Michael Liedtke

​Smartphones and tablets have been pushing the personal computer aside, thanks in part to popular apps made by mobile-first entrepreneurs like Flipboard CEO Mike McCue. Just don’t tell McCue the desktop is dead. In fact, the PC remains the mode of choice for many readers, especially during business hours. McCue is catering to that preference with Tuesday’s launch of a Web browser version of Flipboard’s digital magazine service. Until now, Flipboard’s 15 million magazines could only be read through a mobile app. “There is a whole group of people who don’t do that much browsing on their phones. That’s...

Who controls the Internet? That’s the heated debate that has Internet service providers like Comcast, Verizon and Time Warner Cable facing off against the U.S. government, content providers like Netflix and consumer groups. To ensure that all websites and content creators are treated equally and there’s no “pay-for-faster-play,” the head of the Federal Communications Commission is proposing that Internet access now be overseen like a public utility, such as landline phones. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, once a lobbyist for the very companies he now is going head-to-head with, says the U.S. must regulate Internet service providers more closely to...

Let’s say President Barack Obama gets his way and high-speed Internet service providers are governed by the same U.S. regulations imposed on telephone companies 80 years ago. Depending on whom you listen to, the rules could unleash future innovation and create jobs — or stifle innovation and kill jobs. The divisive and often confusing debate has intensified now that Obama has entered the fray. Obama’s stance is meant to protect “net neutrality,” the concept that everyone with an Internet connection should have equal access to all legal content online. The idea served as one of the Internet’s building blocks,...

Google’s (Nasdaq: GOOG) music-subscription service will try to anticipate its listeners’ mood swings as it amplifies its competition with Pandora, Spotify and other popular services that play tunes over the Internet. Starting Tuesday, the $10-a-month All Access service will make music suggestions based on educated guesses about each subscriber’s mood and likely activities at certain points in the day or week. For instance, a subscriber who opens the service on a smartphone on a Monday morning might be offered a playlist suited for commuting, going to the gym or getting motivated for work. Opening the app on Monday evening,...

Imagine what the Internet would be like if most major websites had imposed controls preventing the naked photos stolen from Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence and other celebrities from being posted online. The Internet would be less sleazy, but pre-screening more content might also mute its role as a megaphone for exposing abuses in government, big companies and other powerful institutions. To preserve the Internet as a free-wheeling forum, the U.S. Congress included a key provision in a 1998 law called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that governs the online distribution of photos, video and text. A “safe harbor” clause...

 Apple is teaming up with former nemesis IBM in an attempt to sell more iPhones and iPads to corporate customers and government agencies. The partnership announced Tuesday calls for the two technology companies to work together on about 100 different mobile applications designed for a wide range of industries. The applications, expected to be released this fall, will feature some of data-crunching tools that IBM Corp. sells to companies trying to get a better grasp on their main markets while scouring for new money-making opportunities. IBM (NYSE: IBM) is also pledging to provide better security to reassure companies concerned...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Electric car maker Tesla Motors is handing over the keys to its technology in an unusual effort to encourage other automakers to expand beyond gasoline-burning vehicles. Tesla CEO Elon Musk promised Thursday to give away the company’s entire patent portfolio to all comers, as long as they promised not to engage courtroom battles over intellectual property “If we clear a path to the creation of compelling electric vehicles, but then lay intellectual property landmines behind us to inhibit others, we are acting in a manner contrary to that goal,” Musk wrote in a blog on...

Nearly 60,000 high-tech workers are likely to receive an average of $4,000 apiece in a settlement of a class-action lawsuit alleging Apple and Google conspired in an illegal cartel of Silicon Valley employers that secretly refused to recruit each other’s engineers. The estimate is based upon an analysis of court documents in the case, including the terms of a $324.5 million settlement outlined for the first time in a filing made late Thursday. The final amounts paid to each of the eligible workers will vary depending on their salaries during the four-year period covered by the lawsuit. A federal...