Tech Buzz

I've seen some amazingly great movies in the last few weeks. I was at Disney World to see "Alice in Wonderland" in IMAX 3-D and watching that movie on a Disney property for this ex-Disney employee was truly magical. Last week, I was at DreamWorks to see "How to Train Your Dragon," and the movie ...

Some weeks, truth is stranger than fiction. As I was thinking that nothing strange would happen this week, up pops a new Google hire, Tim Bray, and he starts trash-talking Apple. Let's see -- Google is under investigation by the FTC, stock is down 10 percent, Wave and Buzz are crap, and it is gettin...

Following the the Federal Communications Commission's release of a detailed plan for giving Americans better access to broadband Internet connections, the blueprint is drawing reactions across a wide range of observers and interested parties. "This may be one of the most important projects the gover...

The Google model survived the dot-com mess but its success seems based largely on the belief that advertising can fund everything. If the users are unhappy, well it doesn't really matter. In fact, Google's customers (the folks paying them money) and the folks they actually serve are quiet different,...

The U.S. Census Bureau has started mailing out its forms, so I would like to take this opportunity to announce a new demographic category for those of us who will be writing "journalist" in the "occupation" box: Old New Media Dogs. T-shirts and business cards are forthcoming. I've spent the last wee...

As the United States military increases the use of robots like unmanned drones in battle, it increases the danger that our enemies will take and adapt the technology to use against us, according to Peter Warren Singer, senior fellow and director of the 21st Century Defense Initiative at the Brooking...

As the Obama administration grapples with the thorny issue of beefing up the United States' cybersecurity infrastructure, and as security experts warn of impending cyberwarfare, a debate is raging over how much surveillance is enough. One of the biggest problems about implementing cybersecurity is t...

Last week I was asked to comment on a study of CEOs. It found that young ones do better than old ones do, which kind of pissed me off. At the same time, like a lot of folks in my business, I've been looking back at the lessons learned from Steve Jobs, who is kind of the CEO gold standard, and compa...

Although its operating system and apps are so buggy that new vulnerabilities are discovered with frightening regularity, Microsoft now wants Internet users to pony up to cover the cost of cybersecurity. The idea was put forth by Scott Charney, Redmond's vice president for trustworthy computing, duri...

"OMG, somebody call the Waaaambulance!" went a comment on last week's column about South by Southwest. I had prepared myself for reader snark following my "it's all about me" piece regarding SXSW's denial of my complimentary press credential request. I was pleasantly surprised: only three comments -...