Tech Buzz

Earlier this month, Microsoft applied for a patent related to a technology that would highlight areas of high crime and route people around them. Folks seemed to get upset because areas like this tend to struggling due to a lack of revenue, and this would route people who might otherwise shop there ...

Twitter announced on Thursday that it can now withhold content from users country by country on demand, while still making that content available to the rest of the world. The news sparked widespread anger as critics accused the microblogging service of censorship and warned that the policy might im...

I'm a moderate Republican, which means that if I actually think about platforms, Obama, as a moderate Democrat, is closer to where I am than any of the folks running in my own party. What absolutely flabbergasts me is that these candidates don't seem to realize there is something called "the Interne...

SOPA Support Goes Sour

The Stop Online Piracy Act appears to be reeling in the face of growing opposition. Internet heavyweights like Wikipedia, Google and Facebook have demonstrated their opposition to the proposed legislation, in some cases protesting by temporarily blocking users from accessing content. A broad swathe ...

OPINION

The Future According to CES

One of the things that unfortunately doesn't happen much since Bill Gates stepped down is a quintessential talk on what the future will look like, and I find I miss that. So, to fill my own need for such a talk, this week's column will focus on the interesting products I saw come out at CES and th...

Last week, an announcement from Lenovo got me thinking of Rory Read, AMD's new CEO, who made some cryptic remarks about AMD going into ARM and no longer chasing Intel. Now, there are a number of hybrid or crossover products that will be coming out this year, with the most interesting being a cross ...

OPINION

Will 2012 See the Last Big, Bold CES?

This month begins the march to 2012 technology with the Consumer Electronics Show just around the corner. Vendors have already started prebriefings for what will likely be a cascade of announcements all happening in the same one-week time frame. This will be the last year that Microsoft keynotes or ...

OPINION

The Disasters of 2011

If there was ever a year for train wrecks, 2011 was it. It is that time when we look back at the screwy decisions executives made last year, and be thankful that we aren't them. There were a number of career-limiting moves last year that warrant a top spot on my Bozo meter. HP and Cisco are contende...

January's Consumer Electronics Show will be the last one Microsoft will attend. Announcing its decision on Wednesday, Microsoft's Frank Shaw said the company's product news milestones generally don't align with the timing of the show, which is regularly held in January. "Microsoft was faced with ann...

Google may be planning to enter the tablet market in the medium term -- and not just as a partner in an OEM relationship. Eric Schmidt, Google's executive chairman, told an Italian newspaper that "in the next six months we plan to market a tablet of the highest quality." Certainly Google's Android h...

Christmas is coming in a few days, and many of you are kicking back with some eggnog for a well-deserved rest before the day arrives, and you are looking forward to the annual family who-is-the-biggest-ass competition. Yes, this is the time of year when relatives feel the need to overimbibe and tell...

IBM's Watson supercomputer became famous when it beat the top "Jeopardy" champions on TV. What folks didn't know is that Watson did that with significant handicaps that wouldn't be applied were the same system actually deployed to answer real questions. What Watson is particularly good at is providi...

OPINION

Top Technology Trends for 2012

Well, it is December, when sugar plums fill children's heads and analysts look into their crystal balls to see what the new year will bring. Assuming the world doesn't end, 2012 should be a watershed year for personal technology, showcasing the beginning and end for a lot of companies, as well as ma...

OPINION

Welcome to Cyber Monday

Well, today is your first day back (if you live in the U.S.) from the long Thanksgiving holiday, and you are likely still suffering through a bit of a food coma hangover and are wondering where your waist went. Trust me, it went on a long vacation and probably won't come out again until summer -- or...

OPINION

The Technology Scandals of 2012

Next year is an election year, and there is no doubt we will have plenty of examples of politicians who should have had their hormones either surgically removed or had someone wiser make their decisions for them. On the other hand, the technology market has certainly had its fill of scandals over th...

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