Challengers

Microsoft's CES exodus: Non-event or major moment?

Now that Microsoft has declared that 2012 will be the last year that it has a booth at the Consumer Electronics Show and gives the conference's first keynote address, there are two possible scenarios that could play out.

Here's the boring one: Nothing much happens. In 2013, some other large tech company happily snaps up the prime show-floor acreage that Microsoft has freed up. Someone other than Steve Ballmer does a big keynote the night before the show opens. CES, in other words, just keeps on being CES.

Here's the more eye-opening possibility: Microsoft starts a trend. … Read more

Fusion Garage's latest feat: It seems to have vanished

In the beginning there was the CrunchPad--a browser-in-a-tablet device proposed by TechCrunch founder Mike Arrington in July 2008, well before the dawn of the iPad era.

Arrington partnered with a company called Fusion Garage to turn his brainchild into a shipping product. But shortly before it was supposed to hit the market in late 2009, according to Arrington, Fusion Garage CEO Chandra Rathakrishnan decided to proceed with the project without Arrington's involvement.

Fusion Garage renamed the tablet the JooJoo. After several delays, it started selling it on its own for $499 at the same time the iPad went on … Read more

Chrome scores a victory in the browser wars

It's just one browser version during one particular week, and only one research firm is making the claim--but according to StatCounter, Google's Chrome 15 is the world's most popular browser.

In the last week of November, StatCounter says, 23.6 percent of the browsers tracked by its global system were Chrome 15. Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 accounted for 23.5 percent.

Add up all versions of IE and Chrome and you still get a different story: IE is the most popular browser overall, well ahead of Chrome. StatCounter's numbers still show all versions of IE … Read more

No, the Kindle Fire isn't doomed

Before anyone could buy a Kindle Fire, Amazon's tablet benefited from a certain degree of magical thinking.

People--or at least tech pundits--were searching for the first irresistable non-iPad tablet. They wanted to see one that deserved to be a big hit. So, many hit a mental fast-forward button and assumed that the Kindle Fire would be that tablet.

But the Fire's honeymoon ended the moment it hit the market. Many of the initial reviews weren't raves. And now The New York Times has published a story about the Fire by David Streitfeld that dares to mention the … Read more

Windows Phone 7.5: What will make it a winner?

This much we know: The smartphone market has room for two wildly successful platforms.

I refer, of course, to Apple's iOS and Google's Android. Both are blockbusters, and I don't see any reason why they can't simultaneously thrive for years to come.

But is there room for a third major player?

At the moment, with WebOS undergoing an open-source reboot and RIM's next-generation BlackBerry OS apparently nowhere near completion, only one other phone platform has an immediate shot at being a contender: Microsoft's Windows Phone 7.5. It isn't there yet. In fact, … Read more

MasterImage 3D's small step forward for glasses-free 3D

Whenever I get the chance to see a demo of anything relating to 3D technology, I brace myself for disappointment.

I assume the image is going to be fuzzy, grainy, or murky. I expect it to look even worse if I'm not staring at its precise sweet spot. I prepare myself to struggle with poorly-fitting 3D glasses. (Nobody seems to make ones designed for someone like me: I wear glasses anyhow, and have a seriously wide head.)

But when I had the chance this week to get a sneak peek at 3D technology from a Hollywood-based company called MasterImage 3D, … Read more

Is the time finally right for hybrid hard drives?

I remember the first time I learned about hybrid hard drives--models that combine traditional spinning platters with a sizable chunk of solid-state flash memory.

The goal was to combine the best of both storage worlds into one drive: The low cost and high capacity of a hard disk, plus the speed of flash. It sounded like a great idea to me.

That was way back in 2006, though--and hybrid drives have never quite taken off. But the concept still makes sense, and hard-disk kingpin Seagate is releasing a new hybrid drive designed to deliver on the technology's promise.

The … Read more

Google+ wants to usher in the masses. Can it?

Television doesn't exactly have a fabulous track record as a vehicle for promoting Web sites.

In fact, when I think about TV ads for Web properties, what springs to mind are all those pricey Super Bowl spots for Web 1.0 sites that flopped, such as Pets.com, LifeMinders.com, and OurBeginning.com.

So I'm intrigued by Google's decision to run a commercial for its Google+ social network during yesterday's Lions-Packers game. My colleague Chris Matyszczyk has already shared his thoughts on the spot, which you can watch in its entirety over at his post.

Google'… Read more

TouchFire makes the iPad keyboard tactile

In the beginning, back in the 1870s, a typewriter key traveled downward when you struck it because the force was needed to propel a typebar onto the ribbon, thereby printing a character on paper.

Even with the advent of electric typewriters--and, much later, computer keyboards--people liked the keys to move decisively when they struck them. It helped with touch typing and confirmed that your keypress had, indeed, been registered. To this day, "full travel" is one of the most complimentary adjectives you can apply to any keyboard.

And then there's the iPad's zero-travel, on-screen keyboard. Many … Read more