Secrets

Road Trip 2010 ready to roll through East Coast

SAN FRANCISCO--Each summer for the last four years, I've been lucky enough to get to pick a region of the country and spend several weeks driving around, writing stories and taking photos of some of the best geek-oriented destinations I could find.

In 2006, it was the Pacific Northwest. In 2007, the Southwest. In 2008, it was the Southeast. And in 2009, I traveled through almost the entire Rocky Mountain and Continental Divide region. Over the four years, I've covered 18,528 miles and visited dozens of the most interesting research labs, military bases, aviation facilities, NASA centers, … Read more

Zuckerberg hoodie makes mountains of molehills

It's summer. It's the time of year when us business reporters are more likely to grudgingly (or not-so-grudgingly) refer to a day as a "slow news day," when CEOs are languishing on the decks of their yachts, when legislative bodies are more likely to be out of session. It's the season when we start wallowing in the quicksand of C-list celebrity deaths and even "X-Files"-caliber cryptozoology--as when, two years ago, gossip outlet Gawker became ensconced in the mystery surrounding the "Montauk Monster," a bizarre carcass that washed ashore on a … Read more

No secrets here

Do you want to know the Secrets Of The Richest People? Here's one: They didn't waste their time reading the nonsense found in this program. And really, this isn't a program at all: it's a 20-page PDF file that's full of grammatical errors and empty advice. But if cheesy motivational cliches are what you're looking for, you've come to the right place.

Right off the bat, this so-called program turned us off because it required that we enter our name and e-mail address to receive an activation code. (We see a lot of … Read more

Five hot Google search tricks

Google is always adding nifty ways to get information faster, like typing define before a word to bring up a dictionary definition or doing multiplication for you.

To help you stay a search master, here are five of the hottest search tricks to bust out of the Google labs.

Need to know the hours of the museum you want to visit? Type the word "hours" as part of your search, like "San Francisco museum of modern art hours," and you get the hours it's open right there in the results, without having to click through … Read more

Empty advice

Do you want to know the secret to success? Avoid Secrets of Success at all costs. This program isn't a program at all: it's a 52-page PDF that's full of grammatical errors and simpleminded advice.

This so-called program disappointed us right off the bat because you have to submit your name and e-mail address to register online and receive an activation code, which usually involves subsequent spammings. Once you've entered your code, you can open the PDF. Our eyes glazed over soon after reading the first paragraph, which is full of the worst sort of entrepreneurial … Read more

Canada's high-tech effort to 'own the podium'

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--Determined to make a better medal showing on its home soil, Canada has spent millions of dollars over the past several years in an effort to "own the podium."

And a big part of that effort has been a "top secret" program that aims to give the country's athletes better uniforms and better equipment, as well as access to technology that can help them improve their performance.

In the past five years, Canada has invested $8 million exploring anything that might give their athletes a boost, including better materials for uniforms, putting athletes … Read more

Apple lawyer confirms tablet existence?

Silicon Valley gossip blog Valleywag on Wednesday issued a call for readers to send in photos of the Apple tablet, in exchange for a cash prize of up to $100,000. On Thursday, Apple's own lawyers responded with something almost as good as pictorial evidence of the yet-unannounced device: a cease-and-desist letter.

Attorney Michael C. Spillner of prestigious Silicon Valley firm Orrick, Herrington, and Sutcliffe dashed off a letter to Valleywag's parent company, Gawker Media, beginning with this:

"I am writing on behalf of Apple regarding the notices on Gawker.com and Valleywag.com Web sites that Gawker Media will pay someone a financial reward for sending you photos, video, or a sample of an unannounced and highly confidential Apple product."

While it's not actually a confirmation, the letter, chock full of claims of infringements on Apple's trade secrets, does lend credence to the endless speculation that the device--"an unannounced and highly confidential Apple product"--does actually exist.

There are hundreds of bits of speculation that float around the Internet on a daily basis related to Apple. It's not often that the Cupertino, Calif.-based company responds--surely it does not mind all of the free marketing that results from the endless speculation about its products. But when it does respond, particularly with threats of legal action, it's a strong hint that the person or blog is on the right track.… Read more

Simple browser cleaner

Internet Secrets Protector offers to help scan a computer for delicate personal information and clean up your activity traces. Its easy layout and fast results make this a great tool for keeping data safe from online predators and prying eyes. This security tool is not only simple to use but also highly effective.

The program's main interface is incredibly simple to operate; it practically holds your hand through the entire process. It breaks down all the commands into icons that make navigation simple and intuitive. We were pleased with the program's flexibility, especially the file tree that allowed … Read more

This holiday, who's looking out for online shoppers?

Web shoppers are in need of a digital-age Ralph Nader, the kind of firebrand consumer advocate who can focus public scorn on unscrupulous merchants.

Last week, the U.S. Senate Commerce committee revealed that some of the Web's best-known retailers, including Barnes & Noble, Hotwire, Yahoo, Pizza Hut, Travelocity, Fandango, and Victoria's Secret, were part of a dubious marketing operation designed to mislead their own customers.

Serious questions about who's policing e-commerce were raised after the Commerce committee issued a report detailing how three marketing firms, Affinion, Webloyalty, and Vertrue, generated $1.4 billion with the help … Read more

Microsoft, ex-worker settle claims

Microsoft and a former employee have settled litigation involving allegations of patent infringement and trade secret theft.

Microsoft sued a former employee earlier this year for allegedly stealing trade secrets that were later used in a patent lawsuit against Microsoft partners, in which Microsoft later intervened as a party-defendant.

All parties deny any liability in the settlement, the terms of which were not disclosed, Miki Mullor, founder of Ancora Technologies, said in a statement.

Microsoft's lawsuit alleged that Mullor took a job at Microsoft in 2005 while he was still chief executive at Ancora. While working on the Windows … Read more