New Mexico,United States

Trendy California isn't a trendsetter when it comes to relying on cell phones. And while the 1987 movie "Wall Street" helped introduce the then-brick-sized mobile phone to popular culture, New York and other Northeast states lag in dropping landlines. Surprisingly, Oklahoma and Utah lead in going wireless, according to federal estimates released Wednesday.

While technology manufacturers are cutting back on investments, computer chipmaker Intel is doing the opposite. The company said it will invest $7 billion over the next two years on three factory upgrades in the United States.

Intel said the investment is its largest on new manufacturing and represents 7,000 high-wage jobs. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company plans to upgrade existing facilities in Arizona, New Mexico and Oregon to manufacture its 32-nanometer products.

Not since the Gold Rush has there been such a stampede to stake out land in California and surrounding states, except this time, solar energy is the prize. The Bureau of Land Management has been swamped with applications for solar projects across millions of acres of desert since July.

The decision by the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday to open up white space -- the unused frequencies between television channels -- to unlicensed Wi-Fi devices is being hailed by technology companies as the dawning of a new era in broadband Internet access.

But the ruling is also being harshly criticized by various trade groups, including the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), which argues that both the FCC's procedure and the concept are flawed.