PC and Components: Features

Columnist Mike Elgan spent three weeks using only Google products -- the Chromebook Pixel laptop, the Nexus 10 tablet and the Nexus 4 smartphone. Here's what he discovered.

Like the tablet market, Google Glass may currently be viewed as a consumer product but it will soon be seen on the faces of IT and mobile employees.

Just a month after a top Google executive said Glass wouldn't be officially released for another year, sources say the computerized eyeglasses actually should ship by the end of this year.

The Red Cross is using apps to help warn people about potential weather calamities. One of its more popular efforts is its new Tornado app.

Bob Metcalfe, Dave Boggs and the rest of the scientists at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in 1973 were a lot like young developers at a Silicon Valley startup today.

Michelle McKenna-Doyle, CIO for the National Football League, is driving innovation with analytics, using sensors to track players on the field and monitoring player health and safety with lab analysis of helmets.

The Senate immigration bill's H-1B restrictions have clearly upset Indian firms. But sometimes being in a tough spot can prompt new ways of approaching problems. One firm is implementing software robots.

Google had a lot to say during Wednesday's Google I/O keynote--so would you, if you had three-and-a-half hours to fill. And while new features in voice-powered search functionality, Google Maps, and other pronouncements from the search giant were certainly eye-catching, just how much of what was said at this week's developer conference should make iOS device owners sit up and take notice?

Google did its best to court developers at this year's I/O conference with a much-needed integrated developer environment, API for better games and the ability to more easily translate apps. Their allegiance will become increasingly important as smartphone and tablet hardware sees fewer dramatic improvements.

Windows 8 faces a number of hurdles in the enterprise, but the biggest reason it won't replace the current corporate champion, Windows 7, is simple: IT shops don't think it's worth the upgrade hassle.

At Google I/O on Wednesday, Google unveiled a streaming music service that will compete directly with the likes of Pandora and Spotify -- in what is said to be a growing market, however.

Computers just aren't selling like they used to, and many critics, analysts, and longtime Windows users point the blame finger at one culprit in particular: Windows 8. Nobody's using Windows 8, they say. It's worse than New Coke, they say. PC shipments are cratering and it's all Windows 8's fault, they say.

Sometime soon, Microsoft will tell Windows 8 users whether they will have to pay for the upgrade code-named "Blue," and if so, how much. Analysts don't expect it to charge anything for the update.

One of Microsoft's top Windows executives this week said the company remains bullish about Windows RT, but analysts remain suspicious of RT's chances unless Microsoft makes changes.

BMC has agreed to be acquired by a private investment consortium headed by Bain Capital and Golden Capital, in a deal worth about $US6.9 billion.

Economic woes have pushed companies of all sizes to shake up data center hiring, development and other processes to better align IT and business operations.

You'd expect a $35,000 car to have technology at least as good as a $200 smartphone, but it often doesn't. Although the auto industry has been slow to keep up with tech trends, that may soon change.

Digital nomad Mike Elgan returns to the US. after 10 months of travel and shares these tips for working and living abroad.

IBM is 102 years old. At its height, it was almost a cult, with employees dressing alike, speaking a unique language and earning benefits that took care of them for life. Today's tech companies aren't built to last, as Apple's recent earnings report shows all too well.

It's been two years since Chromebooks running Google's Chrome OS appeared on store shelves. So far, Google's plan - to turn your Web browser into an operating system and websites into desktop-app replacements - does not appear to be catching on