Stephens' writing as Robert X. Cringely regularly appears 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.