Technology & Digital Life

Ever get that odd sensation that someone's watching you? Well, if you're online, someone always kind of is.

There's that old caveat: Never say anything you wouldn't want published in The New York Times. And though we all understand the concept, we go on tweeting, Instagramming, blogging, pushing our personal data into the universe without really knowing how it might one day be used.

The Internet is forever — and so are texts, tweets and Facebook updates — but a startup has big ambitions to bring privacy and impermanence to online communication. The company, called Wickr, lets users decide how long a message lives.

The people behind Wickr found inspiration in 1960s-era TV and messages that self-destructed. "I think everybody who's watched Mission Impossible has always wanted self-destructing messages," says co-founder Nico Sell.

The holiday season is upon us. In the tech world, that means it's time to talk gadgets, specifically one of the year's most popular gadgets: the tablet.

For the first time, Apple's iPad has some competition: Google's Nexus, Amazon's Kindle Fire HD and the Microsoft Surface.

These tablets represent the marquee efforts of the biggest technology companies. They also represent the four major content universes.

Small Tablets