Circling the drain: Circuit City contemplates store closings
Circuit City ain't sitting pretty these days. The electronics retailer is bleeding cash, shrinking rather than growing, and several turnaround efforts have failed badly. A $5 billion market cap has...
View ArticleFlash flood: the (very short) story of YouTube
You might feel like access to online video clips is one of those "inalienable rights" you hear so much about. The Internet of 2009 is awash in video content, from your favorite Seinfeld episodes to...
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From Cinepak to H.265: a brief history of video compression
When we asked our faithful readers what technological advances had made the biggest difference to their lives, Prospero424 stepped up to the plate to deliver a humdinger: video compression. To...
View ArticleThe format wars: of lasers and (creative) destruction
I have this love/hate relationship with format wars. No, it's not reality television versus talk shows, or Top 40 radio against "the best of the '80s—and more!" The wars I'm thinking about pit...
View ArticleCollaboration 2.0? Twitter team-ups for fun and profit
Even if you're a compulsive tweeter, you probably didn't know what Twitter was a year ago. The 140-character broadcast machine has gone far beyond updating your friends about dinner plans, and, for...
View ArticleDoing science: Jonathan Coulton to create music for Portal 2
Portal was something of a perfect storm. Game mechanics that felt new, a story that tied into the world of Half-Life, a length that didn't outstay its own welcome, and to really drive the point home...
View ArticleMaking music in Linux and beyond
You can do a lot with free open-source software, also known as FOSS. Musicians with a yen for Linux are in luck; the array of choices for creating, editing, producing, and publishing music using...
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Doing the math on News Corp.’s disastrous MySpace years
(credit: Photograph by Jeff Youngstrom, remixed by Aurich Lawson) Once upon a time, MySpace was the king and pioneer of social networking. When Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. bought the company for $580...
View ArticleWhich company is biggest? A primer on corporate valuation
Update: When the markets closed on August 10, 2011, Apple ended up as the company with the largest market capitalization in the world ($337.17 billion), surpassing Exxon Mobil ($330.88 billion). This...
View ArticleWhat Google lost—and gained—by not buying Motorola in 2010
Google just plunked down $12.5 billion for Motorola Mobility. Would the deal have been cheaper if Big G had just purchased a handset maker back in January 2010 rather than launching the ill-fated...
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Does Apotheker need an apothecary? Why HP is exiting the PC business
(credit: Photo illustration by Aurich Lawson (Mad Hatter still courtesy Walt Disney Pictures)) One of our favorite acronyms is ditching another one: Hewlett-Packard wants to spin off its personal...
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RIM is in trouble: who will buy the BlackBerry pie?
(credit: Photo illustration by Aurich Lawson) BlackBerry maker Research In Motion is in deep, deep trouble. Shareholders are watching co-CEOs Balisillie and Lazaridis squander a once-bulletproof lead...
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When founders leave: lessons for Apple from Microsoft, Intel, and Sun
(credit: Photo illustration by Aurich Lawson) The Internet is crawling with Jobs reports today. Nearly every news aggregator puts Apple's new leadership situation ahead of hurricane Irene evacuations....
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Yahoo pondering sale; what might Microsoft make of this mess? (Updated)
(credit: Photograph by Randy Stewart) Update: And so it becomes! Yahoo's board is exploring the possibility of a sale, according to the Wall Street Journal's ever-popular "persons familiar with the...
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Can a marriage of AOL and Yahoo save the fading Web titans?
(credit: Photograph by billzegarski) According to Bloomberg and its ubiquitous "people familiar with the matter," AOL might be jonesing for a merger with boss-less 'net titan Yahoo. The two companies...
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IBM rises again as its stock passes a declining Microsoft
Hot on the heels of Apple passing Exxon Mobil to become the most valuable business in the world, there's another shakeup at a slightly lower level. IBM is the second-largest tech company by market cap...
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What Apple’s dividend and buybacks mean to you
It's official: Apple has finally decided to do something with its growing mountain of cash. The result is not a splashy acquisition in tech, nor is Apple CEO Tim Cook buying a collection of private...
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Apple vs. Greenlight: deconstructing the battle over preferred stock
(credit: Sigalakos) "Mo Money Mo Problems," in the immortal words of Notorious B.I.G. Apple has more money than many nations, so it's only natural to expect the $137 billion cash and investment hoard...
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Why Apple added debt to its $145 billion cash hoard
(credit: Anton TwAng) Apple is making headlines with rumors of a record-sized bond sale. According to reports, Cupertino is likely taking advantage of historically dirt-cheap interest rates on...
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Android’s market share grows because it can fit any niche, big or small
Enlarge / All the colors of the Android rainbow! (credit: Aurich Lawson) The Android software platform lets smartphone builders everywhere create devices for every niche. If Apple's iPhone is the gold...
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