Richi Jennings
Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/consultant, specializing in content marketing, email, spam, and other security topics. He was also the main author of Computerworld's The Long View and IT Blogwatch columns. He has won awards from the American Society of Business Publication Editors, ABM/Jesse H. Neal, and B2B Magazine.
He was previously CTO for Samsung Contact. Prior to this, he was at Hewlett-Packard for 14 years, working in a wide variety of engineering, marketing and architect roles, mainly on OpenMail and its predecessors.
Richi lives in England, is an un-professional DJ, rusty scuba diver, and was voted "Most likely to get up first to sing at karaoke" for 16 years in succession. You can follow him as @RiCHi on Twitter, pretend to be Richi's friend on Facebook, Plus him at +richijennings, or just use boring old email: cw@richi.uk.
(And, yes: that's Richi Jennings, not Richie Jennings; capishe?)
On quotations used in my articles:
When I quote other websites or writers, I will often edit for the busy reader, using a style based on accepted journalistic norms (e.g., AP; Chicago). The intention is never to change the meaning of the original. Omitted text is marked with an ellipsis (...); altered text is marked with [brackets]; typos may be corrected; on rare occasions, I may reorder text. I also aim to stay within the letter and spirit of copyright law: specifically, the U.S. Fair Use and UK Fair Dealing codes.
If an organization or individual so quoted objects to being quoted in this way, they can request an edit or complete removal by tweeting @RiCHi; the request will then be considered by Computerworld editorial staff.
Disclosures
For a list of disclosures and potential conflicts, please see richi.uk/bio
Weirdly-worded words that Computerworld's lawyers like me to say:
This is a weblog of Richi Jennings. The opinions expressed are those of Richi Jennings and may not represent those of Computerworld.
Google X needs your clothes, your boots, and your motorcycle
Schaft schows bipedal ’bot with unbelievable balance. The Alphabet-née-Google X team’s leader, Nakanishi-san, demonstrated Anonobot-chan at the Japanese junket called New Economic Summit 2016...
Secret Facebook groups flog scary heavy weapons in Middle East
Facebook attacked for hosting for secret groups selling arms in Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen. But Facebook PR says it nukes such groups “swiftly,” but the catch is that Zuck’s mob will only do something if they’re told about it...
Just say NO to Adobe Flash Player -- emergency patch vs. Cerber ransomware
Flash Player gets another emergency patch—this time, Adobe Systems is warning of a ransomware attack, exploiting a bug in the beleaguered software. So should you install the patch, or just uninstall Flash Player? What do you think…
Huawei P9 and P9 Plus smartphones boast Leica dual-aperture science
Huawei launches P9 and P9 Plus smartphones, sporting an unusual dual-aperture system made with the help of Leica. The other hardware is also impressive...
WhatsApp encryption -- egg on Hillary's face
WhatsApp's encryption job is done -- says the billion-user messaging app team. It was helped by Open Whisper Systems, the crypto-heads behind the Signal system, which is what WhatsApp's app now uses for its end-to-end wonderousness...
Miraculous Facebook A.I. for blind users paints a word picture
Facebook will now assist blind users, by recognizing and describing what's in the images their friends share. Facebook calls it Automatic Alternative Text (AAT), because the artificial intelligence system fills in missing 'alt' text,...
Tesla Model 3's huge pre-orders burn as Elon Musk fiddles
After the dust settled on the Tesla Model 3 jamboree, preorder deposits approached $300 million, topping up Elon Musk's capex war-chest. His new electric car's reviews are insanely great, but some commentators are wondering if...
Google's asinine Gmail prank: What were these fools thinking?
Google appeared to troll Gmail users yesterday, by adding a childish GIF to their sent email and making their replies disappear. If that sounds stupid and asinine to you, then you'd be right. Your humble blogwatcher tries to avoid...
Intel Broadwell Xeon E5 2600 v4: Huge core count and faster code
Intel releases the Broadwell Xeon E5 v4 line. With an amazing 44 maximum threads, the processors promise performance beyond your wildest dreams...
Microsoft's rude A.I. bot Tay: Officially a piece of CaaP
Microsoft's artificial intelligence strategy is to unleash more bots like Tay. Redmond doesn't mean more nasty, racist or homophobic chatbots, but a forest of A.I. personalities for different uses -- Satya Nadella named it...
Instagram angst-agram! Timeline cheese-moving plan causes panic and FUD
Instagram plans to kill the 'trad arr' feed, ordered by time. This has caused pure uproar, fear, uncertainty and doubt -- the worry also unleashed a tidal wave of so-called 'celebs' begging fans to 'turn on notifications,' leading to...
Apple's weird iPhone plan: No new design this fall, but huge 5.8-in, curved 2017 model
Apple iPhone rumors got crazier at the weekend, thanks to our (ahem) favorite analyst. Ming-Chi Kuo says the next real design change for Tim's pomaceous shiny will be next year, surprising but not delighting Apple fans hoping for a...
iOS download for Apple iPhone & iPad breaks activation
Updated: iOS 9.3 has this horrible bug -- possibly two bugs -- but don't be shocked, because something like this happens almost every update nowadays. Many users of (ahem) 'legacy' iPhones or iPads now own a shiny brick, so Apple has...
Pebble skips 25% of workers -- signs of smartwatch bubble bursting?
Pebble is letting 40 people go -- that's 25% of its workforce -- because money. It illustrates the parlous state of the smartwatch market, where not even Apple or Samsung can shift the things...
Google Cloud Platform -- Greene's mean, green cloud means business
Google Cloud Platform is kicking business butt, says Google. SVP Diane Greene is pleased to announce new marquee customers and new cloud features. But Google is a long way behind it's two main competitors: Amazon AWS and Microsoft...
Google fail? This new Critical zero-day Android vuln is TWO years old!
Android has horrible new security hole, says Google. Not only that, but Google admits the bug's been known about since April 2014, and is being exploited -- SKY FALLING; FILM AT 11...
Apple iOS 9.3 is here -- download now, or wait for bugs to be fixed in 9.3.1?
Apple iOS 9.3 release is here, so go download and update your iPhone or iPad, right now, this minute. But wait, perhaps you should pause until the bleeding-edgers have done it first -- remember the 9.2 débâcle?
Microsoft Xbox bros hired 'half-naked' 'schoolgirls' for GDC bash
Microsoft Xbox 'bros' paid women to entertain attendees at the Game Developers Conference (GDC). As if that's not bad enough, these mini-skirted dancers were described by some party attendees as being dressed like "schoolgirls"...
Amazon warns: Got a pre-2013 Kindle? You must patch NOW, or else!
Your older Amazon Kindle will lose access to the cloud, unless you update yours before March 23. If you miss the date, you're forced to mess around with USB leads...