InsideTech

A radical new day has dawned for the operating system. Today Google finally aired its long awaited Chrome Operating System.  The operating system was detailed at a press conference starting at 1 p.m. EST, and the open source code was posted online just before the start of the presentation.  The new operating system brings a dramatically different look and perspective to ...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Power-hungry TVs will be banned from store shelves in California after state regulators Wednesday adopted a first-in-the-nation mandate to reduce electricity demand. On a unanimous vote, the California Energy Commission required all new televisions up to 58 inches to be more energy efficient, beginning in 2011. The requirement will be tougher in 2013, with only a quarter ...

Q. The other day, my Internet service went down as it does from time to time. But this particular time, I needed to check my e-mail for an important reply I was expecting. After some frustrating time passed, I happened to notice that there was a Wi-Fi signal available. I have no idea to whom the service belonged but I suspected ...

SAN FRANCISCO - Scientists say they've made a breakthrough in their pursuit of computers that "think" like a living thing's brain - an effort that tests the limits of technology. Even the world's most powerful supercomputers can't replicate basic aspects of the human mind. The machines can't imagine a wall painted a different color, for instance, or picture a person's ...

Nov. 18 - Twelve years after a change in rules allowed drug companies to bombard our televisions with prescription drug ads, I still get angry every time one of these noxious commercials appears. No matter what the drug industry claims about their educational value, these spots are nothing more than the handiwork of snake oil salesmen pitching their potions to ...

Nov. 19 - LOS ANGELES - If you want to try out Microsoft Office 2010, the beta is available for anyone to download, the company announced at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference. It also said Office Web Apps, Microsoft's online competitor to Google's Google Docs, will be available for anyone who downloads the 2010 beta. Office Mobile 2010 is also ...

The over 33.5 million customers at the nation's fourth largest mobile carrier, T-Mobile, may be in for a bit of a surprise.  When completing the monthly ritual of logging in to the T-Mobile website to pay his bill, one customer reportedly came across a controversial sight - topless ladies. The customer, whose name is Andrew, wrote to The Consumerist: I have ...

One of the pleasant surprises of diving back into the world of Windows was exploring Windows Live's apps, which bundle e-mail, file storage, social networking, instant messaging, photo sharing and blogging into one clean, organized online spot. The offerings are more than enough for average computer users, and Windows Live is the closest thing I've used to serving as a one-stop ...

TOKYO - Sony said it aims to be profitable in gaming and flat-panel TVs by the fiscal year ending March 2011, pushing 3-D technology as a way to showcase its strength in entertainment and surface from deep losses. "Our work is already bearing fruit," Chief Executive Howard Stringer said Thursday in outlining Sony's turnaround strategy at the electronics giant's Tokyo headquarters. ...

AT&T's Christmas wish to take its main competitor's aggressive ads off the air has been met with disappointment. U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Batten Sr. handed the telecom a lump of coal, denying their request for an injunction, commenting that while Verizon's commercials were "sneaky" they weren't misleading. Judge Batten Sr. commented that people might "misunderstand" the commercials, "but that doesn’t ...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The most power-hungry television sets could soon be banned from store shelves in California as state energy regulators on Wednesday consider a first-in-the nation mandate intended to lower electricity demand. If adopted, the regulations will require televisions sold in California to be more energy efficient beginning in 2011. The requirement would be tougher in 2013, with only ...

Swiss biotech company Novartis discovered that a half dose of its A(H1N1) 2009 unadjuvanted vaccine may help the person receiving the shot to develop a sufficient immune response. The company conducted clinical trials of about 4,000 individuals who were given the Novartis Fluvirin vaccine, which found that many of the adults had immunity from the virus.   Novartis hopes to use similar ...

Chief Engineer Andrew Farah and Battery Engineering Group Manager Bill Wallace recently gave members of the press an update on the status of the 2011 Chevy Volt and its battery pack.  Designed with the goal of providing a 40 mile range from a 16 kWh (8 kWh usable) charge, the pack and its supporting systems have evolved greatly over the past ...

Emo Labs is presenting an Edge Motion speaker system that is embedded into a flat panel display product that produces sound from the surface of the display.  It can be embedded into TV's, Monitors, Picture Frames and portible devices.  Their own web site has more videos and information on the speaker system.  http://www.emolabs.com/ The will not be selling direct to consumers ...

WASHINGTON - Hackers are increasingly targeting law firms and public relations companies with a sophisticated e-mail scheme that breaks into their computer networks to steal sensitive data, often linked to large corporate clients doing business overseas. The FBI has issued an advisory that warns companies of "noticeable increases" in efforts to hack into the law firms' computer systems - a ...

LONDON - Rogue employees at a major mobile phone company illegally sold millions of customer records to rival firms, Britain's information watchdog said Tuesday. Christopher Graham, the information commissioner, said the case was a serious breach of data privacy, and he called for harsher punishments for offenders. "The existing paltry fines ... are simply not enough to deter people from engaging ...

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – available for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 - has been a massive international success selling over $310M USD in software in the U.S. and UK alone.  Developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision, the first person shooter primarily puts you in control of a soldier in a multinational commando unit known as ...

MOSCOW - When a police officer posted a video on YouTube complaining of rampant abuse in Russian law enforcement, it seemed like a lonely voice in a sea of social media. Since then, three more officers have come forward with their own YouTube videos making similar accusations - and others are lining up to do the same. In a country ...

SEATTLE - Dell Inc. is officially jumping into the "smart" phone market this month in a deal with China's biggest wireless carrier, China Mobile Ltd. The Dell Mini 3, a keyboardless touch-screen phone that runs Google Inc.'s Android operating system, will also be available in Brazil later this year. The computer maker, based in Round Rock, Texas, would not say ...

A new company called Cranberry is claiming it can build a DVD that will last one thousand years. Cranberry's transparent DiamonDisc, with a non-reflective layer, has already passed key tests using the ECMA-379 temperature and humidity standards. Regular DVDs use dyes, adhesive layers, or reflective materials (like silver and gold) that can deteriorate over time. The DiamonDisc stores the standard 4.7GB ...