An employee of Art+Com Technology GmbH demonstrates the "Touchmaster" at a stand for the world's biggest IT fair, CeBIT, in Hanover, March 1, 2009. Tech firms say the U.S. will fall behind other countries if quotas on visas for skilled workers are not raised. (Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters)

How many skilled workers is too many?

US tech firms want to change visa rules so they can hire more workers from abroad.

SAN FRANCISCO — The U.S. technology lobby is hoping lawmakers will soon tackle an immigration overhaul that would include measures to make it easier for tech firms to hire talent from abroad.

Tech firms want it to be easier to hire college-educated workers from abroad and also want to reform the green card process to make it easier to convert the temporary visa holders they hire...

Recent on Technology:

• Latest

Teacher in a box: Outsourcing homework to India

Saritha Rai - India - November 20, 2009 16:28 ET

Need help with that term paper, young American? Meet Saswati Patnaik.

Cuba tries to keep the lights on

Nick Miroff - Cuba - November 20, 2009 06:55 ET

Cuba gets plenty of oil from Venezuela. So why is it adopting "extreme measures" to avoid blackouts?

Costa Rican creates plasma rocket to pick up space trash

Alex Leff - Costa Rica - November 19, 2009 06:26 ET

Franklin Chang Diaz wants to fuel the International Space Station and transport people to Mars with his plasma rocket.

Silicon Sweatshops: A promising model

Jonathan Adams and Kathleen E. McLaughlin - China and its neighbors - November 18, 2009 06:54 ET

There's no easy way to police supply chains in Asia. But one US high-tech firm and its Taiwan supplier are taking a creative approach that might just work.

Special report: Silicon Sweatshops

Jonathan Adams and Kathleen E. McLaughlin - China and its neighbors - November 17, 2009 15:05 ET

Despite strict "codes of conduct," labor rights violations are the norm at factories making the world's favorite high-tech gadgets.

What do you think about Silicon Sweatshops?

News Desk - China and its neighbors - November 17, 2009 15:04 ET

Are high-tech supply chains in Asia good business or exploitation? You decide.

Silicon Sweatshops: Shattered dreams

Jonathan Adams - China and its neighbors - November 17, 2009 07:24 ET

Migrant workers making gadgets at Taiwan's high-tech parks sign deals that make them modern-day indentured servants.

Silicon Sweatshops: The China connection

Kathleen E. McLaughlin and Jonathan Adams - China and its neighbors - November 17, 2009 07:22 ET

For migrant workers, an electronics factory job can be a ticket into China's booming middle class. But for many, it turns into a nightmare of poor working conditions and indifferent bosses.

Silicon Sweatshops: Disposable workforce

Jonathan Adams - China and its neighbors - November 17, 2009 07:22 ET

Laid-off Taiwanese workers accuse their firm of violating industry codes even when times were good.

Facebook: A tool for cops and robbers

Charlie Devereux - Venezuela - November 16, 2009 12:58 ET

In Venezuela criminals use Facebook to research targets. Cops use it too — but not always for scrupulous purposes.

The Trabant: An East German marvel makes a comeback

Karoline Durr - Commerce - November 10, 2009 06:35 ET

Want your own "little Sputnik?" You may soon get the chance.

Design within reach

Daniel Grushkin - NGOs - November 5, 2009 17:36 ET

Cameron Sinclair founded Architecture for Humanity to bring thoughtful design to the world’s neediest.

A short hop on a big plane

Mildrade Cherfils - France - October 30, 2009 22:12 ET

GlobalPost hitches a ride on Air France KLM's first A380. Next stop? New York.

Whisky on (Antarctic) ice

Emily Stone - Global Green - October 30, 2009 18:28 ET

Explorer Ernest Shackleton loved his Scotch whisky. And he left a stash at the bottom of the world.

Exploiting the motion of the ocean

Colin Woodard - Canada - October 30, 2009 09:35 ET

Energy companies are trying to turn eastern Canada's coast into the Saudi Arabia of tidal power. Critics fear for the fisheries.

Jordan tech sector taking off

Tom A. Peter - Jordan - October 24, 2009 09:37 ET

It's no Silicon Valley, but in the Arab world the desert kingdom has become something of a techie's mecca.

Trip to space in aisle 4

Phil Cain - Europe - October 24, 2009 09:18 ET

A discount supermarket chain in Austria is selling trips to space.

How many skilled workers is too many?

Tom Abate - Technology - October 20, 2009 11:26 ET

US tech firms want to change visa rules so they can hire more workers from abroad.

Dubai’s shiny new train set

Tom Hundley - Middle East - October 19, 2009 09:36 ET

Dubai's technologically and aesthetically dazzling metro has already upset this rich Emirate’s rigid social hierarchy.

Cuba: No deal with US telecoms

Nick Miroff - Cuba - October 19, 2009 08:01 ET

Cuba rebuffs key Obama initiative that would have opened the island to better cell phone and internet service.

Global Blogs:

• Latest

Nene Anegasaki, a video game character gets married to a real man

The Gizmo Diva - Technology - November 20, 2009 13:41 ET

Many a times we have come across Dating video games but we have never taken them seriously. A man from Japan recently traveled to Guam in order to legally marry his virtual girlfriend in a dating simulator game called Konami's Love Plus for Nintendo DS. The character's name is...

Not-So Modest Sheets

Steve Rufer and Vincent Veneziani - Technology - November 20, 2009 13:31 ET

Mormons beware. These sheets are not for the modest. These Cheeky Duvet Sheets reveal everything but the naughty-bits. I might as well just sleep under cellophane wrap since I sleep in the nude...

Iceotope – Smart server cooling with liquid

The Red Ferret - Technology - November 20, 2009 04:53 ET

Computer server rooms are the ecological equivalent of storing a bunch of blower heaters in a giant coolroom. But people [...] 301 words | permalink | No comments | digg this