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Stephanie Rosenbloom and Karen Ann Cullotta, New York Times
Once upon a time, people mailed their holiday wishes to the North Pole and hoped for a reply on Christmas Day. Nowadays they are sending their wishes into cyberspace and are apt to get a reply in minutes. Tweet
Brian Stelter, New York Times
A consortium of magazine publishers including Time Inc. and Condé Nast are plan to jointly build an online newsstand for publications in multiple digital formats, according to people with knowledge of the plans. Tweet
Chris Kanaracus, Infoworld Tweet
CNET News.com
IBM employees are currently using text translation software that can instantly convert documents, Web pages, and even instant messages between English and 11 other languages. The software, christened "n.Fluent," is being "crowdsourced" or tested among IBM's 400,000 employees across 170 countries. Tweet
Ashlee Vance, New York Times
The price of supercomputers is dropping quickly, in part because they are often built with the same off-the-shelf parts found in PCs, as a supercomputing conference here last week made clear. Just about any organization with a few million dollars can now buy or assemble a top-flight machine.
Meanwhile, research groups and companies like I.B.M., Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and Intel are finding ways to make vast stores of information available online through so-called cloud computing. Tweet
Brooke Crothers, CNET News
The "smartbook" aspires to put the smartphone into the laptop. Will it be able to elevate an Apple iPhone or Motorola Droid-like experience to a larger device, or is it just more marketing mumbo-jumbo? Tweet
Peter Wayner, Javaworld.com
Oracle's imminent acquisition of Sun could strengthen Java -- or cripple it. Tweet
Tim Arango and Bill Carter, New York Times
Have we finally reached a tipping point that suggests a remarkable decline in the fortunes of broadcast television in America? Tweet
Neil McAllister, Infoworld
Chrome OS is Google's latest attempt to further its concept of browser-based computing, in which the traditional PC desktop is deemphasized in favor of a completely Web-based experience. Tweet
Erica Naone, MIT Technology Review
Damon Horowitz, chief technology officer and cofounder of the San Francisco-based Aardvark, believes that the real power of natural language processing can only be unlocked by acknowledging its limitations and filling in the gaps with human intelligence. Tweet
Duncan Graham-Rowe, MIT Technology Review
Computer users have been typing on keyboards and clicking on mice for more than 20 years. An experimental new interface under development at Microsoft could give them a completely new way to use their system.
Multi-touch and motion-sensing devices have recently emerged from research labs, offering new ways to operate computers. Microsoft's experimental tactile interface takes things further still, letting users interact by squashing, stretching, rolling, or rubbing. Tweet
Eric A. Taub, New York Times
A new low-cost LCD alternative to the magnifying glass can help the visually impaired. Tweet
Kenneth Chang, New York Times
Inside a nondescript warehouse on a nondescript street of this Seattle suburb is a research laboratory that looks like it came out of a James Bond movie — had Q the gadget master been a gastronome. Tweet
Claire Cain Miller, New York Times
Instead of leather wallets, consumers could some day carry virtual wallets, with their credit card and bank information stored on remote computers. Tweet
Erica Naone, MIT Technology Review
Experts at Defrag believe e-mail can benefit from lessons learned on the social web. Tweet
Miguel Helft, New York Times
A new service called Clicker.com aims to help users find television shows across the web. Tweet
CNET News
Southern California pilot program to test Helix Wind's small wind turbines to run cell phone towers. Tweet
Thomas Claburn, InformationWeek
Google on Tuesday released a new open source programming language called Go that's optimized for applications designed for massive scalability and multi-processor systems. Tweet
Dean Takahashi, VentureBeat
The Intel Reader is available today for $1,499.That’s a pretty hefty price, considering that devices like the $259 Amazon Kindle can read books aloud in a robotic voice. But the Intel Reader is based on a lot of research and is designed for the visually impaired, first and foremost. Tweet
Steve Lohr, New York Times
For years, a small group of geriatric experts has studied falls and suggested preventive programs. Most of the work has relied on visits to doctors and self-reported surveys of volunteers.
But now, researchers are beginning to apply the digital tools of low-cost wireless sensors in carpets, clothing and rooms to monitor an older person’s walking and activity. The continuous measurement and greater precision afforded by simple computing devices, researchers say, promise to deliver new insights on risk factors and tailored prevention measures. Tweet
Anne Eisenberg, New York Times
Microscopes are invaluable tools to identify blood and other cells when screening for diseases like anemia, tuberculosis and malaria. But they are also bulky and expensive. Now an engineer, using software that he developed and about $10 worth of off-the-shelf hardware, has adapted cellphones to substitute for microscopes. Tweet
Vikas Bajaj, New York Times
Many Indians bought their first mobile phones before they had their first experiences with personal computers. Pranav Mistry thinks that most of them might also skip keyboards and mice and go straight to more intuitive and interactive interfaces. Tweet
John R. Quain, New York Times Tweet
Jennifer Chu, MIT Technology Review
While most speech recognition software concentrates on turning words and phrases into text, Pentland's group is developing algorithms that analyze subtle cues in speech to determine whether someone is feeling awkward, anxious, disconnected or depressed. Tweet
Claire Cain Miller, New York Times
Big Web companies and start-ups alike are scrambling to create the best applications to allow users to search for surrounding businesses and events from a mobile phone. Loopt, a service that lets people find their friends on the go, is now entering the crowded field. Tweet
Erica Naone, MIT Technology Review
A new tool aims to fix misbehaving programs without shutting them down. Tweet
Erica Naone, MIT Technology Review
The first government election to use a new cryptographic scheme that lets both voters and auditors check that votes were cast and recorded accurately will be held tomorrow in Takoma Park, MD. Tweet
Mary Tripsas, New York Times Tweet
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