tech

Late in 1999, Cisco cautioned in a filing with the Securities and Exchange commission that sales were slowing. A financial analyst quoted at the time downplayed Cisco's comments on future growth. "This is not news," said Bill Meehan, who followed the stock for Cantor Fitzgerald.

Well, with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, we now know that Cisco's warning turned out to be news. It turned out to be quite prophetic news and the technology business soon found itself smack in the midst of an ugly recession that shuttered companies and led to the evaporation of … Read more

Rick Broida is so cheap...

How cheap is he?!

Rick Broida is so cheap, he uses AOL CDs for Christmas-tree ornaments. He thinks Black Friday should be a declared a federal holiday. And he's stealing his neighbor's Wi-Fi at this very moment. (Kidding!)

Who better to blog about the Web's best deals and steals? Every day I'll be scouring the Interwebs for amazing bargains and bringing them to you right here. Even now, my Cheapskate senses are tingling...

In two years, tourists will likely be traveling to Alcatraz on green energy.

Australia's Solar Sailor has come up with a way to make large solar panels that can also act like sails. Put one or more of the sails on a boat and the boat gets converted into a hybrid. The boat still has a diesel engine, but it mostly gets around on wind or sun power. A tour boat in Sydney Harbor has an array of eight small solar sails.

"It makes three runs a day and uses 1/10th of the fuel," says CEO … Read more

CHICAGO--Fighting climate change requires making the nation's homes, offices, and schools healthier and more energy efficient, former president Bill Clinton told thousands attending the Greenbuild conference on Wednesday. Sweeping efforts to reduce the carbon footprints of buildings, which emit three-quarters of most cities' greenhouse gases, can measurably benefit the environment, he said.

"The sale's been made," Clinton said. "Otherwise Al Gore wouldn't have gotten the Nobel Prize. Now what we have to do is...to prove that this is not a big bottle of castor oil that we're being asked to drink."… Read more

There is a lots of talk these days about computers in cars, but it mostly refers to the technology in the vehicle's drivetrain, GPS navigation device, or active safety systems. When are we going to see a real computer in the car, you ask: one that can browse the Web, edit Word docs, and perform all the functions of a desktop. Jensen has an answer to that question with the NVX3000PC, on show at SEMA 2007. The portable device has a 7-inch touch-screen display and comes with a Windows Vista operating system, a 30GB internal hard drive, an integrated … Read more

The 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge represents a new frontier in autonomous vehicle technology. We were live onsite for the final of this year's event, which saw 11 robot cars compete in a six-hour contest in a simulated urban environment, complete with traffic, intersections, and parking lots. The rolling robots varied from a driverless 12-ton Oshkosh truck to an autonomous Toyota Prius. Check out our video diary from this weekend's event.

Panasonic is using this year's SEMA show to launch the CN-GP50U, its first portable navigation device. The CN-GP50U features a 5-inch touch-screen display and comes with text-to-speech technology for reading out road names when under route guidance. A real-time traffic service from Clear Channel is available on the device with the purchase of a separate receiver. It also comes with built-in Bluetooth for hands-free calling and an industrial-strength in-car mount. Check out our first look.

After covering three Maker Faires over the last year and a half, one thing has become clear: there are one heck of a lot of people out there who like to make things.

For many people, this means toiling away in a garage, or a small workroom, using whatever tools they have handy. But there are limitations on what most people can make simply because they don't have that many tools and certainly don't have easy access to industrial fabrication tools.

Well, if you're in or near Silicon Valley, you may not know that you already have … Read more

Halloween is the one day of the year when it's OK to go all-out on a geeky costume. CNET News.com reporter Caroline McCarthy gave us 10 suggestions for techie Halloween costumes this year.

While we editors didn't see any dancing Mark Cubans or software pirates (believe us, we kept our eyes peeled), we did see a pair of LOLCats, a Nintendo Wii avatar, and...Facebook. Brace yourself for our techie Halloween slide show, and start your planning for next year.