Technology Headlines 2011

A recap of the year’s major technology headlines and a gear roundup that includes digital-audio amplifiers and a solar-powered keyboard.

Nick Wingfield of The Times discusses Apple’s recent legal victory over HTC and Pedro Rafael Rosado samples new headphones and an Android speaker dock.

Sarah Wheaton and Jonathan Ellis of The Times discuss the new Election 2012 app for the iPhone, and Pedro Rafael Rosado takes a look at AirPlay gear for wirelessly streaming media.

Daniel Mohan of ID Watchdog explains how people’s identities can be stolen (and what to do about it) and Will Lucas discusses Thankyouaga.in, a new social app for positive posts.

Steve Lohr of the Times discusses new tools that can detect excessive retouching to digital photos and Patrick Carter of Digital Folio explains how his company’s price-comparison application works.

Tanzina Vega explains how BrightTag’s One Click Privacy solution works for Web surfers and Phil Simon discusses his new book, “The Age of the Platform: How Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google Have Redefined Business.”

The author and creative team discuss the new app version of “1,000 Places to See Before You Die,” and Quentin Hardy finds new uses for cloud computing.

Deborah Forte, the president of Scholastic Media, discusses what makes a good app for children and Pedro Rafael Rosado tries out different in-ear monitors for gaming, exercising and commuting.

Claire Cain Miller discusses the recent update to the Google TV software and Nick Wingfield reports on user complaints about the battery life of the iPhone 4S.

Doug Andrea, the chief executive of Andrea Electronics, discusses his company’s 75-year history in the audio industry. Quentin Hardy, the deputy technology editor of The Times, explains what “Big Data” is and how it’s being used to put online advertisements in front of people. The weekly news roundup includes Nokia and Microsoft’s new mobile phone venture, Netflix’s continued woes, a new round of “Grand Theft Auto,” and computer scientists cracking the cipher of an 18th-century manuscript. The Tip of the Week offers a quick way to clean up old bookmarks in Firefox.