Microsoft CEO: True U.S. recovery should include the poor

Sustained unemployment would eventually put a damper on the market's early gains

So far the main beneficiaries in the nascent recovery have been well-off, says Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. For things to really bounce back, things need to get better for everyone else.

I caught up with Ballmer at Microsoft's (MSFT) Redmond headquarters last week, and we covered a wide range of topics. His overall message: Microsoft has a lot of big MORE

Google TV? No thanks

Consumers don't want the web on TV – they want a better TV experience

As you might have seen last week, my Techmate sparring partner Michael and I got into it a bit about Google TV. He liked the idea, I didn't.

I still don't.

At the time when we shot our video segment on the subject (see below), I had heard rumors about the announcement, and the details weren't  yet clear – MORE

Going social in India: The rise of Web 2.0 in the developing world

What does social networking mean in developing economies, where laptops are harder to find and phones are often for texting, not browsing?

Over lunch this week, I put that question to Vineet Nayar. Besides being CEO of India-based outsourcing giant HCL Technologies, Nayar is an avid observer of the Internet's effect on global business and culture. His answer was thought provoking: We think too narrowly if we look only at services MORE

Good times? Cisco's hiring, and shopping

Cisco is among the most important bellwethers in the tech economy, so all eyes were on CEO John Chambers when the networking giant released its earnings numbers Wednesday.

The news was good: revenue of $10.4 billion and non-GAAP earnings per share of 42 cents both beat even Wall Street's optimists, and Cisco (CSCO) raised guidance for the current quarter. Chambers called it the company's best quarter ever.

But some of the most MORE

Intel vs. AMD gets interesting again

Left for dead, AMD is showing why it can never be counted out.

When I sat down with AMD CEO Dirk Meyer a few weeks ago to talk about how he planned to invigorate the wayward chipmaker, Intel barely came up.

Now it's clear why. Rather than focus on his perennial rival, Meyer has been whipping his own company into shape. The results so far look promising: AMD (AMD) is poised to MORE

Is Lexmark the printing world's most eligible bachelor?

Hollywood has George Clooney. New York has Derek Jeter. Lexington, Kentucky has Lexmark.

Lexmark (LXK), for the uninitiated, is a printer company; pretty much the one that isn't based in the New York area, California or Japan. And recently investors have been buzzing again that the printer-maker would make a fine target to get hitched – either taken private or acquired. Bank of America Merrill Lynch ranked it number one on a MORE

Q&A: HP's strategy chief on the Palm acquisition

Hewlett-Packard's Shane Robison is one of my favorite guys to chat with in Silicon Valley.

As chief strategy officer and chief technology officer for the top-ranked tech company on the Fortune 500, Robison doesn't just have a great sense of where tech M&A is going, he's in the driver's seat. He's also a savvy executive. Consider that he's managed the big picture at HP (HPQ) under two very different bosses in MORE

HP to buy Palm: Now the hard part

For this to work, HP must fix its tangled approach to mobile software

This is either the end of Palm, or the restart it always needed. Either way, it's probably the iconic brand's last chance for survival – and Hewlett-Packard's best chance for mobile relevance.

When HP (HPQ) announced Wednesday that it's buying Palm (PALM) for $1.2 billion, we began the latest chapter in a tortured tale. Palm has been bought (U.S. MORE

Why Apple likes ARM

Apple is sitting on a heap of cash – more than $40 billion at last count – and the big question has been what the company will do with it. Investors in London this week are buzzing about one possibility: It might buy ARM.

ARM (ARMH) shares have shot up this week on the speculation, bringing them to levels they haven't seen since 2002. As of now, it looks like it MORE

Live: iPhone OS 4.0 preview at Apple headquarters

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