Andrew Orlowski

Collected Journalism

Month: February 2012

  • Peak Oil: RIP
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    Peak Oil: RIP

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    The idea that seized the imaginations of the bien pensant chattering classes in the Noughties – “Peak Oil” – is no longer relevant. So says the commodities team at Citigroup, and policy-makers would be wise to examine the trends they’ve identified. “Peak Oil” is the point at which the production of conventional crude oil begins…

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  • French National Front woos internet pirates

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    The leader of the French National Front party, Marine Le Pen, wants Hadopi scrapped and replaced with a blanket licence to compensate creative industries. The extreme right party’s freetard-friendly gambit has caused the Socialists, who also oppose Hadopi, to rethink their policies.… Read More

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  • The angry internet runs on Pseudo Masochism™

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    A mob that’s filled with self-righteous fury isn’t very discriminating. In 2000 an angry crowd attacked a paediatrician after he was mistakenly named as a paedophile. Last year the Olympic cyclist Chris Hoy was abused by football fans who mistook him for match referee Chris Foy. And last month, a small Scottish farm certification agency,…

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  • Don’t shoot the Blackberry Messenger

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    BBM does things no web social network can do… it mirrors the flexibility of real life RIM’s fortunes have taken a catastrophic, Nokia-style nosedive in the past year – but it has a chance of pulling up. Admittedly, the odds are long, but this week the Canadian company began its fightback. It’s certainly right up…

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  • “Daddy, what’s a Press License?”

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    It’s 2020, and a young girl is doing her homework… “Daddy, what’s a press licence?” “Oh, that. Well a press licence allows you to call yourself a journalist and get into official events, for official journalists.” “What for?” “Well you get into events held by the government or a company, or for example a football…

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  • Five ways to rescue Windows Phone

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    Andrew Orlowski

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      Windows Phone might be the most impressive bit of software Microsoft has produced – but it isn’t setting the world on fire. The iPhone and Android go from strength to strength – the latter proliferating so widely even Google doesn’t know how many Android systems are out there. (It can’t count the Chinese forks…

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