Stories by Lincoln Spector

Brand-name LCD HDTVs get cheaper

Anyone familiar with LCD HDTVs expects their prices to decrease, and for TVs from established companies to cost more than models from upstarts like Insignia and Vizio -- but no one expects the top-shelf brands to come down in price faster than the value brands. Yet that is exactly what's happening. Higher-end brands no longer carry the premium they once did: The delta between the value brands and the big-name brands can be as little as $100 these days.

WiMax Forum forecasts 100 launches this year

It may not have made a huge splash in the United States, but WiMax coverage continues to grow in many international markets. According to the WiMax Forum, about 100 carriers worldwide will offer the 4G wireless technology for the first time this year.

Steve Wozniak's enterprise play

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has been involved in a lot of technology startups since leaving Apple in the 1980s, many related to the mobile and consumer electronics industries. His latest venture: An enterprise storage firm based in Salt Lake City.

Self-fueling robot will 'eat' plants for power

Robotics Technology is developing a robot that consumes biomass, such as plant material, and converts it to electricity to power itself. The whimsically-named Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot (EATR) is intended for jobs where regular, conventional fueling would be impractical, such as military recognizance.

Software algorithm visualizes large data sets

Scientists have more data at their disposal than ever before -- often more than they can properly examine. But a new algorithm should make it easier for them to visualize huge data sets. And cheaper, too; software based on the algorithm can run on personal computers with as little as 2GB of RAM.

How Do I Stop a Cyberstalking Ex

An anonymous reader's ex-boyfriend has been posting sexually-explicit personal ads on Craigslist, using her name. How can she stop him?

Study says consumers want green tech

According to a new report released by the Consumer Electronics Association, consumers want environmentally friendly electronic devices. They may even be willing to pay more for them.

Six downloadable boot discs that could save your PC

Way back in the 20th century, Windows prepared you for the day your PC wouldn't boot. It came with a program that formatted a bootable floppy disk, complete with diagnostic and repair utilities. If you had the forethought to create that floppy while Windows was still working, you were ready when it eventually failed.

Iomega debuts versatile backup drive

Iomega is releasing in the US this week a new all-around backup solution: It uses hard drive technology, but is packaged in removable cartridges so you can buy one drive yet swap media.

Could you be sending spam?

It started out looking like a typical morning's e-mail--some legitimate messages, a lot of spam, and two Delivery Failure notices informing me of messages I had sent to nonexistent addresses. But the bounced messages, which appeared to have been sent from my PC World e-mail address, bore the subject "The World's smallest Digital Camera." The message hawked a product I've never seen--or written about.

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