Wash Post Technology

U.S. files antitrust suit against Intel, alleges unfair tactics used against rivals

Cecilia Kang and Steven Mufson — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

The Obama administration sued chip giant Intel on Wednesday over a decade-long run of actions allegedly designed to stifle competition, opening a new front in the battle that big technology firms have been waging for years against antitrust challenges in Asia and Europe.

How to set up a new computer

Post — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

There's a reason computer stores sell concierge services to set up your new machine -- getting these things out of the box and plugged in represents only the start of the fun.

$7.4 billion in stimulus projects to extend broadband to poor and rural areas

Cecilia Kang — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

The Obama administration named 18 projects Thursday that would receive a portion of the $7.4 billion in stimulus funds set aside to bring high-speed Internet to poor and rural areas that have been overlooked by Internet service providers.

Fox banks on James Cameron's $380 million 'Avatar'

Michael White — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

James Cameron turned down a chance to make "Avatar" for Twentieth Century Fox more than a decade ago to wait until technology caught up with his imagination.

Web users unite: Let's tell sites to pay up

Kevin Kelleher — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

Wake up, Web users. It's time you demanded your fair share for the vast wealth you are helping to build for the Internet's most popular sites. Yahoo, despite its recent troubles, has $4 billion in cash. Google has $22 billion that it won't even share with investors, let alone you. Facebook may one...

Business Digest: Google loses French digital-book case

Post — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

LEGAL

Hackers exploit Adobe Reader flaw via comic strip syndicate

Brian Krebs — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:11:44 EST

Hackers broke into an online comic strip syndication service Thursday, embedding malicious code that sought to exploit a newly discovered security flaw in Adobe Reader and Acrobat, Security Fix has learned. On Monday, Adobe Systems Inc. said it was investigating reports that criminals were...

Twitter.com hijacked by 'Iranian cyber army'

Brian Krebs — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:26:16 EST

Hackers hijacked the Web site of micro-blogging community Twitter.com early Friday, briefly redirecting users to a Web page for a group calling itself the "Iranian Cyber Army."

Fewer people are sending holiday cards via snail mail in 2009

Steve Hendrix — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

It's the middle of December, and Peg Willingham wants to know: Where are all the Christmas cards?

Google taking on Apple in cellphone market

Cecilia Kang — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

With Google's disclosure over the weekend that it would launch its own cellphone, the online giant is staking claim to a piece of the fast-growing mobile marketplace and making a direct challenge to Apple's swift rise in the sector.

House takes steps to boost cybersecurity

Paul Kane — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

House leaders have asked the chamber's security officials to implement a new cybersecurity training regimen for aides and take additional measures to protect sensitive information from potential hackers.

FCC issues proposals to meet national broadband plan

Cecilia Kang — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday unveiled a laundry list of proposals to meet a congressional mandate to give every U.S. home access to high-speed Internet service.

Dispelling the fantasy of 'working' from home

Petula Dvorak — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

This is my final dispatch from Caffeinistan. It has been a jittery ride.

Free shipping day designed for procrastinators, online retailers

Ylan Q. Mui — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

Santa may have until Christmas morning to deliver his packages, but the deadline for you, dear reader, is drawing near.

@Play: D.C. area developers find success through iPhone App Store

Mike Musgrove — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

It's been a successful year for Imangi Studios, the two-person iPhone application-development shop run from the Dupont Circle apartment of Keith Shepherd and his wife, Natalia Luckyanova.

Microsoft, EU close chapter of antitrust battle

AOIFE WHITE — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:29:40 EST

BRUSSELS -- European regulators have ended their last pending antitrust case against Microsoft Corp. as the U.S. software maker agreed to let Europeans choose from a menu of Web browsers that compete with its Internet Explorer.

Digital cameras use megapixels and semiconductors to capture everyday images

Curt Suplee — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

Getting a digital camera for Christmas? Before you fire it up to capture Uncle Wally's fateful fifth trip to the punch bowl, take a moment to picture this: You've got a genuine scientific marvel in your mitts. In fact, it took nothing less than two Nobel prizes and a revolution in physics in orde...

Loudoun County crime report for Dec. 17, 2009

Post — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

These were among incidents reported by the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office and the Leesburg, Middleburg and Purcellville police departments. For information, contact your police or sheriff's department.

Holiday Tech Guide: Video Games

Mike Musgrove — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:00:00 EST

Washington Post @Play columnist Mike Musgrove will be online to discuss the latest video games and provide holiday gift giving advice.

Personal Tech: Holiday Gift Guide

Rob Pegoraro — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:00:00 EST

The Washington Post's Rob Pegoraro discusses recent reviews, answers your personal tech questions and provides tips for buying the perfect gadget gift for the holidays.

Sexting hasn't reached most young teens, poll finds

Donna St. George — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

About one in seven American teens with cellphones say they have received nude or nearly nude photos by text message, according to a survey on the phenomenon known as "sexting."

We can't see the forest for the T-Mobiles

Adrian Higgins — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

You know you have crossed the river into Cyberland when the guy coming your way has his head buried in the hand-held screen. He will knock into you unless you get out of his way, and don't expect an apology. It's as if you aren't there.

Pakistani authorities hunt for alleged mastermind in plot to send N. Virginia men to Afghanistan to fight U.S. troops

Griff Witte, Jerry Markon and Shaiq Hussain — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

Pakistani authorities on Saturday were searching for an insurgent figure believed to have aided five Northern Virginia men who allegedly tried to join al-Qaeda, saying the case could help unravel a growing network of terrorist recruiters who scour the Internet for radicalized young men.

A review of three disappointing netbook computers

Rob Pegoraro — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

Netbooks are a bright idea suffering from dim imaginations.

Submersible glider spent months collecting data on Atlantic waters

David Brown — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

She was at sea for 221 days. She was alone, often in dangerous places, and usually out of touch. Her predecessor had disappeared on a similar trip, probably killed by a shark. Yet she was always able to do what was asked, to head in a different direction on a moment's notice and report back witho...

Help File: Taming a jumpy cursor; laptop battery cells

Post — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

Q: My laptop's cursor jumps around -- sometimes up a line, sometimes back several characters. Please make it stop.

Series box sets on DVD change the way we watch television shows

Grady Hendrix — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

Recently, my father-in-law broke his leg when his golfing buddy ran him over with their golf cart. Don't shed too many tears. These things happen as one ages: Eyes dim, hearing fades, reactions slow and eventually someone runs someone else over. If you have any tears, save them for the sad scene ...

Best of the Decade: Innovations

Rob Pegoraro — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:00:00 EST

Rob Pegoraro discusses his picks for the best innovations of the past decade. What are yours?

Extended warranties usually aren't worth the money

Janice Podsada — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

HARTFORD, CONN. -- Lloyd Wimbish of West Hartford has refused many a cashier's offer to spring for the extended warranty on a product.

AOL tries to navigate the Web it helped you find

Michael S. Rosenwald — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

Before it was AOL, it was America Online, and before it was America Online it was Quantum Computer Services, and before that it was Control Video Corp., selling online services for the Atari. Remember the Atari? Pac-Man? In Internet time, that was basically 10,000 years ago.

Post letter writer blasts weak HDTV signal

Post — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

Thanks [digital channel signal strength is low] to the new [digital channel signal strength is scrambled] HDTV world, we [digital channel signal strength is scrambled] no longer [digital channel signal strength is low] get [digital channel signal strength is scrambled] Channel 4, [miss you, "Law ...

Facebook adopts new privacy settings to give users more control over content

Cecilia Kang — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

Uh, about that status update on Facebook last night . . . you may want to make sure that information isn't available to more than just your friends.

Technology makes it easier to catch those who are cheating in a relationship

Monica Hesse — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

Cheating scenario, 1989: There were errant signs. Like the times you phoned the office and it rang and rang ("I was in the conference room," he said), like the matchbooks from places with names like the Candlelight Inn, where you'd never been. There were always plausible explanations. Work lunches!...

Google teams with Post, N.Y. Times to create online tool

Howard Kurtz — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

Take the engineering mystique of Google, add the prestige of The Washington Post and New York Times, throw in the spice of secret meetings, and what have you got?

Cuba detains U.S. government contractor

William Booth and Mary Beth Sheridan — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

MEXICO CITY -- The Cuban government has arrested an American citizen working on contract for the U.S. Agency for International Development who was distributing cellphones and laptop computers to Cuban activists, State Department officials and congressional sources said Saturday.

Without ready access to computers, students struggle

Annie Gowen — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

Julija Pivoriunaite's heart sinks when one of her teachers at Glasgow Middle School announces that students must go online to do a homework assignment. It happens almost every school day.

Tom Shales: Blu-rays poised to take lead as best viewing format

Tom Shales — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

At Christmastime we hark back to memories of gadgets past -- technological wonders that were the most desired gifts of previous spending seasons: the VCR, the Sony robotic dog, the laptop computer, the iPod and its successors like the Nano and the Touch.

Local Digest

Post — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

AOL resumed life as an independent Internet company Thursday as it completed its spinoff from Time Warner and closed the book on one of the most disastrous business combinations in history.