A small company called Nicira and a few other scrappy players are pursuing what is called software-defined networking. Software-defined networking is similar to server virtualization, and it is quite likely to be bad news for networking giants like Cisco and Juniper. If proprietary systems can be blended, and cheap chips used in place of custom ships, prices for the gear will probably drop.

The Web site is trying for pollination: providing the kind of content that will have visitors passing along links from one person to the next, that will in turn bring them around to BuzzFeed.

Without the free content created by its 850 million users, Facebook would surely not be on the verge of a multibillion-dollar initial public offering.

Max Schrems's crusade against the information collected by the social network has become a cause célèbre in parts of Europe, looming over the company as it prepares to go public.

European activists are hoping to stop the international Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which they say will erode Internet freedom and stifle innovation.

In Silicon Valley, wearing flashy socks is more than an expression of your personality. It signals that you are part of the in crowd.

The president of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Dr. Craig B. Thompson, is in a billion-dollar dispute with his former workplace over accusations that he walked away with research.

Although more than half of its 845 million members log into Facebook on a mobile device, the company has not yet found a way to make real money from that use.

Today’s Internet is a place for getting things done, pushing aside the cyberflâneur — the heir to the flâneur culture of 19th-century France.

Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s No. 2 executive, considers herself a role model for women. But her call isn’t simply about mentoring and empowering; it’s also a business strategy.

Relying on GPS devices can erode our ability to develop mental maps.

Amid the Wall Street excitement over Facebook’s planned initial public offering, it may be a good time to take a look at I.P.O. history.

More companies are turning to gamification — offering games that let their customers win points for certain activities — as a way to build both loyalty and a trove of data.

On HealthTap, an interactive Web site, users can ask for medical advice, and doctors can gain whimsical “awards” for their answers.

Viviane Reding, the European Union justice commissioner, is pressing Google to halt changes to its privacy policies while the implications for personal data protection are being explored.

The group known as Anonymous listened in on a call between the bureau, Scotland Yard and other foreign police agencies about their joint investigation of the group and its allies.

Steve Appleton, whose death was considered a major loss for the struggling company, was piloting the small craft in Boise, Idaho.

Mark Zuckerberg plans to exercise stock options with an estimated value of $5 billion ahead of Facebook’s initial public offering, which will translate into a big tax benefit for the company.

Most football fans will be forced to spend at least part of the weekend away from televised Super Bowl coverage. For those not willing to endure that sort of pain, the N.F.L. this week released three apps to help.

South Korean prosecutors indicted Park Jung-geun, a social media and freedom of speech activist this week for reposting messages from the North Korean government’s Twitter account.