Articles by Renay San Miguel

The report is called "Securing Cyberspace for the 44th Presidency," and one paragraph in its opening section succinctly sets forth the Internet-related challenges awaiting President-elect Barack Obama "Cybersecurity is now a major security problem for the United States," the Center for Strategic and International Studies commission report begins. "...

How did Seattle become the home for technology companies that want to help you buy or sell ... a home? Sure, it's where Microsoft and Amazon are based, and it's a well-educated, tech-savvy community, and the University of Washington churns out more than its share of software engineers But why real estate?...

I'm starting to lose track of which major news event is supposed to be THE turning point for technology-driven citizen journalism. Was it bloggers detailing the horrors of Sept. 11? The surreal graininess of cell phone videos and photos capturing the 2004 London subway bombings? The digital camcorder footage later that same year showing the South Asian tsunami washing away coastlines and lives? What about the eerie muted gunshots of a madman heard on another cell phone video, this one from the Virginia Tech campus in 2007?...

In the early days of YouTube, one could find scads of commercial pornography, plenty of amateur pole-dancing and scatological material out the wazoo, but as the world's top user-generated video Web site chases down more revenue, it has also cracked down on the kind of mature content that might make advertising executives a tad nervous when they're deciding where to place their brands -- not to mention moms and dads wondering what uploaded atrocities the kids are viewing now...

Regular viewers of "60 Minutes" may not have been aware of a major scandal in the online gambling industry before Sunday night's broadcast, but Internet poker enthusiasts already knew the score and were waiting for reporters to show their cards The report, a joint effort involving CBS's Steve Kroft and the Washington Post's Pulitzer-winning investi...

President-Elect Barack Obama didn't show (previous commitment), but Obama Girl was there. So was Obama's unofficial Web troubadour, will.i.am. A real politician, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, presented an award to a real member of royalty, Queen Raina of Jordan, while Chad Vader, the unambitious, not-so-real brother of a member of pseudo-royalty, Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader, looked on...

In four years, driving a car in the San Francisco Bay area may involve a variation of the "plug and play" concept. Think "plug and drive," if the mayors of San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose and start-up Better Place have their way The company, founded by former SAP executive and Wired magazine cover subject Shai Agassi, announced a private-public...

The history of James Bond films is the history of our fascination with technology: booby-trapped briefcases, jetpacks, cars with machine guns and ejector seats, super-magnet watches, cars driven by remote control, acid-filled fountain pens, cars that become invisible, sharks with frickin' lasers Sorry, wrong spy movie franchise on that last example...

So far, the testimony in the Lori Drew cyber-bullying trial, which began Wednesday in Los Angeles, has generated headlines for its inherent drama and tragedy: the mother of a teenage daughter, accused of using the MySpace social network to stage an elaborate hoax that ends with the suicide of a troubled 13-year-old classmate, Megan Meier But the le...

That blur you saw at the edges of your vision just now? That would be the Internet continuing to move at light speed to your cell phone and other mobile devices. So Adobe's argument is, how can anything move that fast without Flash? The company is staging its MAX 2008 conference in San Francisco this week, and Adobe is putting the spotlight on anno...

Facing down the nastiest alien creatures in "Gears of War 2" may seem like a cakewalk compared to the big boss battle awaiting the video game industry this Christmas -- maintaining strong sales during an extremely challenging economic environment that has resulted in gaming retail outlets Circuit City filing for bankruptcy and Best Buy warning of consumer spending slowdowns...

The military squad members from the hyperviolent "Gears of War" video game franchise are on your TV screen, sandwiched in between football scoring drives or reality show arguments or autopsies on "CSI Des Moines." Only there's not a insectoid killer alien to be seen for miles in this particular commercial Instead, the game's central character, Marc...

If you notice less spam in your e-mail inbox today, you can thank a coalition of cybersecurity researchers who have made it their mission to sew up spam-based "botnets" on the Web Earlier this week, HostExploit.com gave a Washington Post reporter information about a hosting company, McColo, that was allegedly providing command-and-control capabilit...

Cisco Systems' new ASR-9000 edge router promises faster delivery of all that rich Internet media destined for personal computers and mobile devices. The US$80,000 question for potential customers: Will it prove to be too rich during challenging economic times? The company's new piece of telecommunications equipment -- introduced Tuesday after four ...

All those singing cats and clumsy kittens you currently see on YouTube will soon be getting some more feline company at the online video Web site: Leo, the roaring, toothy Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lion The movie studio announced Monday that it would allow a very limited selection of full-length movies and TV shows from its library, along with one- to tw...

Someone is trying to extort money from a company that handles drug prescription benefits for 50 million Americans in what could be one of the more damaging cases of data loss on record. The incident may raise red flags for industry hopes of putting more health care information online in an effort to control costs The FBI is looking into the extorti...

CNN reporter Jessica Yellin has probably heard a lot of compliments during her career, which has included stints at ABC and MSNBC. But I'm guessing anchor Wolf Blitzer's closing comment to her following her live report from Chicago early Tuesday evening was a new one for her "Alright Jessica, you're a terrific hologram," Blitzer told Yellin, as her...

It appears that Silicon Valley will hold Barack Obama to his promise to consider naming a national technology czar/chief technology officer for his administration, and industry observers already have a few suggestions for the president-elect Google CEO Eric Schmidt has been mentioned as a contender, largely due to his public support for Obama, whic...

The same credit problems that have hit many a home mortgage holder are also threatening to unplug troubled electronics big-box store Circuit City. The nation's second-largest seller of consumer electronics said Monday it will close 155 stores, lay off up to 17 percent of its 43,000-employee U.S. workforce, and consider all options to restructure its business...

This column is dedicated to the intersection of technology and traditional news media. With less than a week to go before America elects a new president, that intersection is looking more and more like the scene of a multi-vehicle pileup The victims: democracy, the average voter, my patience....