Biography

Stephens was born in 1953, in Apple Creek, Ohio.^[1][2] He earned a bachelor's degree from the College of Wooster in Ohio^[1] in 1975 and a Master's degree in Communication from Stanford University in 1979, where he also pursued work toward a doctorate. He served on the "Public's Right to Information Task Force" as part of the President’s Commission on the Accident at Three Mile Island.^[3][4] He has claimed he was employee #12 at Apple, Inc.,^[5] though Daniel Kottke also claims this number.^[6]

Stephens' writing as Robert X. Cringely regularly appeared in publications such as Forbes, Newsweek, Success, The New York Times, Upside, and Worth. Stephens has also appeared as Cringely in two documentaries based on his writings: Triumph of the Nerds: The Rise of Accidental Empires (1996) and Nerds 2.0.1: A Brief History of the Internet (1998) and in a three-part documentary on PBS called Plane Crazy, in which he attempted to build an aircraft in 30 days and fly it when completed. The project quickly fell behind schedule and he became angry with the film crew. Eventually, he admitted defeat and the aircraft was cut up by Cringely. In the final episode, he builds an existing kit designed and assisted by Fisher Aero.

As Cringely, Stephens produced and hosted an Internet television show called NerdTV (2005–06) for PBS and, until late 2008, wrote an online column for the PBS website called I, Cringely: The Pulpit. On November 14, 2008, Stephens announced that he would stop contributing columns to PBS as of that December 15. He indicated that the move was his own decision "and not that of PBS, which has been nothing but good to me these many years".^[7] He also blogged for the Technology Evangelist site during 2007.^[8]

Today, his writings can be found at his own I, Cringely site.^[9]