Stories by: Mike Elgan

Within two years, I believe mobile social networking will become the most valuable business application since e-mail.

Dell, Intel and their partners announced this week new technologies that represent major leaps forward for mobility. The companies seem to have discovered the secret to making such bold leaps: Cut Microsoft out of the deal.

In the 1984 cyberpunk novel, Neuromancer , author William Gibson describes a future in which people can acquire knowledge by buying special chips called "microsofts" that plug into a surgically installed jack behind the ear. Once you plug in the chip, your brain can access its database and - voila! Knowledge!

MIT Media Lab founder Nicholas Negroponte railed against complexity in mobile phones, recently, and said that "simplicity is the biggest challenge that handset makers face."

An April 2007, Time magazine feature called, "The Hyperconnected," was illustrated with a picture of a person's wrist handcuffed to a mobile device. This image faithfully conveys a common and growing reaction to the explosion in connected devices and communication applications in our culture.

Flashy new technology always gets attention. But after the chatter fades, users are often left with frustration over products' failure to do basic, common-sense functions.

For some of us, it's that magical time of year. Better than the summer holidays, better than Father's or Mother's Day -- even better than your own birthday.

For years, "Wi-Fi" has been synonymous with "wireless" for the majority of laptop users looking to connect on the go.

A company called Sharpcast last week rolled out a new service that syncs your data across PCs, Macs and phones. That sounds simple enough, but the service, called SugarSync, and it's believed to be the first of its kind.

More than a year ago, I wrote a column called "Why the iPhone will change the (PC) world." In that piece I described how the user interface of future operating systems -- the next-generation Windows, OS X and Linux UIs -- will have iPhone-like elements such as multitouch, gestures, 3-D and minimal icons.

Ten years ago, every frequent-flying, executive-platinum mobile professional required a desktop PC back at the office and a laptop for the road. "Ultra-portables" or extreme mini computers were an expensive and optional luxury for serious enthusiasts or big shots with expense accounts. But in the last year, all that has changed.