Jon Swartz

Don't let a recent surge in the financial performance of high-tech companies fool you: Silicon Valley continues to hemorrhage jobs and talent. Lingering frailty threatens to hurt the local economy...

The majority of people who participate on social networks do so from their PCs. Yet a growing number — many of whom can't afford a PC or would rather not use one — are using mobile devices to tell their friends where they are and what they're up to and for sharing pictures.

Social-networking services such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter may be generating lots of buzz. But old-fashioned, non-digital, face-to-face conversations aren't out of vogue just yet. About 87% of 1,000 adults questioned in June said they prefer to deal with other people in person instead of via computers or smartphones.

Even during an economic meltdown, when companies are scrambling to cut costs, businesses are wasting billions of dollars by leaving their PCs on at night. US organizations squander $2.8 billion a year to power unused machines, emitting about 20 million tons of carbon dioxide — roughly the equivalent of 4 million cars — according to a report to be released today.

Cybercriminals have launched a massive new wave of Internet-based schemes to steal personal data and carry out financial scams in an effort to take advantage of the fear and confusion created by tumbling financial markets, security specialists say.

The world's largest spam e-mail operator has been silenced. Federal authorities say they've shut down HerbalKing, a global spam gang responsible for billions of spam messages promoting prescription drugs, "male-enhancement" pills and diet pills.

Estimates of the number of female CEOs at high-profile tech companies are hard to come by, but they easily outnumber women CEOs on the Fortune 500 list. Fueling the growing ranks of C-level executives are more engineering and computer science graduates.

Carl Icahn's audacious bid to overthrow Yahoo's board could bring Microsoft back to the bargaining table and revive the tech megamerger. On Thursday, the billionaire investor instigated a plan to expel Yahoo's board of directors for "irresponsible" and "unconscionable" acts that prompted Microsoft to drop a $47.5 billion bid to buy Yahoo.