Howard Baldwin

When the second-in-command of one of the most technologically advanced states in the country slams public-sector computing -- publicly -- it's a resounding wake-up call.

"Don't underestimate how far local, state and federal government is behind [in computing]," said California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom at a tech conference in Silicon Valley earlier this year. "We have to wake up to the new reality."

AT&T will begin selling the 4G LTE HTC One X smartphone in its retail stores on May 6 for $199.99, with pre-orders starting April 22.

The HTC One X is designed to offer improved sight and sound capabilities. The company said it was the first AT&T smartphone with Beats by Dr. Dre Audio technology built into both the hardware and software. AT&T says the audio technology delivers distortion-free sound at higher volume and better bass at all levels, whether the user is watching movies, playing games or streaming music.

IKEA will manufacture a new furniture line called Uppleva that will integrate television, speakers, Internet connection, and multiple disc players into an all-in-one system. The overarching goal is not only simplicity but the desire to eliminate “cord clutter,” based on the responses to an IKEA-sponsored survey conducted this year that revealed what people dislike most about electronics.

The television and other electronics will be made by Chinese manufacturer TCL and include a single remote control for all the devices. This is to address the survey result that found that 60 percent of respondents have between three and four remote control devices at home.

The Pew Internet Project’s recent survey on Digital Differences revealed that 20 percent of adults are “Internet innocents” – people who don’t go online and do not think the Web is relevant to them -- but hidden beneath those overall numbers are even more interesting tidbits.

I delved further into the Pew survey results and these five surprising results:

It was a busy week for Apple malware hunters fighting the Flashback Trojan horse, which has infected between 270,000 and 600,000 Macs. A bevy of tools to find and remove the malware debuted this week. And two days after promising to release a detection and removal tool, Apple finally offered its own fix.

Now, as the dust settles on what is considered to be the largest Mac malware threat to date, experts have started pointing fingers at Apple as being partially to blame for the scope of the Flashback malware infection. They argue that if Apple were more transparent about security issues--and if it had promptly released a Flashback fix--the extent of the damage could have been smaller. Also contributing to the magnitude of the infections is a boost in the number of Mac OS users, they say.

Facebook Thursday announced an update to its Download Your Information feature on the Account Settings page.

The DYI feature has been available since 2010, and gives users the ability to copy photos, posts, messages, lists of friends, and chat conversations for archival purposes.

Verizon Wireless announced Wednesday that, like AT&T and Sprint, it would begin charging its existing customers an upgrade fee on phones purchased at a discounted price, rather than the full retail price, with two-year contracts. The policy starts on April 22.

Most phones, however, are sold at discounted rates. The $30 upgrade fee applies no matter at what point within the contract the customer upgrades, Verizon spokesperson Brenda Raney told PCWorld. Verizon joins national competitors AT&T and Sprint, which already charge $36 in upgrade fees.

Today’s Google doodle--the occasional replacement for the logo at the top of the Google search page--commemorates the 182^nd birthday of Eadweard Muybridge, the photographer credited with the historic experiment that formed the foundation for motion pictures, especially animation.

It’s a matrix of stallions seen in profile, and by clicking the “play” icon in the center, the stallions slowly begin to run and gallop across the screen. In addition to being one of only a dozen or so animated doodles out of approximately 1,000 Google has done, it’s also one of the few that doesn’t obviously incorporate the company’s name.

Project Glass is Google's dream to mass produce hybrid glasses that act as a miniaturized smartphone wired with hands-free access to a micro display, cameras, microphone, Web browser, and speech recognition. It's the type of jaw dropping innovation the tech elite love.

But are a pair of Google augmented reality glasses practical? Some argue "yes" and others "no". Think texting and driving don't mix now, how about drivers sporting Google glasses video chatting with a friend? Then again, a pair of Google glasses could make you the "smartest" guy in the room - as long as there is a Web connection.

Someday we’ll look back on BlackBerry maker RIM's announcement to handle mobile device management for its competitors and say, "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

The new program, dubbed Mobile Fusion, allows companies to “manage a mixed environment of devices in the most secure, simple, and cost efficient manner possible,” according to a RIM statement.

Fallout from the Global Payments fiasco that could affect potentially millions of credit cardholders continues. First, Visa over the weekend dropped the Atlanta-based credit card processor from its ranks as a partner "compliant" in accepted industry data security standards.

Meanwhile, Global Payments said that cardholders' names, addresses and Social Security numbers were not obtained by hackers. The company says that only what’s known as Track 2 data (relating to the magnetic strip on the back of the card) was stolen--that is, the credit card numbers and their expiration dates.

There are apparently two kinds of lotteries in the United States: state-owned ones like MegaMillions, and class-action lawsuits. Your chances of big payments from both of them are approximately the same: small.

Owners of Apple iPhone 4s can now go to a website to register for a payment of $15 in compensation for their problems with the mobile device's antenna. Users reported poor reception issues when they held the phone by its metal sides in two opposite places. The late Steve Jobs famously replied, “Just avoid holding it in that way.”