high-tech

Habitual multitaskers do it badly, study shows

If you can't read through this article in one sitting, you may be in serious trouble. The good news is you wouldn't discover what your problem is. Are you still reading?

It has been my presumption that multitaskers are generally more productive than people who prefer to do one thing at a time. Typical examples of those with what I call "occupational short attention span" tend to be workers in high-tech environments, including me and most of my CNET co-workers.

At any given time, we're bombarded with e-mails, text messages, instant messages, and phone calls. That's not to mention Facebook and Twitter feeds. And I want our boss to believe that all that communicating makes us a more productive bunch. Turns out that could be all wrong.

According to a new study released by a group of Stanford University researchers Tuesday, people who regularly deal with several streams of electronic information simultaneously do not pay attention, control their memory, or switch from one job to another any better than those who prefer to complete one task at a time. Actually, they fare worse.… Read more

frog design, the book: How design strategies are shaping the future of business

Forgive this self-serving plug but I think this is worth sharing: My colleague, Frog Design founder and former CEO, Hartmut Esslinger, has written his first book, and it is available in stores now: A Fine Line - How Design Strategies Are Shaping the Future of Business. Part autobiography, part how-to innovation guide, part outlook to the future of design, A Fine Line is "a must-read for designers and business people alike" (Satjiv Chahil, senior vice president, Hewlett-Packard).

A Fine Line offers a step-by-step overview of the innovation process -- from targeting goals to shepherding new products and services … Read more

The 404 310: Where BOL wishes it was The 404

There's been a lot of tension between Buzz Out Loud and The 404 for the last couple of months, but today, it's all on! We're sick and tired of the "Bore Out Loud" stealing our women (*ahem* Natali Del Conte) and our joke show titles. We've never been as crass as to have "urine" in one of our show titles. We got pretty bad, though, with having "tickling the Bonch." But we really did tickle CNET editor Bonnie Cha that day.

It's official! We. Are. The. Four. Oh. Four: High-tech, low-brow. That's right. That's the winner to our tagline contest. Also, here are the winners to our Justin Yu photo caption contest (in order) for a copy of Wheelman for the Xbox 360:

What, the Hubble Telescope is down?! Don't worry, just tell me what you wanna look at. The 404's Justin Yu was taken into custody shortly after molesting a lumberjack, a 90-year-old woman, and robbing a Radioshack in Chinatown last evening. Luckily, there was no evidence of d*cktopping at any of these crime scenes. All the single printers, all the single printers!

In today's episode, we've got proof that gamers who play action-oriented video games have better vision than non-gamers. A man dies after trying to get healthier with the Wii Fit. Chinese people are spying on your pr0n collection and the NSA. Let's hope the Conflicker doesn't end the Interweb before they find too much dirt. The Pirate Bay joins Facebook. And finally, Encarta dies a slow, painful death after being stabbed by Wikipedia.

EPISODE 310 Download today's podcast | Subscribe in iTunes | Subscribe in RSS… Read more

Microsoft's Surface to drive BMW customization

BMW has been among the leaders in high-tech car innovation, occasionally even jumping too far ahead of what its older customers preferred to use.

So it should be no surprise that the German carmaker wants to lure in potential customers with another cool high-tech tool.

The BMW Product Navigator, which employs Microsoft's Surface computer, lets potential customers hand-pick options, then see a computer-generated video of their future car in action.

By placing mini discs on the computer table, customers at dealerships can add features like wheels in designing their customized BMW. Users can also use Microsoft's multitouch Surface … Read more

Explaining Israel's high-tech success: Another view

KIBBUTZ YIRON, Israel--"Znnnnnnnnng!"

The mechanical whine overhead forced every picker in the apple orchard to crane their heads toward its source. I didn't know it at the time, but we were watching Israel's high-tech future play out a couple of thousand feet above us.

A reconnaissance drone not much larger than your garden variety model airplane, a television camera strapped to its underside, was creeping through the sky to photograph military installations in Lebanon.

That was 26 years ago.

The "mazlat," as it was known in Hebrew, was a joint project between a … Read more

The tech downturn: How long and how bad?

Silicon Valley venture capitalist Ron Conway sent a sobering e-mail on Tuesday to the 130 start-up companies he's invested in: now is the time to hunker down.

"In 2000 and 2001, the companies that hunkered the fastest were the companies that survived," said Conway in an interview with CNET News. "Get costs under control; make sure you have plenty of runway."

While that admonition from Conway, a noted investor who over the years has put early money into tech giants like Google and up-and-comers like Digg, was timely, it's hard to imagine that any tech executive who's been paying attention to the news needs to be reminded that rough economic conditions are most definitely ahead.

How bad those conditions will be and how long they'll last is anyone's guess. The CNET Technology Index, which tracks 66 publicly traded tech companies, dropped for the third straight day Wednesday to hit its lowest level in more than three years. Even the healthiest of companies are seeing their stocks being sold en masse. Google, for example, finished trading Wednesday down 2.28 percent to $338.11 per share; that's a new 52-week low and less than half the asking price for a Google share in November 2007

Bad news persists in the overall economy as well, despite continued attempts at government intervention. The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 indexes all continued to slide Wednesday; the Dow has now dropped 35 percent from its high a year ago.

CNET contacted more than 20 tech executives, venture capitalists, and industry gurus Wednesday to ask "How long and how bad this will be for the tech industry, and what should companies do about it?" Not so surprisingly, there was no consensus. While nearly everyone interviewed is concerned about the economy, their reaction to it and their plans to deal with it are across the map. Experienced investors like Conway and venture capitalist Larry Augustin of Azure Capital Partners are cautious, while some executives (at least in their public comments) are downplaying the risks to their businesses.

Making sense of Israel: A 60-year-old start-up

TEL AVIV, Israel--Watching the news from Israel over the last several years, it sometimes seems that the political culture in the country is broken. Yet at the same time, the economic and entrepreneurial trends seem stronger than ever. I've never been able to explain that contradiction. Now that I'm back in Israel, a country where I worked several years in the 1980s, that contradiction is more striking than ever.

As always, the "matzav" or the security situation, dominates discussions here. Just prior to my arrival, the Israeli cabinet OK'd a controversial prisoner swap with Hezbollah … Read more

Battery-operated mascara does the work for you

Disclaimer: unless you're a makeup-wearing male (or a woman who loves both gadgets and makeup in equal measure), stop reading here.

It's seems like a guaranteed way to poke yourself in the eye, but that hasn't stopped Estee Lauder from introducing what is believed to be the first tube of vibrating mascara, according to beauty and fashion magazine Women's Wear Daily.

Estee Lauder claims there is "a relationship between vibration, length, volume, separation and curl." Stifle your laughter or raunchy jokes.

The battery-operated mascara brush will vibrate at 125 micropulses per second and has … Read more

AeA: More high-tech lobbying needed at state level

SAN FRANCISCO--The AeA (American Electronics Association) plans to expand its focus on government technology policy to include many more individual states, the trade group said Thursday.

After spending much of its history lobbying for governmental policy favorable to the industry at the federal level and in a few key states with high-tech centers--California, Texas, Florida, New York, Massachusetts--the group says the current legislative environment requires more.

At a meeting of member companies here, new CEO Christopher Hansen said that it's necessary the AeA expand beyond those traditional tech meccas. "Legislation affects this industry in a lot of places … Read more

Bill Gates has grown up and made us proud

A friend once told me there are two reasons why people don't retire, and both are tragic: they either want to retire but can't, or they have no other interests but their work.

In July, Bill Gates will cease to be a full-time Microsoft employee. While he will remain the software giant's chairman, philanthropy will be the world's most famous geek's new full-time job.

With super-rich high-tech executives like Dell, Ellison, and Jobs still gainfully employed, who pegged Gates to opt out on the "other interests" clause? Not me; I thought he'd work at Microsoft until he keeled over. And philanthropy? That was doubly unexpected.… Read more