Amazon has more than tripled it’s workforce since the recession began (and ended)

Amazon.com added 9,400 employees to its payroll in the quarter ended March 31. That’s the biggest single quarter of headcount growth in Amazon’s history. The company now employs 65,600 full- and part-time workers worldwide. With its current trajectory, Amazon is rapidly approaching Microsoft in size. Microsoft employs more than 93,000 but hasn’t been growing as …

Apple, Amazon, & Microsoft build data centers around dirty energy

The current explosion in cloud computing offered by major IT companies is driving significant new demand for dirty energy like coal and nuclear power, according to a new report from Greenpeace International. The report, “How Clean is Your Cloud?” shows a growing split within the tech industry between companies that are taking steps to power …

Infograph – comparing the app stores for Android, iPhone, & Blackberry

Key Points: 13% of Blackberry developers have made more than $100,000. iPhone app sales were 4x that of Android. Android has more free apps than iTunes.

Photos from inside Apple Headquarters

It’s the Chocolate Factory for tech nerds. Search the web for “Apple HQ,” and most of the results you get will be pictures of Apple’s Cupertino headquarters — from the outside. Usually with some fanboy standing next to the “1 Infinite Loop” sign. But what we really want to see is what’s inside the ultra-top-secret place …

One million robots in three years – Foxconn’s Robot Kingdom

The largest private employer in China, Foxconn with over 1 million employees, is finally facing stiff labor costs. This is great news for the U.S. manufacturing sector who may be able to lure some work back to the United States. It will be interesting to see how this affects the global market, but for now …

The rise of e-reading in America

28% of Americans age 18 and older own at least one specialized device for e-book reading – either a tablet or an e-book reader. The holiday season saw a huge boost in ownership for both e-readers and tablets. Both jumped 9%, meaning that nearly one in ten Americans received a device over the holidays. The …

The high-tech gear for climbing Mount Everest

In 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first people to reach Mount Everest’s summit. According to National Geographic “the expedition had climbers carrying loads approaching 44 pounds apiece. Today, ultralight gear cuts significant weight from a climber’s load—often half the weight, or less, of Hillary’s pack load.” Here are the high-tech pieces that …

Apple has staged a massive comeback, stopping Android…for now

In the past three months, Nielsen says, Apple has grabbed a 43% share of the smartphones sold in the U.S. Android’s share has increased versus a year ago–it still leads the market with 48%–but Android’s share gains appear to have stalled. Apple’s gains are the result of a few key factors, all of which demonstrate …

1:1 cost comparison of a tablet and textbook for elementary school children

  From a report by the FCC that included the technology companies and textbook publishers. More details at AllThingsD

iPad vs Kindle Fire – how many apps for each after one-year?

After one year, Amazon’s Kindle Fire has 31,000 apps: March 15, 2012 – Amazon Appstore for Android, which helped lay the foundation for a big Kindle Fire launch, is celebrating its one-year anniversary and has now eclipsed 31,000 apps, up from 4,000 at launch. That’s a strong first year for an app store that began …