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 ...

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. 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. ...

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 ...

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 ...

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. ...

Intel is suing NVIDIA in an effort to get them dropped from chipset licensing on Nehalem boards.  NVIDIA has filed countersuit against Intel.  NVIDIA has even gone as far as to sponsor cartoons lampooning Intel. NVIDIA particularly enraged Intel when it convinced Apple to dump Intel's integrated graphics from its product lineup in favor of NVIDIA designs.   Intel vows it ...

Nowadays, computing has entered the portable world. Nearly everyone has an access to a laptop or a netbook. Of course, more often than not, that portability comes at a cost of lesser features than their desktop counterparts. One way to make up for this is through the purchase and use of the various laptop accessories that are available all over. ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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. ...

NVIDIA and Intel, two of the electronics industry's largest veteran powers, have never been too warm or close.  Recently, the pair can't seem to stop stepping on each other's toes.  The pair's troubles started last year with NVIDIA releasing its Ion integrated graphics platform, which NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang likened to opening a "can of whoop-ass".  Intel was not too happy ...

Apple has long opted for a system of closed computer hardware, disallowing third party OS X computers.  Nonetheless, small companies retailing cheaper OS X boxes have continually popped up, the latest of which is Psystar.  Legal pressure from Apple has typically succeeded in eventually killing such companies, but it typically isn't long before a new one pops up. Individual users also ...