Google gave the world its first look at PCs featuring its Chrome operating system on Tuesday. But amid all the hoopla over the slick, Web-browsing machines, we noticed that there appears to have made two subtle changes to the Chrome campaign.

The first involved what the new-fangled devices are actually called. When Google first announced plans to develop the Chrome PC operating system in July 2009, it said the first devices using the software would be netbooks, a genre of low-cost, miniaturized laptops that were all the rage at the time but have since lost their luster. (According to research firm Gartner, netbook shipments posted their first ever year-over-year decline in the third quarter)

By Sarah McBride

Stadium owners dragging their heels on finding greener ways to power up their high-definition scoreboards and retractable roofs just got a kick in the pants from their league commissioners.

Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, and Major League Soccer have dished out letters to their teams and facilities asking them to embrace solar power.

Facebook has engineered its latest micro-acquisition, buying little-known travel recommendation start-up Nextstop in what it calls a “talent acquisition”.

“We’ve admired the engineering team’s efforts for some time now and we’re excited to have them join Facebook,” a company spokesman said. The spokesman did not say if Facebook had any other plans for the site.

Bonnie and Yonni are unlikely to go down in the history books as among the nimblest of partners-in-crime. But they might have earned a prominent place among the most candid.

Accoding to U.S. prosecutors, Bonnie Hoxie — an assistant to Disney’s PR chief — and boyfried Yonni Sebbag hatched a less-than-elaborate scheme in which she gets her hands on confidential and potentially stock market-moving material   –  Disney financial information — and passes it on to Sebbag.  Like the Wall Street equivalent of a pusher, Sebbag set out to construct a network of hedge-fund consumers for that info who could  then profit off of it, according to court documents filed.

It’s hard to tell how much anticipation there is out there for Dell’s upcoming “Streak” micro-tablet. The No. 3 PC maker’s latest foray into a consumer arena that Apple’s iPad has essentially helped create is set to hit stores this summer in the United States.

Consumer business unit chief Steve Felice told the Reuters Global Technology Summit that Dell isn’t interested in becoming the No. 1 player in the smartphone and tablet mobile devices categories, where Apple and Google are waging a very high-profile war. But the former leader in personal computers fully intends to be a “top-tier player”.

Tod Nielsen certainly has the gift of the gab. VMWare’s chief operating officer, who was once videotaped by a reporter in the hope that he would turn out someday to be “famous” (and a royalty generator), waxed lyrical at the Reuters Global Technology Summit about everything from British CIOs and magic crystals to PCs .

Here’s a sampling of his colorfully phrased — though occasionally puzzling — views.

Intel, Sony and Google are expected to unveil on Thursday a “smart TV”: an Internet-ready, super content machine that — if the hype is to be believed — will let viewers watch Celebrity Apprentice, tweet, and respond to emails at the same time. On Wednesday, Intel’s sales and marketing chief — while keeping his cards close to the vest — couldn’t resist a little plug for the general concept of Internet TVs.

“The smart TV category is going to take off.  It just makes all the sense in the world,” Thomas Kilroy told the Reuters Global Technology Summit. “Why would you want to compromise when you’ve got a nice big screen, you’re watching TV and you want to access information and keep that program on instead of bringing in another device. ”

You’d think fast-racing Twitter would keep one eye firmly fixed on the rearview and side mirrors.

With the Internet landscape littered with also-rans — from pets.com to AskJeeves.com to a Facebook-steamrolled MySpace — you’d imagine the one thing overnight Internet microblogging phenomenon Twitter would fear the most would be to get displaced by an up-and-comer with the same alarming speed.

The world’s biggest microchip company, known for some of the most dramatic advances in the tech world, this week decided to ask software developers and salespeople for help.At its annual developers’ conference in San Francisco this week, Intel Corp put up a dozen or so whiteboards across the Moscone Center venue,  soliciting answers to the big questions: from how tech might improve business to what you might want technology to do, if it could do anything.But the answers, scribbled in blue marker, were a mix of practical suggestions like a handheld portable video conferencing device, perennial gripes and whimsy – perfect date machine, anyone?Here are a selection of the questions and answers:How do you see the future?Moon hotelsReal-time virtual Internet glassesDigital clothingBig solar power airshipsHow can technology make business more efficient?Coffee helmetVideo phone conferenceAn infinitely large displayCellphone/MID projectorHow can technology improve the world?Slow down global warmingBring back dead loved onesFood allergen detectorMoving sidewalkWhat’s the next big thing?Doodle TwitterWireless electricitySmellovision (like television, but not)Hands-free drivingLip reading voice recognitionWhat will your kids’ kids think is cool?Whatever it is, we’re sure to hate it!3D Rock BandWatching me on YouTubeVideogames embedded in your armTechnology you can eat after usingChocolate veggiesWhat’s your big idea?Dream recorderUnderwater carEmbedded communications devices in my eyes and ears Hybrid Cadillacs RobochefIf tech could do anything for you, what would it be?Perfect date machineMake summer longerTime travel5 minute robot jog to workHologram friends

Britain’s Sky News caused a bit of a stir on the blogosphere on Tuesday after it cited John Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, as saying the Beatles back catalog was finally going for sale on iTunes: seemingly confirming a longstanding rumor that had gained momentum ahead of a widely watched Sept 9 Apple music-entertainment event.But the report by the 24-hour news service, spotted by 9to5Mac and TechCrunch, among others, was stricken off the Sky News Web site hours later and discredited by a numner of other media outlets including Cnet. In response to Reuters’ queries, EMI, which owns the master recordings, sent us this from Ernesto Schmitt, EMI’s global catalog president:”Conversations between Apple and EMI are ongoing and we look forward to the day when we can make the music available digitally. But it’s not tomorrow,” Schmitt said in comments first made to the Financial Times. Apple declined to comment.Mind you, the arrival of the Fab Four on the world’s most popular online music sales portal will be no less than a seminal event. Hence the unrelenting speculation from Apple’s legions of rabid fans who stand rapt at the consumer electronics giant’s every move, and the intense interest from the band’s own not-unimpressive cohort of faithful followers.On Sept 9, the same day Apple is expected to unveil a new line-up of iPods with digital cameras (with potentially master showman and CEO Steve Jobs set to make his first public appearance since taking leave in January to undergo a liver transplant), “The Beatles:Rock Band” video game will debut for sale from North America to Australia.The game’s debut will mark the Fab Four’s first leap into the world of digiral music. And their launch on iTunes — currently held up by fears of digital piracy, among other issues — may indeed soon follow.Just perhaps not on Wednesday.