It probably surprises no one to hear that the world is going mobile, but the sheer size of this market has been difficult to truly fathom.

Market analyst firm Jon Peddie Research recently gave this space some more clarity with a report analyzing our beloved mobile gadgets and the semiconductors behind them.

Internet pundits have been sounding an alarm cry—literally—for years: We are running out of IP addresses, the basic building blocks of all things Internet. In fact, for the most part, we actually did run out of IP addresses earlier this year, an occurrence that should have had users crying into their FarmVille-harvested soup.

And what did the public have to say about all of this?

Android 4.0, quaintly known as “Ice Cream Sandwich,” is dropping any day now—probably before mid-December—and both tablet and smartphone fans are salivating for it.

Ice Cream Sandwich will at last unify the heavily fragmented Android OS world—one for smartphones and one for tablets—into a single OS, much the way Apple’s iOS is managed. That means just about every new Android device should be “4.0-ready” when it ships, and many existing devices will be upgradeable to the new OS, too.

If you’ve shopped for a new computer or new hard drive recently, you’re probably aware of considerable buzz about a relatively new class of storage called SSDs.

SSD stands for “solid-state drive.” In a nutshell, it’s a hard drive with no moving parts. Much like a USB thumbdrive lets you store files quickly, silently, and portably, an SSD stores data without relying on the complex trappings of the traditional, spinning-platter hard drive.

If the rumors are correct, Windows 8 will arrive in time for the holidays next year — and when it does we’ll be looking at a whole new way of working with our computers. Some are calling Windows 8 the most revolutionary PC operating system yet, and if it catches on, we’ll probably never look back.

Here are the five most interesting things you need to know about Windows 8 — so far, anyway

Back in the old days – you know, the ’90s – you got one way to connect your computer to a monitor. It was called VGA, and you liked it. Sure, the pins would bend and break off, the little thumbscrews that kept the plug from falling out were impossible to deal with, and the quality was barely above that of your VCR. But you knew that it was going to work, since every computer and every monitor supported it.

Then came digital, and everything changed. First there was DVI (in a variety of plug designs), with its bulky and equally fragile connectors. Then the rise of HDTV brought yet another option: HDMI, and thanks in part to its slim connector and its ability to carry audio along with the video signal, it caught on fast. But a couple of years ago arose another digital connector option – DisplayPort – which also appears to have legs.

If you’ve ever connected a media player to your laptop to sync up a few gigabytes of music and movies, only to spend the next eight hours waiting … waiting … waiting for the job to complete, you’re the number one candidate for USB 3.0.

USB 3.0, as the name implies, is the third major version of the USB standard, perhaps the most successful, universally-adopted connector format in the history of computing.

It’s become a strange but widely accepted practice in living rooms everywhere: Someone has a funny YouTube video or a bunch of family photos on their laptop, so they haul everyone present into an impromptu viewing session, all huddled in front of the tiny screen.

This is cute for a while, but then discomfort sets in. Inevitably a child’s head pops into the way at just the wrong moment, landing directly between you and the laptop at the point when the donkey kicks the guy in the face, ruining the comic effect.

Cell phone processors and laptop CPUs get faster and faster every year, but there’s one thing that hasn’t kept up: The mobile data network that everything connects to.

Change is coming to the world of wireless, but it’s slow. America, if you haven’t noticed, is a really big place, and upgrading the country’s spiderweb of cell towers is a herculean task that requires a lot of money and often takes years to complete. The current state of the art now rests on two competing, so-called 4G standards that you’ve probably heard a lot about: LTE and WiMAX.

"Ivy Bridge." The name sounds harmless, almost inconsequential. But behind the quaint moniker lies power and plenty of it.

Ivy Bridge is the code name for Intel's upcoming microprocessor architecture, a new version of the current CPU, called Sandy Bridge. It is due out in 2012.

Hollywood is having a love affair with 3D right now… but 3D isn’t just for movies: Video games are rapidly adopting the technology, too.

In fact, consumers seem more excited about 3D gaming than they do about 3D movies. Last year, for example, the tech blog Gizmodo enthused that “3D gaming is what will get you to buy a new TV.” It sounds breathless but it makes sense, really: I can’t remember the last time I watched TV without multitasking with a phone, laptop, or tablet in my lap – and where 3D glasses only get in the way. On the other hand, when I’m gaming, I find that 3D immerses me so fully that it makes multitasking impossible, and I quickly forget about the eyewear as I’m sucked into the 3D experience.

Are you into technology? I mean, are you really into technology?

If you’ve found this blog, you certainly know the ins and outs of your computer, have a speedy Wi-Fi network, and own a latest-generation smart phone or tablet.