Gigglebit: When tech journalism goes wrong

4 Sep 2014

Brett Larson, technology analyst for CNN

Gigglebit is Siliconrepublic’s daily dose of the funny and fantastic in science and tech, to help start your day on a lighter note.

Like any sector, technology has a serious side, and it is often issues within this serious side that make headlines or that organisations need to explore for their business. Malware! Data breaches! Cloud storage! Do I really need this software? Which candidate has the best IT skills for this job? And what the heck is fog computing?

With Gigglebit, we turn the spotlight on humorous and/or amazing content about science and tech, because sometimes the lighter side should be taken seriously, too.

Today, we look at CNN’s technology analyst Brett Larson, who was brought in to discuss the leaking of celebrity photos via the popular and well-known messaging board, 4chan.

Or at least, it’s supposed to be well known, especially among those who have spent their fair share of time online.

Sadly for Larson, that seemed not to be the case as he began discussing the possibility 4chan was rather more likely a rogue ‘systems administrator’.

In fairness to him, it seems more than likely he knows his tech, but he might struggle to tell you what the kids are into these days.

Colm Gorey was a senior journalist with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com