Spotlight Features

OPINION

Don’t Strangle E-Voting With Paper

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's State of the State address this week reminded California voters that in ten months they'll be casting ballots again, many using electronic voting devices. While popular, e-voting is at risk of being stymied by nervous Nellies and the anti-property lobby. One frequen...

The Consumer Electronics Show kicks off this week in Las Vegas and I'll be there with the crowd, hoping it won't rain this year and praying I can get from meeting to meeting in one piece. Given the success of the iPod, there is one vendor that should be but won't be at this show and that is Apple. ...

A new survey sponsored by the WiFi Alliance shows that 65 percent of respondents indicate wireless fidelity (WiFi) technology helps them stay in touch with friends and family via tools such as instant messaging and e-mail -- not just business associates or customers. About 1,000 Americans from all ...

Another year is about to bite the dust and this is my opportunity to look back and ahead broadly and cover the things I haven't already touched on in this column during the last few weeks. I'd like to focus on things of special importance: relationships, job satisfaction, and building products you c...

A new research report by the Boston-based consultancy Strategy Analytics indicates that consumer demand for access to broadband services is powering growth in the market for VSATs -- very small aperture terminals. A copy of the findings was provided to TechNewsWorld. The VSAT industry has undergone ...

Convergence has been an ongoing goal for telecommunications suppliers in recent years. Today, cable companies sell not only video but also Internet access and telecommunications services. Recently, they have begun to get ready to deliver wireless services, which would enable them to deliver a quadru...

The most pronounced vendor battle we saw this past year was the battle between Microsoft and the open-source community. This one was particularly strange to watch because it seemed that both sides were doing more to help, rather than hurt, the other. Almost every time a large number of open-source ...

An industry forecast released this month by Wellesley, Mass.-based Mobile Ecosystem, a wireless industry consultancy, indicates that wireless carriers in 2006 will be launching a new "wave" of multimedia and entertainment applications on new, 3G networks. A copy of the forecast by analyst and founde...

Those who claim that racism, sexism and homophobia run rampant in the San Francisco Police Department got some high-powered ammunition last week. Videos posted on the Web showed police officers participating in outrageous acts -- an embarrassment for the city and a strong demonstration of how techn...

Dreaming of a WiFi Christmas

Leading up to this holiday gift-buying season, the home has become a high-tech focal point. Individuals can now collect content on digital cameras, televisions, and stereos and then send it to various computers via wireless LANs. "Wireless enabled devices are on many shoppers' wish list this holiday...

We got the bad news out of the way last week when I highlighted four companies I see as likely to go into decline next year. This time let's focus on the major technology trends coming in 2006 and point to some companies you may not have heard of that should benefit from these trends, both corporat...

Somewhere in America, a parent turns out the lights with a silent prayer: "Please give me another day where my 15-year old shows no signs of dying his hair purple, piercing his ears, shrinking his wardrobe down to black socks and a raincoat, and gunning down Milton, the ice-cream man. Oh, and please...

A new study released this week by Boston-based Strategy Analytics offers an ominous warning -- companies focused on supplying light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for liquid crystal displays (LCD) and keypad backlighting functions will see their revenues plummet an astounding 41 percent in the next three ye...

As the new year approaches, a look ahead tells me there are companies doing well now who undoubtedly will be doing less well and companies that you may never have heard of that nevertheless have the potential to be stars in '06. Let's talk about the companies at risk first, and next week, I'll revi...

Results of two new studies -- based on surveys of senior level executives -- indicate that mobile telephony and computing are growing challenges for the corporate enterprise and that companies are struggling to keep up. The remote and mobile workforce is exploding, according to the research, a summa...

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