China's high-tech companies have made their mark on the nation's economy. Now, with growing cash and investment at their disposal, they are beginning to have an impact on its skylines. Many of China's technology giants got their starts in cheap, half…

Opening up a Korean restaurant among the rice fields and limestone karsts north of Hanoi might seem a risky business, but Le Thi Huyen is doing a roaring trade at her bistro here. bistro:小酒馆 The reason? Samsung Electronics Co., the South Korean firm,…

Like many 10-year-olds, Nick Wald takes private lessons. His once-a-week tutor isn't helping him with piano scales or Spanish conjugations, but teaching him how to code. Nick, a fifth-grader in New York, went in with no experience and has since learn…

The long-running patent war among the technology industry's heavyweights just grew a whole lot bigger-and more controversial. After a brief hiatus for major new litigation, a joint venture owned by Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp., BlackBerry Ltd. , Erics…

In a year that featured one of history's biggest corporate buyouts, a stock-market surge reminiscent of the dot-com bubble and an American energy boom that kept on booming, there was plenty to write about in the business world. buyout:收购,买断 reminisce…

What's the most destructive force in the tech world, the thing that has nearly killed BlackBerry, pushed Dell to go private, and made a mess of Microsoft? Conventional wisdom in Silicon Valley would finger one of the following technologies: smartphon…

Entrepreneur and author ShaoLan Hsueh thinks that English-speakers can start learning to read Chinese in less than 10 minutes. The language, she says, has more than 20,000 written characters, which most students in China learn by rote memorization. M…

What the world needs now is a Web-enabled toothbrush. That part is clear to several oral-hygiene companies. What they can't agree on is who was first to put teeth into the smartphone. The giant Procter & Gamble Co. last week demonstrated what it call…

AS AUTO MAKERS ADD far-out features to the latest cars at warp speed--everything from futuristic heads-up displays to simple perks like hands-free calling--the appeal of the newest showroom tech can be hard to resist. But a car, unlike a smartphone,…

The hottest showcase for new technology at this year's Mobile World Congress wasn't in the event's cavernous exhibition halls. It was actually about two miles away, at an affiliated show for startups and venture capitalists. showcase:展示,作品欣赏        …

The American political class has long held that higher education is vital to individual and national success. The Obama administration has dubbed college 'the ticket to the middle class,' and political leaders from Education Secretary Arne Duncan to…

Next to have their jobs automated: airport-security screeners? Aviation and government authorities are starting to use machines in lieu of people to verify the identities of fliers by scanning their faces, irises or fingerprints. Dozens of airports i…

"I used to think I was this made man," says entrepreneur Glenn Kelman. "That's what they tell you after you take a company public." In 1996 Mr. Kelman co-founded Plumtree, a business-software firm that went public in 2002. After that,…

When marriage therapist Sharon Gilchrest O'Neill met with new clients recently, she asked them why they were seeking therapy. The couple told her they'd spent years arguing over finances and recently had their worst-ever blowup. The husband complaine…

SHANGHAI—Trading volume in China's bond market has plummeted in recent months, in another reminder of how the country's shifting interest-rate environment has taken a toll on a once fast-expanding financial sector. bond market:债券市场          plummet:骤…

Despite some hype and a few regional exceptions, the construction of office towers and suburban office parks has not made a significant resurgence in the current recovery. After a century in which office space expanded nationally with every uptick in…

BEIJING—China's family-planning agency is projecting a slow rollout for an easing of its one-child policy, underscoring reluctance by the government in moving too quickly to let some couples have two children and a law in place for decades. rollout:首…

Big auto makers are steering their efforts to develop cars that drive themselves out of the labs and into the fast lane for production, after years of low-profile experimentation. Auto industry executives on Tuesday used the podium offered by the bie…

To admirers outside the country, China's political system stands far above the dysfunctional democracies of the West in one regard: its ability to act decisively and deliver results that boost economic growth. Gridlock:僵局,交通堵塞 dysfunctional:机能失调的,功能障…

China's appetite for coal, once seemingly unlimited, is starting to wane, and the effects are rippling far from the Middle Kingdom. wane:衰落,退潮,衰减 ripple:波纹,涟漪 With the world's second-largest economy, China in recent years has been driving demand for…

Michael Dell is set to win a bruising, yearlong battle for control of his company. His next task -- getting Dell Inc. growing again -- may be even tougher. bruising:挫伤,殊死,激烈的 Mr. Dell's proposal to buy the computer company for nearly $25 billion is e…

Apple's latest product launch could breathe new life into a technology that failed to take hold the first time: fingerprint scanners. Placing a finger on a computer or smartphone has long been proposed as a way to avoid the need for passwords to auth…

To understand how much television could soon change, it helps to visit an Intel Corp. division here that runs like a startup. Erik Huggers, a Dutch-born former British Broadcasting Corp. executive, has assembled a 350-person team with talents beyond…

In Dapu, a rain-drenched rural outpost in the heart of China's grain basket, a farmer grows crops that she wouldn't dare to eat. A state-backed chemicals factory next to her farm dumps wastewater directly into the local irrigation pond, she says, and…

CAOFEIDIAN, China  $91 billion industrial project here, mired in debt and unfulfilled promise, suggests part of the reason why China's economy is wobbling and why it will be hard to turn around. mire:陷于,泥潭 unfulfilled:未得到满足的,缺口 wobbling:摆动,颤动 The ste…

Why is the first day on the job often the worst? New employees tend to be greeted with stacks of benefits paperwork, technology hassles and dull presentations about company culture. hassle:激战,争辩,麻烦事 But some companies -- hoping to create a first impr…

China unveiled a litany of bribery and misconduct allegations against GlaxoSmithKline GSK.LN -0.26% PLC, a move that industry experts said could presage a broader crackdown in a lucrative market for pharmaceutical and medical companies. a litany of:一…

Getting up the nerve to order in a coffee shop used to be difficult for 16-year-old Georgiann Steely. Speaking in front of classmates was unthinkable. The high-school sophomore overcame a crippling case of social anxiety as a patient in the Child and…

A Chinese agricultural official's unsupported claims about the carcinogenic risks of consuming genetically modified soybeans have rekindled a fervent debate about the use of genetically modified crops in a country with ever-expanding food needs. carc…

Americans have long taken pride on their willingness to bet it all on a dream. But that risk-taking spirit appears to be fading. Three long-running trends suggest the U.S. economy has turned soft on risk: Companies add jobs more slowly, even in good…