HP

October's frighteningly good tech deals continue this week with HP Pavilion laptops, Laser Measure Sensors, Polk Audio speakers and, oh yes, a free GPS from Best Buy.

We're back with, yes, you guessed it, more great technology for cheap. This week's theme: helping you find your way.

The technology world is flush with businesses that occupy enormous campuses, some of which define the very cities where they reside. But all had humbler accommodations when they started out. This quiz asks you where some of the major tech companies got their start. It's multiple choice, so keep score and see how you stack up at the end.

A recent U.K. court finding against HP's EDS for failing to deliver on its sales pitch could radically change the dynamics of outsourcing everywhere.

Still got an old HP or Compaq laying around? CSO Publisher (and packrat) Bob Bragdon does! Rummaging around Bragdon's attic (with some memory help from mobile office expert Catherine Roseberry) provides a look at how mobile device security has evolved.

Apple's Xserve took the Nehalem plunge Tuesday. Specifically, the 1U server now runs on a Xeon 5500 series processor, which features the Nehalem microarchitecture. HP and Dell feature similar offerings. So I thought I'd compare the latest Xserve with these other two servers to see if Apple's product remains price-competitive to the other servers in its class.

With daily layoffs and few new jobs available, techies have seen their careers careening off track -- and now they need to reinvent themselves or get off the tech train altogether.

What started out as a banking crisis became, in 2008, a story for everyone: retailers, consumers, auto workers -- and tech professionals. Though it wasn't business as usual, some big mergers -- like HP buying EDS -- were executed. Long-awaited products like the Android-based G1 "Google phone" were launched. Standards wars involving file formats like OOXML and hardware technology like Blu-Ray concluded. The battle against spam purveyors like McColo went on ... and on. Microsoft, moving into middle age and struggling to gain ascendance on the Web, was involved in many of the biggest stories of the year. The most influential entrepreneur of our time, Bill Gates, moved on to focus on philanthropy. Here, not necessarily in order of importance, is our pick for the top 10 technology stories of the year.