Mark Milian
Covering consumer technology in San Francisco. Author of Letters to Steve: Inside the E-mail Inbox of Apple's Steve Jobs.
Photograph by Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg
Akira Amari, policy chief of the Liberal Democratic, is not sold on the idea of a Sharp bailout.
Sharp Words and No Handouts for Japan’s Stumbling Electronics Giant
Sharp’s prospects for survival are looking duller by the day. Japanese pride may not save the electronics giant either. The Liberal Democratic Party’s policy chief says Sharp will need to get its act together before the company can think about...
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Image courtesy of Waze
The ads on Waze's mobile GPS app can show up when the user drives by a business.
Mobile Mapping App Waze on the Road to Revenue With Ads
Waze, the free mobile mapping app with 30 million users, is ready to make some money by showing advertisements to drivers. Starting today, people using Waze on a smartphone will see pins showing logos for Dunkin’ Donuts, Jamba Juice, Wyndham...
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Photograph by Press Association via AP Images
About one-fifth of Americans registered to vote shared their political picks on social networks, according to a new study.
Many Americans Sharing Who They Voted for on Social Networks
By law, U.S. citizens have a right to privacy about who they vote for. In the era of social networking, many choose not to keep it a secret. According to a study published today by the Pew Research Center, 22...
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Photograph by Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg
Mobile phone customers may face tariffs as airwaves are auctioned off.
Say Goodbye to India’s Bargain Mobile Calling Plans
Constantly shrinking prices for mobile subscriptions helped turn India into the world’s second-largest wireless market. But those rates, which have been as low as 50 paise (0.9 cent), are about to disappear. India’s Supreme Court ruled in February that airwaves...
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Photograph by Car Culture
Uber, which offers mobile software for booking black cars and other rides, hikes prices during peak times.
Uber Reverses on Hurricane Sandy Cab Price Hike in New York
Uber, the car service that lets people summon rides via a smartphone app, was hit with its own storm this week when New Yorkers accused the startup of unfairly profiting by charging higher rates in the wake of Hurricane Sandy....
Read more »Fisherman Builds DeLorean-Like Hovercraft, Hopes for Job at Google
Matt Riese is looking for a job at a technology company. His resume includes crab fisherman and maker of a hovercraft that looks like the car from “Back to the Future.” His aquatic vehicle, designed to look like a DeLorean with its...
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Image courtesy Atebits
Loren Brichter, a former Apple and Twitter employee, is now working on mobile games. His first release is a word game.
Ex-Apple Developer’s Much-Anticipated Next Act: A Word Game
Among app fanatics, the anticipation has been high for Loren Brichter’s next project, and for good reason: The 27-year-old developer has a history of creating mobile software that ends up being used by millions of people. At Apple, he worked...
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Pogoplug and other services are racing to the cloud because it’s a potentially lucrative and largely untapped market.
Pogoplug Offers a $5-a-Month Cloud to Store Your Files, All of Them
Amid all the online storage providers offering tiered pricing, Pogoplug Cloud has a different approach: Sky’s the limit. The service plans to begin offering customers today unlimited online storage for $4.95 a month. That compares with YouSendIt’s unlimited plan for $15...
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Photograph by Erin Lubin/Bloomberg
Google has promoted its "20 percent time" option as a way to encourage employees to be entrepreneurial.
How a YouTube Exec Built an Army With Google’s ’20 Percent Time’
Officially, Hunter Walk has fewer than a dozen engineers working for him at YouTube on developing services for nonprofits and activists. Unofficially, the longtime Google executive has amassed an army of about 200. Over the past year, Walk has been...
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Photograph by Victor J. Blue
Those wanting the new iPhone are turning to TaskRabbit to hire someone to stand in line for them.
Waiting In Line for iPhone 5, Some Are Just Doing Their Jobs
Among the thousands of people expected to wait for hours outside of Apple’s stores tomorrow for the new iPhone, a couple hundred of them will be paid just to stand there. In what may be the biggest consumer electronics debut...
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