Spotlight Features

As the end of the year approaches, I will begin talking more and more about the big things expected to drive the 2007 Technology Segment. One of them, particularly since the Democrats are back in power in the U.S., is a move toward Green, and HP took a huge step to get ahead of this parade last week...

Robotics, which has played a longstanding role in industrial applications, has finally entered the classroom in the form of applications for disabled students. It's a trend that could move beyond special needs and into the education mainstream. Gallaudet University, a school for the deaf and hard of...

Although the U.S. alternative energy and clean tech industry is still playing catch-up with Europe, investments have been picking up in recent years -- and quickly. Despite a lack of strong leadership at the federal level, governments in prominent states, notably California, are increasingly taking ...

This week the National Venture Capital Association released "American Made: The Impact of Immigrant Entrepreneurs and Professionals on U.S. Competitiveness," a new study that reveals something that Silicon Valley netizens already know but scream for others to recognize: The immigration debate affect...

Online securities trading was a big fad a few years ago, but some of the major players disappeared from the scene after the dot-com fallout. However, many do-it-from-home traders cannot resist the Internet's speed and convenience, and there are still plenty of firms to accommodate them. Although som...

The Internet has completely reshaped customer relationships. The transformation began with the dot-com boom, which spawned a new type of company whose entire business model was predicated on Web acceptance and usage. These companies -- Yahoo, Amazon, eBay and Google -- took advantage of the Web in a...

One of the benefits from the explosion of sales effectiveness solutions has been the effect on the marketing process. For too long, selling was regarded as a pseudo science while marketing was regarded as an art that needed to be tightly controlled to prevent waste. So it was no surprise to hear d...

The power of music to bridge national boundaries and cultural divides has long been recognized, but perhaps has never been as starkly clear as it is today. One need only look at the phenomenal growth of MTV channels in countries around the world during the past decade. The commercialization and spre...

The use of cell phones at school has generated conflict between school officials, who view cell phones as a nuisance that distracts students from school activities, and parents, who say the devices let them stay in touch with their children more easily. Widespread cell phone use at schools clearly i...

Remember the tech bubble? If you do, I'm sure that you'll remember the bursting of that bubble in mid 2000. Now, it seems as though the tech run-up is happening again. To give us a little perspective, I want to quote something that CNNMoney ran on Feb. 4, 2000: "Emerge Interactive, an online marketp...