Thomas Wailgum

I receive a lot of promotional e-mails that blast "new," "game changing" and "dramatic" survey results that relate to technology--whether in the consumer or enterprise (B2B) space.

Most of the "revelations" in these survey results aren't revelatory or, for that matter, interesting. They merely state what's been surveyed and accounted for before (and what's been added to our conventional wisdom).

So much in the high-tech world that should be factually airtight-as in: it's either 4G speed or it's not-is, instead, always up for marketing's misappropriation, your CEO's hyperbolic exaggeration or a sales rep's truth bending.

In other words, the true meaning for some technologies or services is that it depends on who you are talking to.

Business analytics is atop most companies' apps wish lists. The business goal, of course, is to make sense of the enormous amount of data and information housed in their servers--and stop making critical decisions from the gut.

"The combination of an increasingly complex world, the vast proliferation of data, and the pressing need to stay one step ahead of the competition has sharpened focus on using analytics within organizations," notes a new study by IBM's Institute for Business Value and MIT Sloan Management Review.

In CIO.com's article In-Flight Wi-Fi Turbulence: Travelers Reluctant to Pay, research from In-Stat showed that airlines are investing heavily in Wi-Fi systems-estimated at nearly half a billion dollars by 2013-while passengers now expect the service to be as free as the pack of nuts and half can of Diet Coke.

Today, there are plenty of "legacy" airplanes that don't offer in-flight Wi-Fi connections. (In-Stat notes that just 25 planes offered the service in 2008, though that number is growing.)

In 2008, the number of commercial aircraft that offered in-flight Wi-Fi service totaled just 25, according to market researcher In-Stat. By the end of 2010, however, In-Stat predicts that number should reach 2,000 planes.

Based on these numbers, it's clear the airline industry sees in-flight broadband services as another critical offering for its customers-and also a way to make more money off travelers.

All too often, it seems like there's a full moon out when it comes to Twitter: People who use the microblogging service do some very strange things.

Since Twitter is such a new place for millions -- with many unwritten rules, nebulous social mores and unfinished codes of conduct -- it's sometimes fun to watch people act like they're working with half a Tweetdeck. These are my 10 favorite observations about today's Twitter Twilight Zone and those who enter it:

The "Mark Hurd-HP-expense report-false sexual harassment claims-Jodie Fisher" scandal is in full swing now, despite HP's efforts to keep a lid on this thing—which began with a well-timed Friday "Oh By The Way" 5 p.m. press announcement last week. (For the record, HP's shares lost $8.7 billion in market value on Monday.)

Unfortunately for HP, it appears that there are still many more questions than answers, too many obvious contradictions that haven't been addressed, and some HP executive practices that were not "The HP Way." Here are five factors that make you go "Hmmmmm."

For the retailing industry, the adoption of radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology this decade has been one long, strange journey: Periods of irrational exuberance followed by times of great frustration and confusion; expensive pilot projects riddled with technical, standards-based and cost complexities; and a widespread belief among those retailers or CPG manufacturers that were forced into the RFID universe that it is a technology solution in search of a problem.

No one--not even Wal-Mart, which famously kicked off its crusade toward retail RFID nirvana in 2003--ever said retail RFID projects were going to be easy.

Yesterday, coffee-purveyor Starbucks reversed course on its long-standing in-store Wi-Fi policy by announcing that starting July 1, Wi-Fi would be free in all its U.S. establishments.

Though CEO Howard Schultz broke the news, CIO Stephen Gillett stands at the center of Starbucks' new and expanded Wi-Fi strategy. Gillett's other title is general manager of Digital Ventures, a relatively new group driving Starbucks' evolving in-store tech offerings.