Consumer Electronics

July 1, 2009

Creating Order from Chaos with Evernote

When he parks his car, author Timothy Ferriss snaps a photo of the nearest cross streets with his camera phone. In business meetings, he'll often take pictures of ...

June 30, 2009

Apple's HTTP Adaptive Video Streaming in Action

When Apple (AAPL) upgraded its iPhone operating system in June, it included some highly prominent and loudly demanded features, like search and copy & paste. But the ...

June 30, 2009

The Latest App: Smartphone Interpreters

Uncle Sam may soon get a little diplomatic help from the iPhone and BlackBerry. On June 30, an Egyptian company specializing in translation software released a tool ...

June 29, 2009

Motorola's New Smartphones: Sales, Not 'Dazzle'

Motorola (MOT) has yet to unveil its new lineup of phones based on the Android operating system, but already analysts are placing bets on its likely success. While the...

June 25, 2009

Big Software Plans for Amazon's Kindle?

Giant online retailer Amazon.com may be plotting a broader foray into software for smartphones. The company already offers a handful of mobile applications. One lets ...

June 23, 2009

Experts: Apple Disclosure 'Falls Short'

Apple's handling of reports that CEO Steve Jobs had a liver transplant has rekindled concern among corporate governance experts that the company and its board are ...

June 23, 2009

Giant Alliance: Intel, Nokia Try Again

Intel and Nokia hope their third time is the charm. After two aborted attempts over the past few years to collaborate on wireless devices, the world's largest computer...

June 23, 2009

Apple's iPhone 3GS: What It Costs to Make

From the outside, nearly everything about Apple's iPhone 3GS seems nearly identical to the iPhone 3G released last year. Even Apple's TV ads make light of this fact: ...

June 22, 2009

T-Mobile's New myTouch 3G

T-Mobile USA hopes there's room for at least one more device in an already crowded smartphone market. On June 22, Deutsche Telekom's (DT) U.S. cell phone arm is ...

June 18, 2009

RIM: Big Plans for the Second Half

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIMM) is benefiting from buoyant demand for smartphones, but not as much as some investors had hoped. The Canadian company said on...

June 17, 2009

The 3G S iPhone: Apple's Force to Be Reckoned With

From the day it launched two years ago, Apple's iPhone has been a tornado of disruption ripping through the wireless phone market. With the release of the iPhone 3G S ...

June 17, 2009

The iPhone's New Navigation Weapons

Add another to the list of markets likely to be upended by Apple's iPhone. Buoyed by both improved hardware and more capable software for both new and existing phones,...

June 17, 2009

Washington Weighs Wireless Regulation

The will to regulate the wireless industry may be growing in Washington. On June 17 the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation met to consider whether ...

June 16, 2009

Opera Unite: A New Way to Share

Opera is stepping up efforts to grab share of the Web browser market. To do that, the tiny Norwegian company released a version of its software that's designed to give...

June 16, 2009

Apple iPhone Software: Developers See Green

Apple (AAPL) wants to give software developers one more reason to love the new version of its mobile operating system. Released June 17, iPhone 3.0 includes a feature ...

June 14, 2009

The iPhone's Wary New Rivals

New iPhone products and price changes are never cause for celebration among Apple's rivals in the wireless industry. The latest additions to the iPhone family are no ...

June 12, 2009

Millions Left Behind as TV Goes Digital

As Pedro Ortez and his wife, Wanda, watched Law and Order on Thursday night, they knew that soon after the program finished their screen would fade to static. The TV, ...

June 12, 2009

Apple-AT&T: Hints of Strain

I would not want to have been an AT&T employee at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference. There were at least three moments when comments by Apple (AAPL) executives ...

June 10, 2009

Qualcomm, Freescale Bet on 'Smartbooks'

Qualcomm and Freescale Semiconductor are hoping that a netbook by another name smells as sweet. In hopes of eroding Intel's lead in the burgeoning market for small, ...

June 10, 2009

What the Palm Pre Cost to Build

When the Palm Pre first hit store shelves on June 6, it took no time for analysts to take the device apart. Among them was Andrew Rassweiler, director and principal ...

June 8, 2009

Apple's CEO Conundrum

Apple (AAPL) appears poised to make good on repeated assurances that CEO Steve Jobs would be back at the helm by the end of June. As the date approaches and Apple ...

June 8, 2009

Apple Cuts Prices Strategically

Throughout the recession, Apple (AAPL) watchers have wondered whether the consumer electronics giant would release cheaper products to appeal to today's thrifty ...

June 8, 2009

A Pall Over Palm's Pre

Expectations for Palm's newest smartphone proved too high to meet. In the days after the Pre went on sale on June 6, shoppers complained of shortages. Investors ...

June 4, 2009

Oprah: Tech's Latest Trendsetter

Poolhouse, the Toronto-based creator of pet-related applications on Facebook, recently got an unexpected but welcome phone call from the producers of The Oprah Winfrey...

June 4, 2009

Mobile Apps' Brush with Greatness

To the iPhone's extensive résumé, add magazine cover illustration. Artist Jorge Colombo recently drew widespread attention for creating the image for The New Yorker's ...