It owns Android, the most-used mobile operating system for smartphones, and it is also preparing to sell Google Glass, a wearable device for people's faces that it hopes will transform computing.

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For example, it is becoming increasingly common for every K-12 student to have a computing device, interactive whiteboards are now commonplace, cloud computing is lowering the costs for software implementation, and social networks are increasingly playing a part in our everyday social and educational lives.

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On Nov. 5 the Mountain View, Calif. search giant announced that it had cobbled together an alliance of 34 companies seeking to turn the mobile phone into a freely open computing device.

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"The compelling combination of pen and true multi-touch offers users the freedom to select the input method of their choice, whether it be the pen or their fingertips, when interacting directly with their slate, tablet, notebook or other computing device, " said Amichai Ben-David, CEO, N-trig.

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The Small Business Authority is firmly convince that cloud computing is not just a phrase or marketing device but is the future for small to medium sized businesses IT systems.

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That's because the iPhone's severe design isn't about aesthetics: it's a solution to the very modern problem of how to combine computing, communications and mobility in a single device, says Mark Rolston, chief creative officer at Frog Design, which has worked on projects from Logitech devices to online services for Blockbuster (nyse: BBI - news - people ).

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