Spotlight Features

Now that it has cooled off in California, or at least it had until my wife saw our power bill for the month of July, it seems like it might be a good time to talk conservation, and touch on some of the technologies that can be used to reduce our use of fossil fuels as well as keep our power bills fr...

For many people in the biofuels movement, it is inspiring to witness and play even a small part in the huge amount of grass roots-driven, Web-based activity the energy issue is presently generating in the U.S. All this concern and activity raises a crucial question: To what degree is all this activi...

Last week was one to write home about, particularly between AMD and Intel. The AMD folks effectively created a distraction during Intel's biggest launch since the original Pentium 13 years ago -- and Intel actually helped them do it. In addition, Microsoft met with a broad cross section of analysts ...

OPINION

Here Comes the Technology Tax Man

Last month, the U.S. Treasury Department announced the end of the ancient federal excise tax on long-distance telephone bills. Consumers should be wary of this seemingly positive development, as cash-strapped bureaucrats now press forward with plans for new technology taxes, threatening innovation.

Be it with ethanol, unused or recycled vegetable oil, biodiesel or carbon fixing, substantial efforts and progress are being made toward developing a biofuels-based energy infrastructure in the U.S. within the next decade or so. As the advantages and disadvantages of each alternative fuel source are...

This is becoming an interesting summer. As we cook under the effects of "mythical" global warming, tech vendors have been busy getting ready for the second half of the year. I've had a chance to review the multi-vendor FlexGo announcement and think there is a broader play here then we initially real...

As the country gears up for the November elections and online communities start to buzz, it's instructive to look back at the way image myths were created, even with the openness of the Internet. The Howard Dean campaign is one example. During the 2004 election, the Dean campaign was credited with ...

Of all the weeks for me to pick to take a vacation, last week was probably the worst. There was so much going on that my "vacation" became busier than a normal work week. Microsoft, for one, was the subject of some positive buzz as news bubbled up around its so-called "iPod killer." On the negative ...

OPINION

Kangaroo Court in Brussels

This week, European Commission regulators fined Microsoft about US$356 million, adding to the $630.7 million the company has already been forced to pay. Noncompliance with a mandate to disclose technology documents is the official reason for the fine, yet the deadline for such compliance has not yet...

It seems rarer than ever these days that a majority of Americans can get together, rally round a common cause, hash out their differences, and forge a consensus in support of a durable and lasting approach to a pressing and vital public issue. Yet that is what is happening as a groundswell builds fr...

Two weeks ago CNBC asked me to cover problems that blogs pose for companies. To prepare I read official and unofficial blogs from a number of firms, and I found them fascinating reading. Google employees, for example, seem to be as outspoken about their management's lack of capability as anyone e...

Corporate data centers are running ever more efficiently, and even delivering on the promise of self-monitoring and automation, but there is always the chance that something, somewhere, somehow might go terribly wrong. To confront the risk, organizations need solid assessment strategies, and ways to...

OPINION

Game On for HP, Dell, Apple

Last week, I attended the Dell advisory council meeting and the week before, a similar Hewlett-Packard event. These gave me a chance to look at how both companies are approaching similar problems and to observe that both are demonstrating improving capabilities. Of course, Apple doesn't do adviso...

This week, the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee approved the Communications, Consumer Choice and Broadband Deployment Act of 2006, sponsored by Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii). If passed by the full Congress, this massive telecom bill will bring consumers significant benefits, espe...

The newest hot property in the wireless communications race is the "electronic leash." Employees often joke that their offices keep them on a leash by providing BlackBerries, cell phones and laptops for anytime, anywhere communication. Now the concept has spread to parenting: Parents now have severa...

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