How dirty is your Qwerty? It turns out that your computer keyboard could put a host of potentially harmful bacteria -- including E. coli and staph -- quite literally at your fingertips. Sure, it may sound like a hypochondriac's excuse to stay away from the office. But a growing body of research suggests that computer mice and keyboards are, in fact, prime real estate for germs.

Without the iPod, Apple would be a very different company. The stunning growth of the iPod transformed Apple, the music business, and the consumer electronics industry, and also showed that what people wanted in a handheld computer was a simple user interface built into a stylish package.

Following in the wake of February's news that customs agents were seizing electronics and making copies of all the files on cell phones and laptop hard drives, a federal appeals court has ruled on the legality of such searches.

When it comes to technology debacles, every major company has a few (remember the Newton?), but right now one of the top spots has to go to Windows Vista, Microsoft ’s clunky operating system that has IT shops and consumers desperately clutching at XP for as long as they can.

It seems Google has solidified its dethroning of Microsoft in at least one regard: the global power of its brand. For the third year in a row, the search giant whose very name has been transformed into a verb, grabbed the top spot in a list of the top 100 most powerful global brands (PDF). Its brand value grew 30 percent since last year's report

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer called Windows Vista "a work in progress" on Thursday, but he stopped short of committing to extend the life of its predecessor, Windows XP.