Fortune Tech: Technology blogs, news and analysis from Fortune Magazine

FCC nominee Wheeler is more wonk than water-carrier

2013-06-19T19:56:50Z

There has been some concern about Tom Wheeler's lobbyist past and his role as a top Obama fundraiser. Is it warranted?

FORTUNE -- "Competition is a power unto itself that must be encouraged. Competitive markets produce better outcomes than regulated or uncompetitive markets."

That's a platitude that could easily have been uttered in the late 1990s, when financial markets were being deregulated. Or during the 1970s, when the airlines were being deregulated. MORE

'The issues have shifted' says the judge in the Apple e-book trial

2013-06-19T19:32:24Z

She waited until the penultimate day of a three-week trial to share her feelings.

FORTUNE -- U.S. District Judge Denise Cote, who played her cards close to the chest throughout the proceedings of the Department of Justice's antitrust case against Apple (AAPL), opened up a bit on Wednesday.

It started with the declaration of her feelings for her iPad, and ended with something that could be more material to the outcome of MORE

The biggest winners of an Internet sales tax

2013-06-19T15:58:00Z

By one estimate, as many as six million retailers in the U.S. could soon owe sales taxes on goods and services sold in other states. Tax software providers are seeing dollar signs.

By Lynnley Browning

FORTUNE -- At Avalara, a sales tax software company near Seattle, it's time to import more orange toilet paper from France.

The private company, where orange-shirted employees call themselves "Avalarians" and the signature color extends to bathroom stalls, is MORE

Houses that flip and fold into place

2013-06-19T18:49:14Z

Blu Home's environmentally friendly pre-fab houses can be folded to fit onto an 18-wheeler.

By Brian Dumaine, senior editor-at-large

FORTUNE -- Prefab houses have been around forever -- at the turn of the last century you could order a kit house from the Sears catalogue -- but they soon achieved a reputation for shoddy workmanship and unappealing design (think trailer-style homes). A new generation of architects and designers have decided that there's MORE

The Apple e-book antitrust trial: Enter Barnes & Noble

2013-06-19T17:54:35Z

As a witness, Theresa Horner was everything Apple could hope for.

FORTUNE -- Barnes & Noble (BKS), the last of the nationwide brick-and-morter bookstore chains, plays only a bit part in the Department of Justice's antitrust case against Apple (AAPL). It was one of the "other retailers" that, alongside Amazon (AMZN), was forced to change its business model when Apple joined the cabal of book publishers conspiring to raise the price MORE

The truth about Google's stock split

2013-06-19T11:57:49Z

Founder control has worked for the search giant. But that doesn't mean it is necessarily a better way.

FORTUNE -- You can't blame Google CEO Larry Page for not being consistent. As Google prepared to go public nine years ago, Page detailed in a letter to prospective investors the many ways in which Google would be unconventional. It would focus on users and on long-term results; it would have an unusual MORE

The return of the BlackBerry believers

2013-06-19T15:21:35Z

It's over for the struggling phone maker, right? Not so, says a vocal contingent of analysts and investors. They think the company's worst days are behind it.

Note: This story has been updated to reflect BBRY price changes on June 19.

By Kevin Kelleher, contributor

FORTUNE -- Has any company in the technology sector seen higher highs and lower lows in the past decade than BlackBerry?

If you remember, BlackBerry (BBRY) -- which earlier this MORE

Samsung has an Apple week, sheds $19 billion in market value

2013-06-19T02:56:52Z

The world's smartphone market leader gets a taste of what Apple has been going through.

FORTUNE -- Confession: Between Apple's (AAPL) developers conference (which I watched from afar) and the e-book antitrust trial (which I've been attending), I must have taken my eye off the Apple v. Samsung smartphone wars.

Otherwise, how could I have missed Miyoung Kim's report Sunday out of Reuters' Seoul bureau that triggered such memorable U.S. headlines as

Wall MORE

Google's not the only one with super-high-speed internet plans

2013-06-18T17:45:30Z

A number of companies and cities are trying to match Google's much-covered Fiber project.

By Verne Kopytoff

FORTUNE -- Google has repeatedly grabbed headlines with its ambitious plan to wire more than a dozen cities with super-fast Internet service. The attention is well deserved. People at home will be able to download entire movies in just a few seconds. Businesses will be able to shave time from online chores, build new MORE

Even business brands need effective UX

2013-06-18T17:58:39Z

Traditionally the province of consumer-oriented companies, user experience design has become more important for B2B companies.

By Doreen Lorenzo

FORTUNE -- The clear separation between consumer brands and business-to-business brands is fast disappearing, with profound implications for how companies plan, develop, design, and market their products and services.

In many ways, this evolution was inevitable. Our smartphone, tablet, and app-enabled age raised customer expectations. Whatever we do at home, at play, or MORE