Senior Correspondent Arnold Woodworth digs through the Internet on your behalf

PC sales fell again last quarter and the contraction is likely to continue.

Sales of smart phones and tables – Android and iOS (Apple) – are way up.

Intel processors are use in laptop and desktop computer, but not smart phones and tablets.

The calamity for Intel has been that they have had no part to play in the new category. Perhaps that is because they had every part to play in the old category.

Lots of good reader comments to this story.

http://www.asymco.com/2013/07/18/the-pc-calamity/

A Kickstarter project called Tile set out to raise $20,000 to create small, flat, battery-powered stickers that you attach to your stuff, enabling you to find anything with your smartphone.

here's the awesome feature that drove Kickstarter contributions through the roof: If you lose something -- say, your bike is stolen or you leave your phone in a taxi, you log into your online Tile account and report the item as lost.

At that point, every Tile gadget in the world keeps a lookout for your lost item. If your dog or phone or car or bike gets within 50 to 150 feet of any other Tile owned by any user, you'll get a notification showing you where on a map your Tile was detected.

How cool is that?

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9240921/Why_the_mob_rules

These Are The 217 Politicians Who Voted To Preserve NSA Surveillance

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-07-24/these-are-217-people-who-voted-preserve-nsa-surveillance

Apple's No-Growth Q3 2013 In Charts

The big picture:

After a rapid growth period with iPad and iPhone, growth has slowed down. It's time for something new, and we should start seeing more activity from Apple starting this fall.

http://techcrunch.com/2013/07/23/apples-no-growth-q3-2013-in-charts/

The case to buy Apple and sell Microsoft

Apple may never return to dramatic growth or avoid margin pressure going forward. But I think Apple is, at worst, at equilibrium right now.

Apple looks like a decent long-term bet.

don't fall into the trap of thinking Microsoft is safe. Stable, yes, but hardly safe.

Microsoft continues to struggle mightily in the mobile space

Windows is waning and Microsoft hasn't figured out anything to replace it. And it won't anytime soon.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-case-to-buy-apple-and-sell-microsoft-2013-07-25

Are the Feds Asking Tech Companies for User Passwords?

It's possible that the federal government is going to Google, Facebook, and Microsoft and saying, "hey, give us the passwords of thousands of your users."

Passwords could be used to log in to your accounts to peruse confidential correspondence or even impersonate you.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/07/are-the-feds-asking-tech-companies-for-user-passwords/278126/

TSA Is Making Airport Valets Search Your Trunk

"We search every car, we open the trunk and take a look around," says Saour Merwan, a keymaster at the valet service at San Diego International Airport. "We were told by airport authority to do that, since about two years ago. [We] keep an eye out for something suspicious, like wires and cables. The airport has security regulations and we have to follow them." Merwan says the service doesn't inform anyone that they're checking out the inside of the vehicles, and when asked what he'd do if he found illegal drugs, he says, "Of course we'd call the police."

"This is exactly what the Fourth Amendment was designed to say the government can't do, generally search everything without suspicion," says Fred H. Cate, a professor at the Maurer School of Law

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/07/tsa-car-searches-airport-fourth-amendment

Will These Guys Kill The Computer Interface As We Know It?

How two grade-school friends created Leap Motion, a company that wants to turn mouse-clicks into waves of the hand.

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2013-07/will-these-guys-kill-computer-interface-we-know-it