At an 18th-century mansion in England’s countryside last week, current and former spy chiefs from seven countries faced off with representatives from tech giants Apple and Google to discuss government surveillance in the aftermath of Edward Snowden’s leaks. The three-day conference, which took place behind closed doors and under strict rules about confidentiality, was aimed at...Read More

Raise your hand if you remember Writely. A four-person company called Upstartle launched the online-only word processor in August 2005, taking advantage of a then-new browser technology called AJAX. It allowed users to instantly save and retrieve content generated in the browser but stored on the server. And it worked—so well that Google bought Upstartle...Read More

Google’s adorable self-driving car prototype hits the road this summer, the tech giant announced last week. Real roads, in the real world. The car has no steering wheel or pedals, so it’s up to the computer to do all the driving. As cool as this sounds, it isn’t a huge technological step forward. The goofy...Read More

If you search for something on Google, does that mean you want to buy it? Maybe. At least that appears to be the idea behind buy buttons, a new feature the Wall Street Journal says will start rolling out in the next few weeks. With a one-click way to purchase what you search for, Google plants its foot...Read More