When Apple starts selling what it bills as the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet on Friday, the company's latest entry will only heat up the already sizzling smartphone landscape. Fans, techies and ordinary consumers eager to purchase the new iPhone 3GS may be preparing to stand in line at Apple stores around the United States and seven other countries. But they have more choices than ever when it comes to phones that act like mini-computers. "We expect that [smartphones are] ...

Google was going to help democratize data in China. Instead, about three years after entering the Middle Kingdom, the search company still finds itself in an uncomfortable working relationship with government censors. For about eight days between June 3 and June 11, Google.cn blocked all results that might come from searches for Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Not just politically sensitive results, not just historical accounts of the hundreds of deaths on June 4, 1989, but every single result -- including ...

In less than 24 hours all full-power broadcast TV stations in the U.S. will flip a switch to stop broadcasting their analog TV signals and will only broadcast TV signals in digital. And for millions who are unprepared, it could mean lights out on their favorite TV shows. I know what you're thinking. "We've heard this before." In fact, you've probably been hearing about the transition to digital television for the last decade. You likely started seeing public service ...

SAN FRANCISCO --The big knock on Apple -- whether or not it's always been accurate -- is that its products are more expensive than most of its competitors. But in the keynote speech Monday that opened Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, it became clear the company is tackling the price question head on. The best example of this new attitude is the decision to keep the 8GB iPhone 3G, but sell it at $99. That was the most aggressive price move ...

In the brief history of Web sites, there are few if any second chances. Remember Friendster? That's why it's difficult for some industry observers to see a comeback for MySpace, the large online social network that has seen its popularity flatline and its hipness surpassed by younger sites like Twitter and Facebook in recent months. "If you look back at the first era of the Web, there are a bunch of companies that didn't survive that -- the search sites ...

Apple is rumored to be working on something bigger than an iPod Touch, but smaller than a MacBook. Past patent applications filed by the company and whispers from contract manufacturers point to a midsize gadget with a screen of 7 to 8 inches in the works, perhaps scheduled to debut early next year. It's been variously described as a tablet-like device, a "media pad," and an iPod Touch on steroids. But the middle ground between handheld device and traditional ...

If you want to consider a difficult computational problem, try thinking of the algorithms required to animate more than 10,000 helium balloons, each with its own string, but each also interdependent on the rest, which are collectively hoisting aloft a small house. That was the challenge the production team at Pixar faced when it set out to begin work on "Up," its tenth feature film, five years in the works, which hits theaters on Friday. There was absolutely no way ...

Google spent Wednesday morning trying to get developers excited about the next generation of Web technologies by showing off how future Web applications will mimic desktop apps. "It's time for us to take advantage of the amazing opportunity that is before us," said Google CEO Eric Schmidt, kicking off Google I/O 2009 in San Francisco. Schmidt was referring to the growing sense that the Internet and browsers--rather than a computer's operating system--will be the future foundation for application development. The ...

It's summer time. And you know what that means: Harrowing international travel with your cell phone. While the sour economy may be keeping some travelers closer to home this summer, good deals on flights and hotels, and the growing strength of the U.S. dollar are enticing some travelers to grab their passports and book a flight to Europe and other parts of the world. And since cell phones are now so much a part of our everyday lives, ...

Once again, Microsoft is finding itself beaten to the punch in the search game. While it has been readying Kumo for its first public airing--probably at next week's D: All Things Digital event--Yahoo and Google have already shown off their latest search enhancements. Worse still, their demos show that Redmond's rivals are heading in some of the same directions as Microsoft itself. According to screenshots that leaked out in March, Kumo's look focuses on a new left-hand navigation menu that ...