Tim O Reilly

Silicon Valley insiders call it the O'Reilly Radar: Tim O'Reilly's uncanny ability to spot a technology revolution before it happens. But lately the entrepreneur, investor and book publisher has been busier trying to incite the next one. He is urging young entrepreneurs and engineers to stop making some of the sillier software that lets Facebook users throw virtual sheep at their friends or download virtual beer on iPhones, and instead start making a real difference in the world.

Silicon Valley insiders call it the O'Reilly Radar: Tim O'Reilly's uncanny ability to spot a technology revolution before it happens. But lately the entrepreneur, investor and book publisher has been busier trying to incite the next one. He is urging young entrepreneurs and engineers to stop making some of the sillier software that lets Facebook users throw virtual sheep at their friends or download virtual beer on iPhones, and instead start making a real difference in the world.

Katie Jacobs Stanton, a former Google Inc. veteran who took White House and State Department jobs in the Obama administration, is returning to California to join Twitter Inc. Stanton, who made the announcement Friday on Twitter, will head the company's international strategy. Stanton worked on new-media strategies for President Obama's 2008 campaign, served as White House director of citizen participation and in December began helping the State Department use social media in international diplomacy and aid. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has focused on Internet freedom as an important plank of U.S. foreign policy.

Sophomore quarterback Jon Denton threw three first-half touchdown passes as Nevada Las Vegas defeated Illinois State, 41-6, Saturday night in a nonconference game. Denton completed 21 of 30 passes for 295 yards before leaving the game after three quarters. UNLV (2-2) has now doubled its 1996 victory total and will travel to Los Angeles to play USC on Saturday. The Rebels, who scored on their first six possessions, outgained Illinois State (2-3), a Division I-A opponent, 594 yards to 233 yards.

Merck & Co. said it won U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of its potential blockbuster asthma drug Singulair, sending the company's shares up nearly 5%. Merck shares rose $5.94 to close at $130.63 in active trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday. Peak worldwide sales of Singulair could exceed $1 billion a year, putting pressure on competitors Zeneca and Abbott Laboratories, and asthma-inhaler makers such as Glaxo Wellcome, Schering-Plough Corp.

Mark David Perelli was arrested Jan. 5 in Long Beach and was accused of videotaping down a woman's blouse and up her skirt while she was shopping in a shoe store. Just a week earlier, that kind of invasion of a woman's privacy would have been legal. Perelli has been charged under a law, which took effect Jan. 1, that makes it much more clear that such sleazy invasions of privacy are a misdemeanor violation. Perelli has pleaded not guilty.

In a sign the federal government may be renewing its long-standing probe of Microsoft Corp., the software giant disclosed Thursday that the Justice Department has asked it for information on how it sells products for the red-hot Internet software market. Industry experts speculated that the Justice Department is seeking to determine whether Redmond, Wash.

Netscape Communications Corp. on Tuesday asked the U.S. Justice Department to take immediate action against Microsoft Corp., alleging that the software giant has violated a 1994 antitrust settlement and engaged in "far-reaching, anti-competitive behavior."

A new start-up hopes to appeal to the mercenary and educated masses, rewarding individuals with bounties of $10,000 or more when they provide information that helps companies settle high-stakes patent disputes. By using the power of the Web and cash incentives, Boston-based BountyQuest Corp.

When Apple Computer Inc. announced in April that it would provide software that lets Macintosh computers switch between the Mac operating system and Microsoft Windows, the Mac faithful were split. Some applauded the move as a way to access Windows applications they occasionally needed. Others saw it as a heretical concession to the evil empire. The bigger meaning may be creeping irrelevance for all PC operating systems, whose functions are rapidly being subsumed by the Internet.

Is Google Inc. arming itself to challenge Microsoft Corp.'s Windows software by developing an operating system that lives on the Internet? The closely held search-engine company has been clear that its goal is to organize the world's information. But its followers have been seeing that lofty mission statement in a whole new light since Google unveiled plans this month for a free e-mail service -- with enough storage space for every user to hoard nearly 500,000 pages of messages.