Harry McCracken

Apple's iPhone OS, Google's Android, Microsoft's Windows Mobile, RIM's BlackBerry OS, Symbian's S60 and now Palm Pre's WebOS. Which smartphone operating system is the best?

Apple is turning to materials that have made its consumer products successful, including aluminum and glass, to add some environmentally-healthy features to its latest desktop. Steve Jobs offers a demo

It all starts with vague rumblings of a cryptically code-named operating system upgrade. Next come multiple beta versions, accompanied by repeated delays, mysterious disappearing features, and other indications of altered plans. Eventually, there's a real, boxed product that folks can buy.

Scott Spanbauer, our veteran watcher of all things WebBloatware. It's an ugly term for an ugly phenomenon: the tendency of software developers to cram in every imaginable feature, including some that shouldn't have been imagined in the first place. Creeping featuritis rarely results in better programs. It often makes them harder to use. And it can leave them sluggish, insecure, and unreliable.

Palm or Pocket PC? It

A peek at Office upgrade

When Compaq Computer Corp. unveils a new line of consumer and business-computing devices, you might assume that...