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 ...

Q. Our 6-year-old PC computer is dying a slow death and we are considering moving to a new iMac but have a few concerns. First, of all, we have several Word documents on our disk drive now that we want to keep and add to as well as many pictures that will be kept as well. What capabilities are available to ...

A longtime Higley Unified School District information technology director has lost his job and is under police investigation for taking computers home, downloading pornography and installing computer software throughout the district that searches for extraterrestrial intelligence. It will take about a year and more than $1 million in estimated costs to fix the various problems caused by Brad Niesluchowski, who had ...

Remember that snotty expression, "You can never be too thin or rich"? A kinder, wiser thought might be: "You can never have too much bandwidth," the Internet service "pipeline" to run applications at home. That's because, in shockingly fast order, product innovators and consumers are filling it up. So noted Stuart Elby, vice president of network architecture and enterprise technology for ...

The thing that has kept Apple computers locked with a minimal aftermarket for upgrades is that Apple controls the hardware and the software of its computers. With Windows, the OS is separate from the hardware allowing enthusiast to build their own machines and any computer firm to install the OS on their machines as long as they pay. Apple has a ...

Savvy business travelers know that battery life is precious, so why waste your laptop's battery on a movie when you can whip out a portable DVD player? Some of these eye-catching little units also provide great backseat entertainment for the kids on long road trips. New for 2009 we're starting to see some competition in the hi-res screen market with two ...

BOSTON - A mother in Boston tells police her 8-year-old boy was shot to death in their apartment by gunmen in hooded sweat shirts during a home invasion. Officers later receive a text message from an anonymous tipster that leads them to a much different conclusion: the boy's 7-year-old cousin accidentally shot him while the two boys were playing with ...

Nov. 29 - As much as I love buying big-ticket items such as TVs, computers, cell phones and cameras, I also love buying accessories for those items just as much, maybe even more. A good gadget accessory can make you look at a device you've had for a year or two with a newfound appreciation. Plus, you can find electronics accessories ...

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 ...

Just about all of the gadgets that we take for granted each day from cameras to our notebooks and mobile phones use lithium-ion batteries. These batteries have been around for many years and for the most part are trouble free. However, last year and in 2007 a number of fires and explosions caused  by overheating lithium-ion batteries resulted in some of ...

Most every computer user is a whiz at pointing and clicking with a mouse. If Microsoft has a say, you'll become equally adept at touching and tapping the PC screen directly with your fingers. As part of the company's recent launch of Windows 7, the vastly improved successor to Windows Vista, Microsoft hopes to usher in a new era for ...

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 ...

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 ...

Emo Labs is presenting an Edge Motion speaker system that is embedded into a flat panel display product that produces sound from the surface of the display.  It can be embedded into TV's, Monitors, Picture Frames and portible devices.  Their own web site has more videos and information on the speaker system.  http://www.emolabs.com/ The will not be selling direct to consumers ...

Chief Engineer Andrew Farah and Battery Engineering Group Manager Bill Wallace recently gave members of the press an update on the status of the 2011 Chevy Volt and its battery pack.  Designed with the goal of providing a 40 mile range from a 16 kWh (8 kWh usable) charge, the pack and its supporting systems have evolved greatly over the past ...

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 ...

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 ...