Microsoft is bucking its own trend in giving its hardware partners a more exacting list of tech specs they need to follow in order to make Windows Phone 7 handsets. That set of standards places it in the space between Android, with its wide variety of …

Google is reportedly putting the kibosh on in-house use of Microsoft’s Windows operating system due to security fears. Google’s saying very little publicly, but a recent report claims the search giant was spooked by last year’s Chinese hack attacks. Me…

To create its Street View service, Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) sends fleets of cars to drive around cities all over the world and take pictures with the 360-degree cameras they have strapped to their roofs. The result is many things to many people: a conveni…

Microsoft has announced a major upgrade to its venerable Hotmail service, adding a slew of features that will make it more competitive with Google’s fast-growing Gmail offering. The changes take into account the evolution of email. Once primarily a ven…

Last December, critics and audiences gave “Avatar” high praise for its sophisticated use of 3-D. Now studios are shoving more action and fantasy movies onto the 3-D bandwagon. For movies not shot from the ground up with specialized 3-D equipment, this …

Verizon says it has a tablet of its own in the lab, and its partner on the project is Google. Few details were offered, and one big question is whether the team will opt to use Android or Google’s Chrome OS, which could make the tablet behave more like…

“The Firefox developers seem to be focused on the right things: speed, openness, flexibility and user experience,” said Jay Lyman, an analyst for open source with the 451 Group. “This marks a rather dramatic change in open source software development t…

There’s no shortage of bad behavior in the lost iPhone affair. The guy who found it could have turned it over to the bar’s lost and found instead of snooping through it. The police could have stopped short of breaking into a reporter’s home and seizing…

If you look to the movies for answers regarding the Western world’s attitude toward robots, the results may be confusing. Sometimes they’re pudgy, bleeping sidekicks to the hero; other times their high-tech, cybernetic sociopaths. Robots in the real wo…

Why are we so fascinated with robots? Are robots the culmination of the vision of freeing humanity from drudge work? And what are the legal implications of using humanoid robots or even robot pets? It’s a field that’s expected to grow as the technology…

Any company that dubs its smartphone the “Incredible” is certainly making a gutsy move, but in HTC’s case, its new handset has the power to back it up. Its design is solid, its processor rips through apps and Web browsing, the 8 MP camera is eye-poppin…

Though certain past editions of Android have supported Flash to a degree, Google says that the upcoming “FroYo” version of its mobile platform will feature full support for the Adobe technology. The move underscores Android’s rivalry with Apple, which …