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 ...

Nov. 21 - Don't be surprised while shopping this season to find that some stores no longer accept checks. Diesel, True Religion, Ed Hardy and Lululemon Athletica are among a growing list of stores that don't accept personal checks. Gap Inc. has tested the idea. Austin-based Whole Foods Market is trying it out at a few stores in California and ...

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 ...

The crowds, the fluorescent lights, the sales clerks who ignore you and the lines, lines, lines. Some people love Christmas shopping. I assume they also like sleeping on a bed of nails. Here are 10 reasons you should consider shopping online. 1. Unique gifts: You can find the coolest and most unusual stuff online. From remote-controlled Ferraris at hipstergifts.com to Gummi ...

Nov. 22 - Feeling frugal this holiday season? It's OK, so are most American consumers, according to numerous surveys. As the shopping season gets into full swing this week, here are some ways to save - and some ways to be safe. First, the savings. Whether it's online or at the mall, there are lots of ways to trim your holiday ...

Nov. 23 - Allyson Robinson relies on the daily conversations she has with her husband through e-mail and Facebook. With Staff Sgt. Douglas Robinson deployed in Iraq, Allyson Robinson said she doesn't know what she'd do if she didn't get to talk with him via the computer. "It's comforting to know I can have the opportunity to communicate with him. ...

LONDON - A leading climate change scientist whose private e-mails are included in thousands of documents that were stolen by hackers and posted online said Sunday the leaks may have been aimed at undermining next month's global climate summit in Denmark. Kevin Trenberth, of the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research, in Colorado, said he believes the hackers who stole a ...

Security is a serious concern now more than ever, with hackers and cybercriminals becoming more organized and looking to profit on a wealth of stolen information.  Typically problems fall into the PICNIC variety - Problem In Chair, Not In Computer - but that does not change the fact that some platforms due to design are more vulnerable to attack. Typically vulnerability ...

Will Google be our next telephony provider option?

Nov. 23 - The holiday season is as much a time for tech as for toys. Electronic gadgets are at the top of many wish lists and account for an ever-growing share of holiday shopping budgets. Fortunately for shoppers, tech gifts don't have to break their budgets. One big trend this year is sharp discounts on products in many of ...

Have you noticed? The holiday bargain hunting has already begun for electronics gizmos. Major retailers like Wal-Mart, Sears and Best Buy are already into the "Black Friday" (day after Thanksgiving) sales frame of mind, in recent weeks offering crazy come-ons like name-brand Windows 7 portable computers for as low as $249, 10 megapixel digital still cameras under $100 and GPS trail ...

Secure Digital (SD) and Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) flash memory cards are commonly used in devices like digital cameras, laptop computers, and camcorders. Their high capacity and low cost can be attributed to die shrinks as the pace of semiconductor technology moves forward. SD cards have a maximum capacity of 4GB, while SDHC cards can go up to 32GB. Although ...

Nov. 24 - As the holiday shopping season looms, those looking for new PCs face a bounty. There are a slew of shiny new systems on store shelves and e-commerce sites, largely thanks to Microsoft's recent release of Windows 7. Knowing that the antidote to Windows Vista was just around the corner, PC makers revamped their lines to take advantage ...

Online shoppers so far in November are spending more than last year but are buying fewer or lower-priced items, according to Dallas-based Chase Paymentech's 2009 . The index, released Monday, is an early indication that consumers are willing to spend this year in moderation. Sales volume is up a healthy 9.2 percent over the same period in 2008 as more shoppers ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

A report compiled by security company McAfee notes there are a growing number of governments across the world that are preparing for potential cyber conflicts with other nations. The United States continues to receive cyber attacks against computer networks from numerous sources overseas, though other nations also are becoming worried about the cyber capabilities of other nations.  China, for example, said ...

When it comes to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), it was a Herculean enough task simply to build the $10B USD device -- a 17-mile-long circular tunnel between the Franco-Swiss border lined with some of the world's most sophisticated electronics.  However, that proved only to be the first of many challenges in building and bringing online the world's largest particle accelerator. ...