The big story in technology is that Apple has surpassed Microsoft in terms of market capitalization. This NY Times article (free registration required) points out that Apple's success may be a result of consumer tastes overtaking the needs of business as the leading force shaping technology. That may be the case today, when business is still recovering from the Global Financial Crisis, but when the economy starts roaring again (hopefully for rational reasons), will Apple's consumer focus still prevail over Microsoft's traditional success with business users? If so, what is the killer business app for the iPhone/iPad?

In the meanwhile, Apple's iPad is thriving, with one survey saying that it is killing NetBooks, while the experts have finally weighed in on iPad's usability. Edelman Digital has a nice roundup of social network Visualizations, including Twitter Venn (shows how many times each term is tweeted a day and if two or even all of the keywords are mentioned in the same tweet) and Friendwheel, which shows the connections you have within your Facebook friend community, as well as mutual friends within connections.