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1. Sync Your Data without the Cloud

   New software lets you rouse a sleeping PC to retrieve data remotely.

   Files on a home computer could soon be accessible from anywhere, even when the computer holding them is switched off, thanks to a prototype file-synching system developed at Microsoft's research labs.

   
   
   
2. A 'Transparency Grenade' for Would-Be Bradley Mannings

   Conceptual art meets hacking.

   In our post-WikiLeaks era, the image evoked by the phrase “whistle blower” isn’t dramatic enough. Bradley Manning did something more than merely blow a whistle. He kind of blew stuff up.

   
   
   
3. The New, New Nook

   B&N refreshes its barely-months-old tablet.

   I know what you’re thinking: Didn’t Barnes & Noble just come out with a Nook tablet a couple of months ago? Indeed it did. It was favorably reviewed.

   
   
   
4. An iPad MS Office?

   It may or may not exist. But it'd be big.

   First The Daily said they had a hands-on with a prototype, and gave us a picture. Then Microsoft (via the Times) said it wasn’t so. Then ZDNet parsed Microsoft’s denial. Then The Daily defended its story. Then Microsoft went mum, but then piped up. Then The Verge called the whole thing World War III.

   
   
   
5. A Leap Forward for Plastic Solar Cells

   An inexpensive, polymer-based device breaks a record, reaching 10.6 percent efficiency.

   A record-breaking polymer solar cell made by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, converts 10.6 percent of the energy in sunlight into electricity. The performance of the cell surpasses the previous record, 8.6 percent, set in July of last year by the same group.