InsideTech

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 ...

RACHEL METZ SAN FRANCISCO - Laura Fitton's ascent has been staggering: In less than a year, she's become mayor of nine different places in several different states, all without giving any speeches or kissing any babies. Instead, Fitton has gone out. A lot. And that's allowed her to build an empire in the world of a rapidly growing Internet startup called ...

Most every computer user is a whiz at pointing and clicking with a mouse. If Microsoft has a say, you'll become equally adept at touching and tapping the PC screen directly with your fingers. As part of the company's recent launch of Windows 7, the vastly improved successor to Windows Vista, Microsoft hopes to usher in a new era for ...

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 ...

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 ...

The Fall is here and it is cold and nasty. So what's a better way to stop thinking about it than checking out some of the most interesting tech-related videos of the past few months? Lean back and watch these funny and innovative videos that have recently popped up on this site and others around the web. If you want us ...

NEW YORK -- You have good reason to be skeptical when someone says millions of ordinary television viewers are about to start surfing the Internet on the living room's electronic hearth. We've heard that Web-on-your-TV convergence promise for more than a decade, with ambitious efforts to make it happen including AOL TV and WebTV Networks. Each time, the optimists have ...

NEW ORLEANS - A jury found Dell Inc. liable Monday for $12.8 million in damages over unfair competition and conspiracy claims in a lawsuit involving the city's problematic crime camera surveillance program. Southern Electronics Supply Inc. and Active Solutions LLC sought had sought $3.6 billion in punitive damages from Dell, but the jury rejected those claims as well as allegations ...

Nov. 2 - There are more than 100,000 iPhone applications in existence. Some provide users with valuable media and information. Others plaster fake mullets on photos of friends. Here are a few you just might want to check out. COOL AND INNOVATIVE In 2002, James Hom was working on a lab assignment at Stanford University when he mentioned to teaching ...

LOS ANGELES - News Corp. has approached the four major record labels to discuss launching an online music service through its popular MySpace social networking site, music company executives familiar with the talks say. The media conglomerate envisions a one-stop music service that offers content in various ways, including via free digital streams, as MP3 downloads and through a subscription plan, ...

Hulu's days as a free Web site appear to be numbered. The online video site that offers full-length versions of current TV shows - one of the fastest growing sites on the Web - could start charging users as soon as next year, according to reports. "It's time to start getting paid for broadcast content online," said Chase Carey, deputy chairman ...

Nov. 4 - There are many reasons to marvel at the rise of blogging. In just a few years, millions of people have taken to blogs to express themselves, while tens if not hundreds of millions of Internet users have turned to them as a way to get news, information and conversation. Here's what really astounds me: No one invented ...

Photo: Lachlan Hardy/Flickr (CC) You need to know how to deal with different types of people in order to get along. Some are especially sensitive to certain things, like the conflict resolution rep that hates to hears insults around the office, even when they're said in jest. IT workers like us are no different. We take our geekiness seriously and ...

PHILADELPHIA - Comcast Corp. is in preliminary talks to take a 20 percent to 50 percent stake in NBC Universal and increase its ownership of the TV shows and movies it distributes to its cable subscribers. General Electric Co., which owns 80 percent of NBC Universal, has been in talks with multiple parties, including Comcast, to unload part of the entertainment ...

The most memorable movies tap into the collective zeitgeist of the culture, to find compelling stories that help reflect it. As this decade comes to an end, two of its most important themes, the rise of the Internet (with the geek culture surrounding it) and terror, were both heavily reflected onscreen. One theme featured closed-minded ideologies, information silos, system teardown, ...

SEATTLE - You almost have to feel bad for Microsoft. The software maker isn't known for hip marketing tactics, and now that a Windows 7 video has hit it big online, people are laughing at the company, not with it. Few details for the launch of Microsoft Corp.'s next PC operating system have been made public, though it's a safe ...

NEW YORK - Netflix Inc. declared a seven-member group of researchers, scientists and engineers from around the world as winners Monday of its three-year, $1 million contest to improve its movie recommendation system by at least 10 percent. It was a close call, but BellKor's Pragmatic Chaos narrowly beat out a rival group called the Ensemble for the Netflix Prize, ...

'Best Buy rids itself of HD DVD.' - Although Best Buy ran sales for HD DVD, at one point 30 percent off on all stock, it appears that the format’s run at the big box retailer is officially at an end. Completely bypassing any last-ditch firesale action, Best Buy has instructed its retail locations to remove all HD DVD product from ...

Money still can't buy you love, but it might soon buy you Beatles songs on iTunes if a recent report is to be believed. Apple always has a knack for being involved somehow in a wild PR buzz about its latest product or initiatives. But this the buzz isn't for anything new like an ultra-thin computer or shrunken and restyled MP3 ...

Netflix to cease carrying new HD DVD titles The tide continues to turn in the ongoing high-definition format war. Netflix, the first choice in online movie rental service in the U.S., today announced that it will exclusively stock Blu-ray Disc as the only choice for its customers looking for high-definition content. Earlier this year, Warner Bros. shook the industry when it ...