whispers urgently: “Be quiet! He might hear you!” The boy looks at his mother, puzzled. “Doesn’t he know?” There’s a…

Every car can accelerate, brake and turn. But only the Tesla Model X can put on a three-minute dance performance. The windows open, the speakers blast a holiday carol, the exterior lights flash in sequence, the front doors open and close, and the…

You’re sitting there, running your hands over the skin of your shiny new Apple MacBook, Dell XPS, or Microsoft Surface Book laptop. It’s sleek, it’s thin, it’s modern! And then it hits you: Where are you supposed to plug stuff in? The traditional…

Who cares about Black Friday, Thanksgiving, or Christmas? Worshipers at the altar of consumerism know the real excitement comes Amazon Prime Day. But as loyal Strategist readers know, just because a product appears on the master list of Prime…

Over time, humanity manages to replace ugly, clumsy technologies with better, more efficient ones. Quill pens evolved into ballpoint, rotary phones into touchtones, cassettes into digital music. So could somebody please explain why we’re still using…

Graham Roumieu First we’re told that the best things in life are free. Then we’re told that you get what you pay for. First we’re told that money talks and makes the world go ’round. Then we’re told that money isn’t everything and can’t buy…