Stories by John Brandon

No Man Sky launch on PC puts a big dent in the resurgence of computer gaming

The No Man's Sky launch on PC is a terrible nightmare. Some gamers have even decided to wait for bug fixes. This is not a good sign.

Why an Verizon and Yahoo merger would be like Microsoft snapping up CompuServe

Cultures collide, it happens. But this one is a bad idea.

Security concerns rising for Internet of Things devices

The burgeoning market for gadgets that trigger a sprinkler system, help you count the number of times you swing a bat, or dim the lights automatically are rising. That’s a concern for any business due to how these devices are also starting to show up...

4 IT leaders share the mobile apps they use every day

If you’re anything like the typical smartphone user, you have a ton of apps that you barely even notice, let alone use. IT execs are no different, of course. But these apps are different, rising above the typical app clutter to become the ones these ...

In Pictures: 10 Microsoft research projects

An early look at cutting-edge technology being developed by Microsoft

In Pictures: 8 iPad apps that are complex, powerful and advanced

Most people don't think of the iPad as a high-end computing device. These eight apps prove otherwise.

In Pictures: 8 iPad Apps That Are Complex, Powerful and Advanced

Most people don't think of the iPad as a high-end computing device. These eight apps prove otherwise.

Ford SYNC voice-control upgrade understands you even if you talk funny

Even the techiest cars today have clunky voice features compared to what you'll experience on an iPhone or Android phone. When Ford updated its SYNC infotainment system (to version 3.6.2) in August, it claimed to have improved the speech recognition....

In Pictures: 8 cool heat maps that help visualise Big Data

Big or small, data can be difficult to visualise. These examples use heat maps to put massive data sets into a context that's easy to understand.

In Pictures: 10 technologies that changed business forever

The applications, devices and services that have changed the way we do business often started as small-scale alternatives to the status quo. Now we can't survive without them.

In pictures: Mondo datacentres

Think you have to manage a lot of IT gear? These massive facilities - each at least 100,000 square feet and most much larger than that -- house thousands of servers and process millions of documents, images and videos every day.

Replacing legacy applications: Four problems solved

Legacy applications are one of the most difficult issues to face within IT. A rip-and-replace approach is expensive, difficult to cost-justify and tends to interrupt business. Meanwhile, the legacy software lingers in accounting's ledgers, outlives i...

Must-have data center utilities: Picks by IT pros

Not everything is handed to data center managers on a silver platter. Sure, a few administrative tools arrive on freshly produced discs right from the server vendor. But there are some indispensable tools you can get from third parties, open-source p...

Six rising threats from cybercriminals

Hackers never sleep, it seems. Just when you think you've battened down the hatches and fully protected yourself or your business from electronic security risks, along comes a new exploit to keep you up at night. It might be an SMS text message with ...

Data centers experiment with new power sources

Data center power usage is soaring -- the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that data center energy requirements will double in the next five years. To address that surge in energy use, some companies are turning to alternative sources o...