A profile of Google Maps, an integral part of the company's future location-aware products  —  Google's Road Map to Global Domination  —  Fifty-five miles and three days down the Colorado River from the put-in at Lee's Ferry, near the Utah-Arizona border, the two rafts in our little flotilla suddenly encountered a storm.

The NSA: An Inside View  —  In which I relate my experience as an NSA employee and impart my thoughts on the policies in place, my former coworkers, and the current cyber war.  —  I am an American patriot.  Many impressions may come to mind at that word, “patriot”: perhaps that I am a Republican …

Chromecast in 2014: an open SDK, big international plans and maybe even new devices  —  Google landed a bit of a coup with Chromecast this year, launching a device that no one saw coming but that has proven to be very popular.  Next year, the company plans to take Chromecast even further …

Apple Can't Ban “Rate This App” Dialogs  —  There's been a lot of discussion in the last few days about those annoying “Rate This App” dialogs in far too many iOS apps today, initiated by John Gruber, summarized nicely by Chris Gonzales, and followed up with a nice discussion between Gruber and Daniel Jalkut in The Talk Show this week.

Music streaming services struggle to attract paying subscribers amidst increasing competition  —  A Stream of Music, Not Revenue  —  When Spotify, the digital music company of the moment, announced this week an exclusive deal with Led Zeppelin and free access on mobile devices, it also reported impressive numbers.

Too Different, Not Different Enough: Why Instagram Direct May Fail  —  My friends aren't using Instagram Direct, at least not yet.  I've received just two IGD messages since it launched Thursday.  In the meantime, over 20 close friends I regularly message with elsewhere have posted publicly to Instagram …

Leaked Windows Phone 8.1 screenshot reveals new on-screen buttons  —  Microsoft is still testing its upcoming Windows Phone 8.1 update internally, but a leaked screenshot reveals how the company is moving to on-screen buttons in the future.  The tiny image, published by @evleaks …

Amazon Pushes Installment Plan Payments for Kindle Fire HDX Tablets  —  Amazon seems to be selling a lot of its newest Kindle Fire tablets*.  But it would like to sell many more.  —  So here's Jeff Bezos' newest pitch: Buy a Kindle Fire HDX tablet today, and we'll give you nine months to finish paying for it.

The future of Microsoft as seen by an insider who could be its next CEO  —  It's been a fun couple of weeks for Microsoft watchers.  First Ford CEO Alan Mulally dominated headlines as a favorite for the top job at Microsoft, even as his board publicly said he would stay at the auto manufacturer at least through the end of 2014.

2013: The Year ‘the Stream’ Crested  —  The Stream is fun and fast, but don't you miss the sense of an ending?  —  The Stream has been the organizing metaphor for the web for the past several years.  In May 2009, a high-ranking editor of TechCrunch identified and summarized this grand shift …

As tech companies embrace urban life, many in San Francisco remain closed off from their city  —  What Tech Hasn't Learned From Urban Planning  —  SAN FRANCISCO — The tech sector is, increasingly, embracing the language of urban planning — town hall, public square, civic hackathons, community engagement.