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North Korea's 3G Experiment Might Be Over March 27, 2013 North Korea's Internet liberation has hit a snag -- it's still North Korea. One month after announcing that it would grant tourists and visitors 3G Internet access, North Korea appears to have revoked its 3G services. Tourists reportedly no longer have 3G access. There is a chance that the 3G service is merely busted, but given North Korea's history, the consensus at the moment is that the plug has been pulled.

Sharks Circle Struggling Dell March 26, 2013 Dell confirmed Monday that two new possible buyers have submitted bids for the company: Boulder Acquisition Corp. and its Blackstone Group affiliate; and perennial corporate raider Carl Icahn. Dell has already accepted an offer made earlier this year by founder Michael Dell and Silver Lake, but it is bound by law to seek alternative offers.

Travel Industry Grapples With Mobile App Challenges March 26, 2013 Consumers give hotels, airlines and car rental companies high marks in customer satisfaction for the mobile experience they provide, according to the "ForeSee Mobile Satisfaction Index: Travel Edition." Online travel agencies, however -- not so much. Specifically, of the measured travel categories, hotel mobile sites and apps had an average score of 78.

888's Nevada License Could Usher In New Era of Online Gambling March 25, 2013 888 Holdings announced last week that it had become the first Internet gambling company to be awarded a license to operate in the U.S., possibly opening the door to further online betting opportunities in the States. With its new license, granted by the Nevada Gaming Commission, 888 could launch an online gambling offering in the state.

The Fall of Apple and the Return of BlackBerry March 25, 2013 We tend to be slow to see change. If a company is on top, like Apple was, it takes a lot for us to see its fortunes have changed, as they clearly have post-Jobs. If a company is on the bottom, like BlackBerry was, it may be even tougher to see it on the rebound. We simply don't like the change in our worldview, and this isn't just with regard to companies but people as well.

A Tale of Two VoIPs March 23, 2013 Ever since the first Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, calls were made in 1973, packetized voice was supposed to be the nail in the coffin of enterprise PBX systems. Thirty-seven years later, while instant message, presence and conferencing have successfully penetrated the enterprise, VoIP is still lagging behind traditional voice services in the large enterprise setting.

FCC Chair Genachowski Calls It Quits March 22, 2013 Julius Genachowski said Friday that he is stepping down as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, a post he has held since 2009. During his tenure, Genachowski faced a number of important issues, including media consolidation, cable and telecom industry competition and cooperation -- and, most notably, a sharp debate over broadband spectrum.

The Z10 Has Arrived, and Thorsten Heins May Be a Miracle Worker March 22, 2013 Times are changing for BlackBerry. The BlackBerry Z10 smartphone, which runs the new BlackBerry 10 operating system, has finally hit store shelves in the U.S. What's more, BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins has been taking swipes at Apple -- and no one is laughing in utter disbelief.

Samsung's Galaxy S4 Dims Apple's Glow March 21, 2013 Talk about attracting attention. As I write this, there are more than a thousand recent news stories and opinion pieces on the Google News site about the brand new Samsung Galaxy S4. That's an incredible win for a company that a few short years ago wasn't well known in the wireless business. Since Samsung is successfully transforming how the world thinks about it as a smartphone maker, what can we expect going forward?

Feds Probe Microsoft Whistleblower's Bribery Accusations March 20, 2013 Two federal agencies are reportedly probing the relationship between Microsoft and business partners in China, Italy and Romania that allegedly bribed foreign officials to land software contracts. Lawyers at the U.S. Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating accusations made by a whistleblower who formerly worked for Microsoft in China.

2 Steps Back: The Social Revolution March 20, 2013 We have this idea of modern computing that is closely tied to social media, and rightly so. Social media is a kind of glue that ties us together in new and bigger configurations than our own human capabilities. However, it is also the unspoken issue in the Yahoo brouhaha about working from home -- the idea whose name shall not be spoken. How else to explain the ultra retro edict -- anachronism, really -- that all Yahoos must report to the brick-and-mortar in person rather than "telecommute."

Dell's XPS 18: Radically Rethinking the Tablet March 19, 2013 From the first day of the tablet computing revolution -- April 3, 2010, when Apple's iPad became publicly available -- users have willingly traded limitations in computing form/function for innovations in access/interface. In part, that was because Apple maintained a careful line between the iPad and its traditional Macbook and iMac products to avoid self-cannibalization.

National Security Letters' Constitutionality Likely a Matter for the Supreme Court March 18, 2013 A U.S. District Court judge from the Ninth Circuit found that the government's controversial use of so-called National Security Letters violates the First Amendment and the concept of separation of powers. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ordered the government to stop issuing the National Security Letters and to stop enforcing the gag order. Illston then stayed her order for 90 days so the government could petition the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

RIP Android: Google Loses Its Steve Jobs March 18, 2013 Andy Rubin was Google's Steve Jobs, and with him now booted off the Android product, that platform in its current form will pass. It is kind of funny to see the spin on this, which suggests this was Andy's decision. Yeah right, and I'll be buying that bridge in Brooklyn shortly.

The Revolution Is Over, and M-Commerce Is Here to Stay March 16, 2013 In case you missed it, 2012 -- the so-called "year of mobile" -- came and went pretty quickly. Now we simply live in a mobile world. E-commerce is moving to mobile devices more and more, and that trend is not likely to stop anytime soon. U.S. retail mobile commerce sales will grow from $13.63 billion in 2011 to $86.86 billion by 2016 -- increasing from 7 percent to 24 percent of all retail e-commerce, eMarketer predicted.

Nintendo Caught in Winter Doldrums March 15, 2013 February saw a 25 percent drop in sales compared with the same period a year ago, according to an NPD Group report released Thursday. Hardware sales were down 36 percent to $244.2 million. Surprisingly, it wasn't Nintendo's Wii U, the only new system released this past holiday season, but the still-going-strong Microsoft Xbox 360 that claimed the top spot in console sales.

Caveat Inventor: The New Patent Paradigm March 15, 2013 The most significant change to U.S. patent law since 1836 -- or perhaps 1790 -- is being implemented on March 16, 2013. Part of the America Invents Act of 2011, it concerns the doctrine of first-to-invent, laws concerning the protection of original inventors, regardless of whether they were the first to apply for a patent. The new law awards inventorship under a first-inventor-to-file standard.

Android Mastermind Rubin to Turn His Thoughts Elsewhere March 14, 2013 Andy Rubin, the man who helped maneuver Android into the No. 1 mobile OS position, is stepping down as head of Android at Google. Taking Rubin's place will be browser and applications chief Sundar Pichai. The reshuffling effectively folds Google's mobile OS, applications and Chrome browser into one operation.

Canonical: The Next Apple March 14, 2013 Given all the legends surrounding Apple's widely mourned Steve Jobs, it's not entirely surprising that comparisons should be made any time another tech leader begins to resemble him in any way. Case in point: Mark Shuttleworth. The billionaire Canonical founder has actually been compared to Jobs on numerous occasions before, but lately the discussion was renewed afresh by a recent post on Linux Advocates.

The US Hasn't Lost Its Tech Edge March 14, 2013 There is much lamenting in some quarters that the U.S. has lost its road map for tech innovation. Many point to China as a country in a hurry to catch up to and even pass America in technology. They talk about how China is stressing tech-related endeavors and how forward-looking it is. I simply don't buy this argument. Why? Let's start with retailing and Amazon.