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.