Internet Technology

A connected world stretching from your blender to your thermostat to the satellites overhead? It seemed like a good idea at the time.

By Nicholas Gerbis

Internet sensations like LOLcat and the Harlem Shake didn't happen overnight. OK, maybe they did. But what did these phenomena have in common (besides inanity)? Are there any rules for making pictures, videos or blogs go viral?

By Chris Opfer

About 40 percent of the world's population uses the Web for news, entertainment and communication, but in truth, only a sliver of what we know as the World Wide Web is easily accessible.

By Nathan Chandler

Since the advent of the Internet, we've been producing data in staggering amounts. Who's collecting it, and should we be worried?

By Bernadette Johnson

Six seconds isn't much time to convey an idea, so why is Vine, with its microvideo social network model, so captivating?

By Nathan Chandler

If you use the internet for any length of time, there's probably lots of information floating around out there about you. How do you find it, and can you delete it?

By Chris Pollette & Bernadette Johnson

The dot-com bubble produced plenty of companies that spent and grew too quickly and couldn't sustain themselves, but some burned out in spectacular style. Here are 10 tech companies that lived fast and died young.

By Bernadette Johnson

How many e-mails do you send and receive on any given day? Could you imagine if you were taxed for all that digital communication?

By Nathan Chandler

Millions of mobile devices, computers and data centers make up the Internet. Machines join and drop off every second, and each requires electricity. Is it possible to measure how much juice the Internet uses?

By Jonathan Strickland

Most people think of Google as a giant juggernaut of Internet success. But even the company behind the world's most popular search engine has had its share of blunders.

By Jacob Clifton

In early 2012, Facebook rolled out its new Timeline, which replaced the personal wall format that users had been accustomed to. Some love it, some hate it -- but what's the logic behind the change?

By Jacob Clifton

Failbook is set up to showcase all the wins, fails and facepalms that haunt the spidery halls of Facebook (and other social networks). So what is a "fail," and how do you know if you're committing one?

By Jessika Toothman

Google has tried to launch social-based products before with limited success. Could Google Plus break the trend and become the next big social network?

By Jonathan Strickland

Google is pushing people to abandon the trend of buying fast personal computers in favor of cloud services. What exactly is the Google Cloud, and how could it change computing?

By Jonathan Strickland

Thanks to music clouds, you can access enormous libraries of music virtually anywhere you can get Internet access. How do they operate, and what are their limitations?

By Jonathan Strickland

Cloud computing has opened a whole new world of storage and Web interaction options for users, but is it the best way to protect your computer?

By Patrick J. Kiger & Stephanie Crawford

Apple's entry into the cloud storage market promises to synchronize all of your devices -- as long as they're made by Apple. How does iCloud stack up to its competitors?

By Stephanie Crawford

Buzz phrases often distort the meanings of the words they contain, and sayings related to technology are no exception. We break down two common phrases to see if their meanings are synonymous.

By Stephanie Crawford

Cloud storage is quickly becoming the standard for our online data. What are the risks of moving your files to cloud servers?

By Stephanie Crawford

As we store more and more of our data on cloud servers, are we leaving ourselves unprotected? Learn how to minimize your risk and keep your information secure.

By Wesley Fenlon

Search engine spiders have different tasks. Learn about search engine spiders in this article.

By HowStuffWorks.com Contributors

If your fingers ache from trying to type text messages from your smartphone or cell phone, you'll be happy to know how easy it is to send them via your computer.

By Nathan Chandler

You want to set up Wi-Fi on your laptop, but you're not sure how to do it. We break down the steps required to set up a wireless router and connect to a Wi-Fi network on Windows PCs and laptops.

By Talon Homer

The Internet has gone from a little-known military and educational network to an important part of life for millions of people around the world. What kinds of changes will the Internet go through by the year 2050, and how will they affect us?

By Jonathan Strickland

If you're wondering what the big deal is about Facebook, you might be tempted to join. How do you become a member?

By Jane McGrath