Tech

After a 2011 New York Times expose on its paid-link scheme, Google manually penalized JCPenney -- proof no advertiser was above its search rules.

Stephen Elop's leaked 'burning platform' memo of February 2011: the most brutally honest corporate memo ever, and the prelude to Nokia's Microsoft deal.

In February 2011, Mark Zuckerberg won a restraining order against Pradeep Manukonda, 31, who stalked him across Facebook, his offices, and his front steps.

Purdue researchers found students who quizzed themselves after reading retained 50 percent more a week later than those who re-read or made concept maps.

How Apple's iTunes Store beat piracy not with lawsuits but with convenience: 99-cent songs that were simply easier to buy than to steal.

In late 2010, Sega installed urine-controlled video games in Tokyo urinals. Graffiti Eraser and a stream-strength contest followed. Ads ran after.

By the end of 2010, Facebook had crossed 500 million users and left MySpace behind. The network effect made leaving a genuine social cost.

On January 11, 2011, Verizon announced the CDMA iPhone 4 at New York's Lincoln Center — ending AT&T's exclusive hold on the iPhone.

Google Goggles 1.3 added instant barcode scanning, print-ad recognition, and a party trick: solving a Sudoku grid faster than a champion.

In December 2010, Roslyn High School handed 47 iPads to students in two classes — an early test of whether tablets could replace textbooks.

Thinner, lighter, cameras at last, a faster chip: the late-2010 iPad 2 rumor mill turned out to be mostly right when Apple delivered in March 2011.

Placements are back, and IIT students are refusing employer bonds — asking recruiters to earn their commitment with better incentives instead.

Google is giving away its unbranded Cr-48 Chrome OS notebook to pilot testers. On the free laptop, the browser-only bet, and how to apply.

Reports of suicides broadcast live over webcams are surfacing — and audiences watch. On the bystander effect, platform responsibility, and getting help.

Amazon pulled hosting, the DNS registrar pulled the domain, PayPal froze donations — and WikiLeaks stayed up. On the week the internet proved unkillable.

NASA announced bacteria that may substitute arsenic for phosphorus — even in DNA. On the extraordinary claim, the instant skepticism, and what came after.

With the holidays approaching and iPad adoption outpacing every technology before it, the tablet is becoming something new: the computer the whole family

3G has arrived in India — Tata Docomo launched on Diwali, with Airtel, Reliance and Vodafone to follow. What faster networks change, and what your handset

The Social Network fixed a cinematic version of Mark Zuckerberg in the public mind. On film, biography, and the founder who could not control his own story.

Google's Boutiques.com (2010) admitted algorithms can't generate taste — so it asked stylists and bloggers to curate. On humans vs. algorithms in fashion.