Tech Buzz

China is stepping up the monitoring of its citizens' Internet activity. A new directive requires PC makers selling products in the country to include software that can filter out pornography and other online content the government deems inappropriate. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technol...

Last week, Microsoft stole E3 with what may be the closest thing to a "Star Trek" holodeck yet: Project Natal, which turns a gamer's whole body into a controller. The only negative is that there is no announced release date for the product. Computex was all about battles between smartbooks and netbo...

Last week, Microsoft announced its new search push at Google -- and unlike Live Search, which was a joke, Bing looks to have the right stuff. The question is, can Microsoft get people to move? Palm initially looked as though it was going to get iPhone users to move, but that hope started to sputter ...

America's winemakers have won a victory for online wine sales in Kansas, but the legislative battle demonstrates the challenges that e-commerce, a key force for economic recovery, still faces from outdated thinking and entrenched political institutions. Signed into law in April, 2009, Kansas Senate ...

We all remember Sarah Palin. Like many, I too got excited about the difference she would bring to the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign. She showed well at events, and she looked good on paper. Then came her interviews, and suddenly she was the new Dan Quayle -- or, basically, another person who trade...

For the last decade, the PC market has kind of sucked. Against the massive growth of the '90s, and with the exception of Apple, which didn't do well in that decade, the PC market has been a poor reflection of the excitement that once surrounded it. Part of the problem was the focus on computation an...

Last week, a number of Apple supporters took me to task for my comment that Apple made the technology equivalent of sugar water and that Steve Jobs gave up on his goal of changing the world. I'm hardly original in thinking this way. It does amaze me that not a single Apple fan cared about global war...

As I write this, Google is being investigated by the DoJ for antitrust violations that make Microsoft's actions look trivial by comparison. It took Microsoft over a decade to exhibit the type of behavior that Google is now engaged in, which increasingly seems to favor cash over conscience. In terms...

Voters are still reeling from tax day in a tough recession, and taking to the streets in protest, but state governments and their allies aren't listening. In fact, they are gearing up to squeeze more money out of the nation's workers. Their target is online shopping, and if the pro-tax coalition g...

Wireless may prove to be the magic bullet for many tech and telecom firms in this recession. Verizon's newly released earnings report is yet another indication of movement in that direction. The company reported higher revenue on Monday, based largely on growth in its wireless division, as well as i...