Jobs: A Big October Surprise

Nonfarm payrolls surged 166,000 in October, nearly double economists' median estimate, as the construction industry outperformed expectations

Eye-Fi Wireless Card for Digicams

SD Card with Wi-Fi capability allows you to transfer photos wirelessly from a digital camera to your computer and to one of several online sharing sites.

Eye-Fi Wireless Card for Digicams

SD Card with Wi-Fi capability allows you to transfer photos wirelessly from a digital camera to your computer and to one of several online sharing sites.

NYSE: Hooray for Market Volatility

The huge operator of financial exchanges is benefiting from the market's recent wild swings

The PDA Guerilla: Enter the UPC

Lately I have been struggling with a connectivity problem. I dropped and broke the WiFi case for my PDA, leaving me without Internet connectivity on my Palm T3. Of course if Palm had been smart enough in its product design to build WiFi into the T3 I would not have that problem, but that is actually symptomatic of another problem. Palm's product direction clearly does not fit my needs. Palm seems to have moved totally away from PDAs to Treo smart phones. This may work well for many people, who basically want a device to get calls, read emails and perhaps do occasional searches for restaurant locations. What I need is much closer to a computer in my pocket, that I can take notes on in interviews and meetings, write articles in, get every web site, not just ones formatted for tiny Treo screens and that work with the Treo's limited software. And I need a machine that can use the much faster speeds of WiFi networks when that is available, for instance in my home office, as well as the much more pervasive cellular network when WiFi is not available.

The PDA Guerilla: Enter the UPC

Lately I have been struggling with a connectivity problem. I dropped and broke the WiFi case for my PDA, leaving me without Internet connectivity on my Palm T3. Of course if Palm had been smart enough in its product design to build WiFi into the T3 I would not have that problem, but that is actually symptomatic of another problem. Palm's product direction clearly does not fit my needs. Palm seems to have moved totally away from PDAs to Treo smart phones. This may work well for many people, who basically want a device to get calls, read emails and perhaps do occasional searches for restaurant locations. What I need is much closer to a computer in my pocket, that I can take notes on in interviews and meetings, write articles in, get every web site, not just ones formatted for tiny Treo screens and that work with the Treo's limited software. And I need a machine that can use the much faster speeds of WiFi networks when that is available, for instance in my home office, as well as the much more pervasive cellular network when WiFi is not available.

The PDA Guerilla: Enter the UPC

Lately I have been struggling with a connectivity problem. I dropped and broke the WiFi case for my PDA, leaving me without Internet connectivity on my Palm T3. Of course if Palm had been smart enough in its product design to build WiFi into the T3 I would not have that problem, but that is actually symptomatic of another problem. Palm's product direction clearly does not fit my needs. Palm seems to have moved totally away from PDAs to Treo smart phones. This may work well for many people, who basically want a device to get calls, read emails and perhaps do occasional searches for restaurant locations. What I need is much closer to a computer in my pocket, that I can take notes on in interviews and meetings, write articles in, get every web site, not just ones formatted for tiny Treo screens and that work with the Treo's limited software. And I need a machine that can use the much faster speeds of WiFi networks when that is available, for instance in my home office, as well as the much more pervasive cellular network when WiFi is not available.

Air Guitar

The Blackbird is an ambitious design of a carbon fiber guitar that's full of technological innovation

Analyst Actions: Barclays, Western Digital, Town Sports

Opinions from Wall Street analysts on Friday

Server to user: Sorry, no VoIP for you.

Imagine picking up your phone to make a call, only to hear that your license has expired. Sorry, no dial tone for you. That's exactly what happened to me on Monday morning when I put on my voice over IP head set in my home office, fired up my laptop, and launched the soft phone program I use to connect to Computerworld's hybrid VoIP/digital PBX some 105 miles away. The problem set in motion a series of events that finally resulted in restoration of service yesterday afternoon - nearly four days later. Fortunately, this is not a production implementation - I'm participating in a pilot program, so this is exactly the kind of thing that one might expect early on. Wanting to make this pilot project work, however, I had steadfastly refused to put a land line in my new office. In this way I, as the only pilot user relying on VoIP as my primary phone service, would be forced to use VoIP. Or so I thought. Instead, for the last few days I was forced to work from my old location. That has made life confusing, to say the least.

Controlling Wildfire Risk

S&P estimates that insured losses from the California devastation could approach a manageable $2 billion

Photo Contest: Hot Pics of the Week for October

Subscribers to Dave Johnson's Digital Focus took these shots; read Dave's November 5, 2007 column for the Hot Pic of the Month winner.

Photo Contest: Hot Pics for October

Subscribers to Dave Johnson's Digital Focus took these shots; read Dave's November 5, 2007 column for the Hot Pic of the Month winner.

S&P Picks and Pans: Citi, Merrill, Goldman, Wachovia

Analyst opinions on stocks making headlines Friday

Taiwan Tests Cell Phones for Subway, Shopping

The convenience of a 'contactless payment system' comes with walk-by ads beamed to handsets.

Gordon Ramsay

Gordon Ramsay is the Scotland-born celebrity chef who hosts TV's Hell's Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares. A one-time teenage footballer for the Glasgow Rangers (1982-85), Ramsay made his ... more

Cary Grant

Cary Grant was a leading box-office star for three decades, and the silver screen's definition of the quick-witted and debonair gent. He co-starred ... more

Movers: Las Vegas Sands, Chevron, Merrill Lynch, Barclays

Friday's stocks in the news

David Letterman

Late Night With David Letterman premiered on February 1982 on NBC, where it followed the famed Tonight Show hosted by Johnny Carson. Letterman's show ... more

Taiwan Tests Cell Phones for Subway, Shopping

The convenience of a 'contactless payment system' comes with walk-by ads beamed to handsets.