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How do you allow consumers to modify the software that's on their desktop computers -- to be able to take parts of Windows, iTunes and Photoshop and put them on the same screen -- without having the entire legal departments of Microsoft, Apple, Adobe and other companies knocking on their doors? The answer may lie in Prefab, a simple, elegant soluti...

China is apparently planning to step up its efforts to crack down on online crime Wang Chen, head of China's Information Office of the State Council, has promised severe punishment for those perpetrating crimes over the Internet, which in China includes the distribution of pornography. He specifically mentioned information from "overseas hostile fo...

Google has acquired Bump Technologies, a company that has developedan application that transforms a computer desktop screen into a 3-D display. The app -- called "BumpTop" -- is compatible with multitouch display technology, a feature found on devices like Apple's iPad and iPhone....

How we communicate has always had a dramatic impact on business. The telephone made the "sales call" possible; soap company advertising created a whole genre of radio and TV programming; the Internet enabled the "live demo." Business is about connecting with your consumer, and the earlier your company takes advantage of emerging communication opportunities, the more likely you will own the consumer relationship around which you can build your business.

What if you answered the phone one day to a friendly voice offering tech support for some software that had been troubling you? "Not possible," you'd say. We all know the drill with technical difficulties. We call up the software company during business hours and then sit on hold only to get an agent who barely knows the software better than we do. A knowledgeable tech support specialist certainly isn't going to call us at the moment when we're beating our heads against the computer screen. Or will they?...

Last week was a huge week for news surrounding smartphones and iPad-like tablets. I mentioned a few weeks ago how the market was moving to vertical integration, which was placing platforms like Android at risk, but I didn't expect HP to move this quickly by buying Palm and getting its own OS. In addition, the lawsuit from Apple targeting HTC...

"Here in Windows-land, we love us some multi-touch," wrote Ben Rudolph on the Windows Team Blog as he reviews the new Toshiba Satellite M505 laptop. Rudolph is giving the machine two thumbs up for how well it shows off the touchscreen capabilities in the Windows 7 operating system. But a laptop isn't a tablet computer, and Microsoft apparently is...

I'm not saying that IT departments have a PR problem, but when was the last time you saw a button saying, "Hug an IT person today"? What I am saying is that IT is largely misunderstood outside the walls of the IT environment. And the crusty silos inside of IT can make their own cultural connections tenuous, too....

Adobe has lashed back at Apple following Steve Jobs' public letter of criticism of Flash, which the Apple CEO posted on his company's site Thursday In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen responded specifically to several of Jobs' critiques. Regarding Jobs' assertion that Flash is the primary reason Macs crash, Nara...

Less than a month after Sony dropped Linux support from its PlayStation 3 gaming console, a disgruntled customer has filed a lawsuit, charging that the move was a deceptive business practice. He's seeking class-action status Sony Computer Entertainment America's disablement of the "Install Other OS" feature was "not only a breach of the sales contr...

The quarrel over who uses the most -- or least -- harmful chemicals to make computer components seems to be dying down. In its place comes a debate over which companies are doing the best job to create and forward an agenda addressing global warming -- not just for themselves, but for the companies that use their IT products Among global IT compani...

"Avatar" director James Cameron is working with NASA on two 3-D cameras that could be used on the next Mars rover, known as "Curiosity." Earlier this month, Malin Space Science Systems delivered two cameras, known as "MastCams," that are similar but lack the 3-D capabilities. If the new pair developed with Cameron can be completed in the time rema...

For years now, most of us have taken for granted the fact that we can access our contacts and calendars from our mobile devices. This convenience has become so engrained in our daily lives that many of us feel like we've lost a limb if our smartphone is not at our fingertips at any given moment. Not only that, but younger generations in particul...

There's been much ado about social media as the latest, greatest customer service tool -- but all that ado does little to help a corporation steer the conversation around perils and toward profits. So, buzz aside, where is the leverage in a set of tools that is seemingly all talk and little substance? Talk is all social media really is. Leveraging ...

Canonical on Thursday released Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Desktop and Server Editions, the latest in its string of popular Linux distributions. Both are available for free download. The desktop version will be preinstalled on a range of computers from a number of manufacturers this summer Canonical wants Lucid Lynx to draw a "whole new category of users" to ...

Can you still support the First Amendment, the blogging community and all that is holy in journalism, and still think that what Gizmodo did re: the lost iPhone was kind of sleazy? Is Gizmodo's crime one of an ethical/moral nature, or one that is worthy of a police raid by elite members of SWAT -- Seeking Whatever Apple Targets? And were there any o...

Being acquired by HP clearly would be a turn for the better for Palm. The mobile device maker has been losing money for some time, and its latest products, while generally praised by tech industry analysts, have shown few signs of catching on with consumers HP has the deep pockets that will be required to reverse Palm's fortunes, if they can be rev...

Activision Blizzard has struck a 10-year deal that gives it worldwide rights to publish and distribute the next big action game universe fromBungie, the developer behind "Halo" and other popular game franchises. "We're committed to this alliance with Activision on the new IP universe we're building, and that portion is exclusive," Bungie Presiden...

Microsoft has given manufacturers the tools to make Windows the operating system for a host of consumer-oriented devices -- from video game consoles to TV set-top boxes that serve as full-blown home entertainment centers. It's not clear, however, exactly when consumers will be able to purchase these devices. Windows Embedded Standard 7 is the prop...

HP said Wednesday that it has agreed to buy the ailing Palm at US$5.70 a share, for a total of about $1.2 billion The acquisition is expected to close during HP's fiscal 2010 third quarter, which ends July 31....