Gender

Microsoft has quietly reorganized its Zune team, splitting up the hardware and software teams, CNET News has learned.

The software and services portion of the Zune team--the bulk of its staff--will be added to the portfolio of Enrique Rodriguez, the vice president who currently runs Microsoft's Mediaroom and Media Center TV businesses. The hardware team, meanwhile, will now report to Tom Gibbons, who also leads the hardware design efforts within Microsoft's Windows Mobile unit.

"We're just being very pragmatic and even more so in a world in which not even Microsoft can afford to over-invest," … Read more

Updated at 12 p.m. PDT with news that the entry is now up for deletion.

WASHINGTON, D.C.--In the real world, I changed my gender from male to female a few years back and haven't looked back. But on Wikipedia, my pronouns seem to be changing all the time.

In the last few weeks, there's been a debate as to whether "he" or "she" should be used on my page with different volunteer editors taking opposite positions on whether I am entitled to use female pronouns.

After several days of being "… Read more

Major air carriers are opposing a Transportation Security Administration plan to collect the birth dates and genders of airplane travelers, along with their full names, saying the added data collection will create needless hassles.

While the new data collection could add to the annoyance of air travel for the masses of air passengers, the move would pose a special challenge for those of us for whom the question of gender is more complicated than checking one of the two boxes.

Now, I fly a lot. And while some people may see me as female, and others as male, the fact … Read more

While much of my conversation with Microsoft's Robbie Bach on Wednesday morning dealt with new parental controls for the Xbox, I did get a chance to get his thoughts on Google's phone plans.

"There's a ton of innovation going on in this space," said Bach, president of Microsoft's entertainment and devices unit. "They've made an announcement, now they have a product that they need to come and deliver."

But nothing in Google's plans was a surprise, Bach insisted. "It's a different direction than we are going, but it'… Read more

MSN is going green.

No, I don't mean that it has decided to compost all its Starbucks grounds. And I'm sure it's had recycle bins on more than PCs for a while.

The Microsoft-owned Web site has launched MSN Green, a site for all kinds of environmental news and information. Partners include Conservation International, National Geographic and Grist, an edgy environmental news site.

The initial content is a mixed bag. There was an interesting article on whether extended daylight saving time actually equates to energy savings, but also more iffy concepts, such as a story on how much wood is used … Read more

Welcome.

So what the heck is this Beyond Binary blog anyway?

The idea is to give more space to some of the best parts of my job as a reporter for CNET News.com--helping to connect the dots, talking about where things are headed in the industry, and telling some of the stories behind the stories I write.

As for the title, I wanted something to suggest that there's more to technology than just the code that underlies the products. What's really interesting is the way technology makes our lives simpler, or more difficult. Technology can help connect … Read more