Computer Industry

Google Inc. made waves in the tech world this week when it announced plans to release an operating system called Google Chrome OS that would encourage wider use of something called cloud computing. Although most have never heard of cloud computing, many do it every day.

California regulators Thursday adopted the world's first mandatory measures to control highly potent greenhouse gases emitted by the computer manufacturing industry. The new rules would cover 85 plants, mostly in Silicon Valley. They require most computer chip makers to slash releases of sulfur hexafluoride and other fluorinated gases by more than half over the next three years.

Over the last year, the technology world has been enamored of the possibilities of moving into the cloud. That's the latest trend in computing that enables consumers to forget about storing their software and data on local hard drives -- where it can be zapped by electrical surges and soft-drink spillage -- and let companies such as Amazon .com Inc., Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. worry about keeping it safe on a network of remote servers. The cloud computing concept is so appealing that the city of Los Angeles is considering scrapping its current e-mail system and replacing it with a cloud-based offering from Google, joining more than 2 million businesses already using that company's system.

Microsoft Corp., the world's largest software maker, is facing two new antitrust probes in Europe as regulators open another front in the dispute Monday three months after resolving a similar fight. The European Union will investigate whether Microsoft is using its dominance in word processing and spreadsheets to thwart rivals. It also will review whether Microsoft illegally tied an Internet browser to its Windows operating system.

Intel Corp. has built a new chip packed with a record 2 billion transistors, more than doubling the processing power of a line of its chips for supercomputers, the company said Monday. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company plans to present more information on its latest Itanium processor and a string of other technological achievements this week at the International Solid State Circuits Conference in San Francisco.

Acer Inc. overtook Dell Inc. to become the second-largest notebook-computer maker in the fourth quarter after acquiring Gateway Inc. last fall, according to research firm DisplaySearch. Acer, based in Taipei, shipped 5.25 million notebook computers in the last three months of 2007, according to DisplaySearch. Dell, based in Round Rock, Texas, slipped into third place with sales of 4.64 million notebooks during the fourth quarter. Hewlett-Packard Co. sold 6.

. -- Apple Inc. has no plans to declare a dividend or buy back its stock, Chief Executive Steve Jobs told the company's annual shareholder meeting Tuesday, adding that iPhone sales were on track. Jobs said he was confident Apple would hit its 2008 sales target of 10 million iPhones, a figure that some analysts have questioned, and executives said the iPhone would reach Asian markets this year.

Dell Inc. said Tuesday that the computer industry was experiencing a shortage of batteries for laptop models in part because of a recent fire at a major supplier. The computer maker said it was working with other suppliers to limit any price increases. Dell, the world's second-largest PC maker after Hewlett-Packard Co.

When the wind blows across the arid river basin, dust swirls and scatters over the sun-heated earth of this small farming town, sneaking into buildings on pant legs and the tops of shoes. Once the dust settles, someone invariably walks into Dan Gates' hardware store on E Street looking for a push broom and a box of a cleaning compound called Kleen Sweep. Gates used to sell about a box a week. Lately he has been selling boxes by the pallet.

The daylong event honoring the computer-science whiz who helped create automated teller machines will be part celebration, part science fair. But don't call it a memorial or funeral. That would be too final. The commemoration of Jim Gray's life on Saturday is billed as a "tribute," as if the 6-foot-3 Microsoft Corp. researcher might stroll right into UC Berkeley's Wheeler Hall for the kind of academic symposium he loved to attend, where experts come together to solve a problem.