A rare visit to ultra-secret North Korea this week has the spotlight on Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt, who has logged thousands of miles as the giant Internet company’s top-level ambassador to government officials and industry leaders in the two years since he handed the CEO’s reins to co-founder Larry Page.
Troy Wolverton writes: Among the big electronics firms at the Consumer Electronics Show here in Las Vegas, Sharp had some of the coolest technology on display. Also from CES: Five gadgets or technologies that stood out.
Causes.com, a San Francisco startup that spun out of Facebook to provide an online home for grassroots philanthropy and activism, on Thursday announced that it had acquired Votizen, which helps people tap their social networks for political influence.
California has hit a major milestone in renewable energy: State regulators reported Thursday that more than 1 gigawatt — or 1,000 megawatts — of solar power has been installed through the California Solar Initiative, which encourages homeowners, businesses, local governments and nonprofit organizations to install solar panels on their roofs.
Tighter rules for mortgage lending announced Thursday will go a long way toward protecting consumers against the worst excesses of the housing bubble, but could hit some Bay Area homebuyers in the pocketbook.
