Bill Gates

The growing use of handheld devices and social media among students is creating a technology tipping point for schools that could completely break down the barriers between teaching platforms within five to 10 years, Bill Gates said Thursday.

Joking about the week’s top tech stories, this week featuring Burger King, Chinese cyberspies and a new Chromebook that will revolutionize the way we watch porn

Never let it be said Billl Gates is a hype machine. When asked what type of computer he was using to participate in a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" session, he confided it was one of Microsoft's new Surface devices that the company talks about in glowing terms.

The children of former Microsoft boss Bill Gates ask for iPods and other Apple products, but are given Microsoft alternatives instead, Melinda Gates has said.

Steven Sinofsky has left Microsoft. If you find yourself saying “Why” or, more importantly, “Wait - who?” then read on as we explain it so even your mom can understand

Microsoft continues marketing blitz with Gates video interview.

Valuable campaign aims to improve sanitation in underdeveloped countries, but it's easier to just make poo jokes.

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs inspired millions, including a Tennessee artist who created a fascinating illustration of Jobs and Bill Gates engaging in scorched-earth, cyborgean battle.

During its last CES keynote Microsoft recapped 15 years of presentations by setting Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer to music.

In 2011, the increasingly mobile and socially networked world of technology became more intertwined than ever with politics and the law. Patent wars shaped competition in tablets and smartphones, hacktivists attacked a widening array of political and corporate targets, repressive regimes unplugged citizens from the Internet, and the U.S. government moved to block the giant merger of AT&T and T-Mobile USA. With the passing of Steve Jobs, the world lost a technology icon who redefined the computer, entertainment and consumer electronics industries. These are the IDG News Service's picks for the top 10 technology stories of the year:

The death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs underscores the important lesson he tried to impart to others not just through words, but by example.