Wired: Tech Biz
Dispatches from Silicon Valley.

• A Google-a-Day Puzzle for Feb. 22
  Google's daily brainteaser helps hone your search skills.

  
  

  
  
• Ubuntu for Android Turns Your Phone Into a Desktop Computer
  Cramming a desktop environment onto a smartphone is a fun project that promises very little actual usefulness. But now Canonical's Ubuntu for Android takes a different approach, surfacing the desktop OS only when it actually makes sense.

  
  

  
  
• Apache Web Server Gets First Facelift in 6 Years
  The world's most popular web server just got a facelift. On Tuesday, for the first time in over six years, the Apache Software Foundation unveiled a new version of its eponymous web server, which runs an estimated 398 million sites across the net.

  
  

  
  
• How Many Different Ways Can the Same iPad 3 Rumors Be Reblogged?
  We know. You're excited about the iPad 3. We are too. And so is just about everyone else who follows consumer tech hardware. Rumors about Apple's upcoming tablet have been pouring in for months, and we've been following them just like everyone else.

  
  

  
  
• How Patent Battles Threaten the Simple Act of Unlocking a Phone
  Unlocking a smartphone is perhaps its most basic function. It's a no-frills feature, but an important one. And yet over the past six months, the simple act of unlocking a phone has grown absurdly controversial.

  
  

  
  
• Apple's iCloud Has Solar Lining
  

  
  

  
  
• Barfipelago: Using Twitter to Fight Virus Outbreak
  Norovirus can spread among people very, very fast. But not as fast as Twitter. When an outbreak hit the annual Archipelago journalism conference -- subsequently dubbed "Barfipelago" -- attendees and organizers alike used Twitter to stay on top of the situation.

  
  

  
  
• Barnes & Noble Delivers New 8GB Tablet, Disappointing Earnings
  The new tablet and price drop are aggressive, revenue-boosting moves coming on the same day as B&N's quarterly earnings report.

  
  

  
  
• Top 10 iPad/iPhone Gaming Peripherals
  

  
  

  
  
• A Google-a-Day Puzzle for Feb. 21
  Google's daily brainteaser helps hone your search skills.

  
  

  
  
• Das Model S Professional Keyboard Brings the Clickety-Clack to Your Mac
  

  
  

  
  
• A Google-a-Day Puzzle for Feb. 20
  Google's daily brainteaser helps hone your search skills.

  
  

  
  
• A Google-a-Day Puzzle for Feb. 19
  Google's daily brainteaser helps hone your search skills.

  
  

  
  
• "Hack of All Trades" - An Interview With Eureka Co-Creator Andrew Cosby (GeekDad Weekly Rewind)
  

  
  

  
  
• A Google-a-Day Puzzle for Feb. 18
  a google a day, google, puzzles, search

  
  

  
  
• Gadget Lab Podcast: Mountain Lion, Android Phones and a Scary Set of Knives
  

  
  

  
  
• Why Apple Didn't Include Siri in OS X Mountain Lion
  Apple's latest OS X update, Mountain Lion, adds a slate of new features, nearly all derived from iOS 5. There's one big omission, however: Siri, Apple's voice-controlled virtual assistant, does not make the migration from mobile to desktop.

  
  

  
  
• Dell Joins Microsoft, Yahoo for Riverside Data-Center Party
  Dell has joined the data center party in Quincy, Washington. Quincy is home to data centers run by Microsoft, Yahoo and Intuit, and this week, Dell announced that it too has opened a facility in the tiny town on the Columbia river. Dams along the Columbia river, you see, provide relatively expensive hydropower for these massive computing facilities. But perhaps more importantly, the state of Washington has provided tax breaks for tech giants building data centers in the region.

  
  

  
  
• A Google-a-Day Puzzle for Feb. 17
  Google's daily brainteaser helps hone your search skills.

  
  

  
  
• Why Facebook Is Missing From Apple's New Desktop OS
  Facebook is the dominant player in social media, but its direct integration is nowhere to be found in Apple's desktop and mobile operating systems. It's a glaring omission considering Facebook updates are a simple drop-down menu choice in Android and Windows Phone.

  
  

  
  
• HP's Whitman Slags Android to Pump WebOS
  On Wednesday, at a meeting of the company's channel partners in Las Vegas, HP CEO Meg Whitman talked up Open WebOS, the company's newly open sourced mobile operating system. But she also took a moment to stir up a batch of fear, uncertainty, and doubt about Google?s Android. The mobile operating system ?may end up being a closed system with their purchase of Motorola," she said. Whitman also described Android as "remarkably fragmented."

  
  

  
  
• Mountain Lion vs. Windows 8: Two Paths to Platform Convergence
  Now that Apple's offered a sneak preview of OS X Mountain Lion, we can begin to compare it with Windows 8. Both OSes draw inspiration from, and aim to integrate with, mobile devices. Each OS faces the same basic challenge, but approaches the problem with different strategies.

  
  

  
  
• Researchers Fight Toxic Waste With Google PageRank
  According to a paper published in Journal of Computational Chemistry, the same math used to determine the relevance of webpages on Google's search engine can also be used to determine crucial information about a water molecule's position in a solution of charged chemicals -- particularly toxic chemicals. For chemists, the finding is more than just a curiosity. It's a crucial step in determining the best ways to remove nuclear waste and other toxic chemicals from the world's water supply.

  
  

  
  
• Lawmaker Demands DHS Cease Monitoring of Blogs, Social Media
  Rep. Jackie Speier (D-California) said Thursday she wants the Department of Homeland Security to cease its social-media and news-monitoring operation.

  
  

  
  
• OS X Mountain Lion: 5 Most Exciting New Features
  Today, Apple unveiled a developer preview of its newest Mac OS, Mountain Lion. The OS introduces more than 100 new features to OS X, and we've teased out five of the most important, most innovative aspects of Cupertino's latest release.

  
  

  
  
• Apple Plant Conditions Better Than Others, Auditor Says
  

  
  

  
  
• Rackspace Buys SharePoint911: A Game-Changer?
  Boasting, "The game just changed," the cloud giant Rackspace Hosting today announced it has bought SharePoint911. Why? Think serious SharePoint cred with Microsoft SharePoint users. But is it a game-changer?

  
  

  
  
• Apple Announces OS X Mountain Lion for Mac Desktops
  Apple has announced its latest version of OS X for Macs ? and like all iterations of its desktop operating system, the latest version is named after a big cat. It?s called Mountain Lion, and it will be more like iOS than ever, as Apple integrates various mobile services and moves to yearly OS updates across all its devices.

  
  

  
  
• iPad Photo Frame Is Hit and Miss
  

  
  

  
  
• A Google-a-Day Puzzle for Feb. 16
  Google's daily brainteaser helps hone your search skills.