What do old WWII films, Apple vs. Microsoft and the Republic of Armenia have in common? In the last couple weeks, all have reminded us that if there is one constant in the world of high technology, it is that there are no constants: winners can suddenly look like losers, losers can become winners,and what we've grown accustomed to can suddenly take on new life again. Three brief commentaries by Edgelings.com editor-in-chief Michael S. Malone

Facebook may have finally done it: found a way to take its look-at-me culture one step too far. It's called "Photo Tagger" from Face.com, and its an impressive little photo recognition app that, in use, will absolutely freak you out if you are Facebook user. You'll see what we mean when you read the story and watch the video from NBC-KNTV tech reporter and regular Edgelings contributor Scott Budman.

A new book by Edgelings editor-in-chief Michael S. Malone and Silicon Valley marketing guru Tom Hayes offers a novel and compelling view of what the emerging global marketplace will REALLY look like. Neither 'flat', nor 'bumpy', the authors predict that it will, in fact, be both: a dizzying combination of the chaos of a global market square combined with the hermetic private world of a million small groups. Here's a quick summary of the key themes of the book.

In a fit of sanity this week, the House Financial Services committee voted to amend Sarbanes-Oxley, the regulation -- passed in the aftermath of the dot.com bust and Enron -- that was designed to stop corporate corruption . . .but instead crushed U.S. entrepreneurship for the rest of the decade. Without S-Ox, as it is called, the economy still would have crashed -- but we'd also be climbing out of it a whole lot more quickly. This week's vote was a good start, but it should be only the beginning. Commentary by Edgelings editor-in-chief Michael S. Malone.

After spending years as a tiny on-line CD trading service, Silicon Valley's LaLa Media decided to position itself right at the intersection between a music industry that has finally decided to accept the new business model demanded by music sharing, and a growing number of new hardware and Web 2.0 platforms that want to offer that shared music. The result is something odd bedfellows -- not least tiny Lala, whose entire staff fits into a tiny Palo Alto loft, and such giants as Google and Facebook. Commentary and video by NBC-KNTV tech reporter and regular Edgelings contributor Scott Budman.

There comes a moment to start believing that little voice inside you -- and when it comes to the U.S. economy, that moment has arrived. The stimulus accomplished little, most of the recent good economic news was a Cash for Clunkers bubble, and there's no way you can print and spend trillions of new dollars without runaway inflation. It's time to face reality and start making plans for how to survive the trainwreck in our near future. The good news is that technology is here to help. Commentary by Edgelings editor-in-chief Michael S. Malone.

Things appear to be looking up in the tech world -- good news for Washington, which can't turn around this economy without major assistance from the nation's largest manufacturing sector. But what if this recovery in tech is just an illusion, a pretty wrapper on what is now, thanks to over-regulation and the Administration's anti-small business attitude, a hollow shell? Commentary by Edgelings editor-in-chief Michael S. Malone

One of the great things about Silicon Valley is not only that you get a glimpse of the future thanks to the innovations of local companies -- but you also get to see the best that the rest of the world has to offer as it comes to the Valley looking for buyers. This week, even the most jaded Valley investors and companies were stunned to see a new Taiwanese audio speaker technology made from . . . paper. Dorm rooms will never again be the same. Commentary and a Qik video by NBC-KNTV tech reporter and regular Edgelings contributor, Scott Budman.

If you were among the estimated one million users of the Microsoft/T-Mobile Sidekick smart phone, this week's massive data loss was a special kind of betrayal for which the subsequent recovery is only partial recompense. As for the rest of us, this story should serve as a warning to never again put our faith in a vast, distant data 'Cloud' -- and to start asking some tough questions of those who manage it. Commentary by Edgelings Editor-in-Chief Michael S. Malone [See also Scott Budman's blog and video on the same topic, below.]

Who doesn't like clouds? They're soft and fluffy and harmless -- and far, far away. That is, until they suddenly unleash hail and lightning. The same is true for Computing Clouds, that hot new tech term for distant networks of computers that store all of the data that won't fit on your cellphone or wireless device. But, with the recent crash of the Cloud supporting the Microsoft/T-Mobile Sidekick smartphone -- and the loss of billions of bytes of user's private information -- all of the promises made for the safety and security of Computing Clouds have suddenly been placed in doubt. Commentary and video by KNTV-NBC tech reporter and regular Edgelings contributor Scott Budman.

High technology isn't just about the latest products and services from the coolest companies -- though that's what gets all of the attention. The real business of tech is the long slow grind of selling aging technology to budget-conscious companies in non-glamorous vertical markets . . .like real estate. There, great tech wars take place, as vicious as anything between Apple and Microsoft, unnoticed by the outside world. To get a glimpse of this other side of the digital revolution, in a business that may be more affected by this recession than any other, Edgelings editor-in-chief Michael S. Malone spent a day at the California Association of Realtors Expo 2009 Convention.

Looking for a job these days is difficult enough. But even if you are clever (or desperate) enough to try all of those on-line job placement sites like Monster.com -- and the various on-line communities like Facebook -- how do you keep them all organized and up-to-date. Now a new Silicon Valley start-up is offering a free service to help you do just that. Report and video by KNTV-NBC tech reporter and regular Edgelings contributor Scott Budman.

You may be worried these days about making this month's mortgage check and keeping your job -- but in boardrooms of the nation's top high tech companies, they are already maneuvering to get the jump on the competition. What these world-class CEOs know is that bad times, not good, are when you win the war in business. Commentary by Edgelings Editor-in-Chief Michael S. Malone.

Remember those kids who used to hang around the video game arcade -- the losers, everyone was convinced, who would never amount to anything? Well, those slackers, along with the subsequent generation of kids who played Half-Life online instead of going to class, are now in the corporate world . . .and guess what? All of those worthless skills are turning out to be pretty valuable after all in a world of avatars and meetings in Second Life. Story and video by NBC-KNTV tech reporter and regular Edgelings.com contributor Scott Budman.

Intel Corporation's chief scientist this week made a public statement that seemed to suggest that computers that think like human beings might be just around the corner. That is hardly surprising: the torrid pace of technological change sure seems to suggest that miracle is both imminent and inevitable. But if that's the case, why are even our most powerful supercomputers still so damn dumb? Some thoughts (and human thinking) by Edgelings editor-in-chief Michael S. Malone.

A year ago, industry observers were convinced that the social networking site Facebook had peaked. Like MySpace before it, Facebook seemed destined to slide into oblivion, victim of both bad management decisions and fickle young users. But this week, Facebook not only announced that it had reached an astounding 300 million users, but that for the first time it was profitable. Maybe it's time to start worrying . . . Commentary by Edgelings editor-in-chief Michael S. Malone.

Has any business leader ever held the world in such rapt attention as Apple's Steve Jobs? First, he was the hottest entrepreneur of his generation, then one of the biggest failures. Then, in a lateral move, he took over Pixar and led it Hollywood glory. But that was nothing compared to Jobs' triumphal return to Apple -- where, for the last decade, he has given the tech world one thrilling consumer product after another. A genius, a monster, and the perhaps the greatest product manager ever, Jobs has now, unwillingly, held the world's attention over the last few years as he's battle pancreatic cancer and its complications. And, in a life of legendary moments, perhaps none was bigger than Jobs' reappearance this week on stage at an Apple event. Scott Budman, KNTV-NBC tech reporter and regular Edgelings contributor, reports (with video).

This is the time of year when millions of young Americans are heading off to college, many of them for the first time. And these days, that means equipping them with the technology they need to navigate the digital world for their classwork and their personal lives. The good news is that the hardware they need is cheaper and more poerful than ever. The bad news is that all of the networking services -- Internet, cellphone, smartcards -- they'll need will more than eat up all of the savings on equipment. A report from the front lines of new college kid parenthood by Edgelings editor-in-chief Michael S. Malone.

So . . .have you ever notice that when you're talking to a techie, especially someone from the dot.com world, that they punctuate almost every remark with the opening: "So . . ."? Scott Budman has. What began a decade ago as a kind of place-marker, a verbal tic that gave the speaker time to ponder how to phrase an arcane topic in a simple way, has now become a key component of Tech Speak, a punctuation mark in programmer patois. If you don't believe it, just listen. Commentary by NBC-KNTV tech reporter and regular Edgelings contributor Scott Budman.

As the U.S. economy slowly recovers from last year's recession, the two most likely scenarios for the future are grim: even if we escape a double-dip recession, we're still likely to face a long, painful and jobless recovery. Meanwhile, inside the Beltway, the White House and Congress seem more concerned with social engineering than restoring prosperity. So here's a modest proposal: as long as President Obama is creating 'Czars', why doesn't he name an Entrepreneurship Czar to protect America's crucial small businesses from the predations of his other Czars?

With the entire electronic game industry slowing down, this might seem an unfortunate time to bring out "The Beatles: Rock Band." Sure, it will sell well . . .but you can't expect one game to save an entire industry. Or can you? This is the BEATLES we're talking about, after all, the little pop group that once turned the entire world upside down. Commentary by Edgelings editor-in-chief (and former rock music critic) Michael S. Malone.

The new Tesla electric roadster is one of the world's most desirable new cars. But cool as it is, is it truly the right wheels for the real world? KNTV-NBC high technology reporter and regular Edgelings contributor Scott Budman makes the ultimate sacrifice and test drives the newest model for the rest of us . . .lucky dog. Commentary and video

With the stock market finally emerging from its doldrums, now is the time to look to the future of the U.S. economy. Are we really heading towards another era of prosperity . . .or are we going to sink back into yet another downturn? And if the latter, what shape will this second downturn take, and when can we hope to get out of it? Forbes Magazine publisher and regular Edgelings contributor Rich Karlgaard offers a novel, though downbeat, answer.

It is becoming increasingly obvious that the single most important commodity in the modern world is Trust. In a world where we get our news from bloggers and comedy shows, buy goods from Mozambique on eBay and depend upon pundits and 'experts' to guide us through the complexities of law, business and politics, almost everything now depends upon who what we believe and who we trust. So how come so many politicians and businesspeople fail to understand that? Edgelings editor-in-chief Michael S. Malone had just such a trust-busting encounter with . . .Comcast.

Video game giant Electronic Arts is going all-out in support of its new comic/movie-based game, "G.I.Joe". The company has gone so far as to paint a giant Cobra head on the lawn that runs through its South San Francisco campus. It's fun for EA employees, but for the rest of us it is a glimpse of the new world of strategic partnerships between game designers, toy makers and Hollywood. Reporting and video by KNTV-NBC tech reporter and regular Edgelings contributor, Scott Budman.

The latest news from the Bureau of Labor Statistics is that wages in Silicon Valley have enjoyed huge growth -- $35,000 per worker - over the last seven years. But a closer look suggests that rather than being good news, this and other BLS stats offer a troubling glimpse of America's most creative business community in dire straits. Commentary by Edgelings editor-in-chief Michael S. Malone.

Think of it as Bollywood 2.0. One of the most beautiful actresses in the Indian film world, Mallika, is proving that she is just as technologically hip as her Hollywood counterparts like Ashton Kutcher. And, in her recent visit -- a pilgrimage of sorts -- to Twitter, she also showed why it's good to be a high tech entrepreneur . . . Commentary and video (including outtakes) by NBC-KNTV tech reporter and regular Edgelings contributor Scott Budman.

With traditional advertising venues -- from mainstream publications to newspapers to trade magazines -- disappearing, high tech companies are going back to their roots: billboards. These days, to drive down Silicon Valley's Highway 101 from San Francisco to San Jose is to encounter a bewildering number of billboards rented by some of the world's biggest companies, speaking in obscure tech argot to the thousands of engineers gridlocked in cars below. Commentary and video by KNTV-NBC tech reporter and regular Edgelings contributor Scott Budman.

It's supposed to be so easy: you just go down to the stereo/computer/electronics store and buy the coolest new products. But it's more complicated than that . . .as anybody who has owned an 'orphaned' device knows all too well. Suddenly that expensive PC or MP3 player or game platform turns into an expensive paperweight -- while all of your friends who played it safe in their purchases come out looking like winners. So, is the best strategy to stay away from leading edge? Maybe -- but fall too far behind and you'll be in even worse shape. Ain't technology fun?

The reviews are in: Wall Street wasn't impressed by the Yahoo-Microsoft deal . . .and Yahoo shareholders are left asking: what will it take to see their stock, long in the doldrums, begin to regain even a hint of its old glory? KNTV/NBC tech reporter and regular Edgelings contributor Scott Budman thinks he has the the answer: a simple story.