News

Update: Strong Mac sales boost Apple’s quarterly earnings

Net revenue is up 43 percent from last year's second quarter as Mac sales offset weak growth in iPod shipments

Telecom carriers: ‘Phantom’ voice traffic costing billions

Some rural carriers are seeing up to 30 percent of their minutes eaten by voice calls lacking ID needed for carriers to charge access fees for use of their networks

Adobe, Google cite offline access to Web apps as trend

Companies' officials talk up, respectively, Adobe AIR and Google Gears technologies at Web 2.0 Expo

BT helps businesses share Wi-Fi

Customers of BT Business Total Broadband service can turn their premises into hotspot for users of BT Openzone, its roaming partners, and the FON Wi-Fi service

Gartner: CRM market to grow 14 percent in 2008

Geographically, the most significant portion of sales came in North America, but emerging markets will become more significant in coming years, says report

Blade takes virtualization to datacenter rack

Blade Networks' 1U RackSwitch line of Gigabit and 10 Gigabit Ethernet switches is designed to perform server virtualization within the network

Microsoft mislabels Skype as adware

Buggy anti-virus definition update had mislabeled Skype as pop-up adware program, but Microsoft fixed the issue in a signature update, available for download

IBM, Tata Communications dig into managed security services

IBM is expanding its managed security offerings with an Express line for midsize companies, and Tata is making its first-ever push into the managed security field

Green IT, cheap and easy

Report: OLPC may switch from Linux to Windows XP

Negroponte says an insistence upon using only free, open source software has hampered the XO's usability and scared away potential adopters

Microsoft reverses; posts XP SP3 to TechNet, MSDN

XP service pack appeared unannounced on TechNet and MSDN hours after Microsoft said it was delaying delivery to give Windows Vista SP1 higher priority

Daily news beat for April 23, 2008

Five ways of defining cloud computing

A look at the differences between cloud computing and grid computing

SANS: Pressure on vendors can prevent security woes

Companies that press for base security standards for applications are meeting with less resistance from software vendors

Craigslist calls eBay lawsuit ‘unethical’

Craigslist says eBay's lawsuit came out of the blue and without any attempt to engage in a dialogue

No easy answers to power efficiency

Acer to reveal laptop with Intel’s Atom in June

Acer joins the fray for low-cost laptop market share

CNN site hit by China attack

An on-again, off-again cyberattack against CNN's Web site picks up steam

Acer plans first smartphone

Acer is capitalizing on its recent purchase of device maker E-Ten, and will likely launch a Microsoft-based smartphone near the end of this year

Test Center Guide: RIA tools

Test Center Guide: RIA tools

Earth Day frenzy raises hardware recycling questions

Nonprofit group accuses some recycling organizations of causing more environmental damage by exporting products with toxic materials to developing countries

Microsoft reaches for the cloud

Expo looks at workplace uses of Web 2.0

The Web 2.0 revolution of online communities and user-generated content has made it difficult for enterprises to control their message and maintain a consistent image

IBM turns server sideways for Web 2.0 build-out

IBM's iDataPlex is a new type of low-power rack-mount server designed specifically for companies running heavily trafficked Web 2.0 sites such as Facebook and MySpace

Ruling: No suspicion needed to search laptops at U.S. borders

Appeals court ruling on laptop searches is a blow for privacy-rights advocates

Sun gears JavaFX for consumer move

JavaOne show will spotlight Sun's plans to expand the JavaFX platform to enable development of consumer apps

Dell previews its smallest desktop ever

Dell's tiny new PC is 81 percent smaller and uses up to 70 percent less energy than a typical desktop mini-tower

Microsoft reveals Mesh folder-sharing and sync platform

Live Mesh lets people share data folders across different PCs and devices — even gain access to their home PCs from any computer

Report: Apple buys low-power processor designer

Apple would most likely use PA Semi's dual-core PWRficient chip in an ultra-mobile PC

Microsoft: We took out Storm botnet

Microsoft claims that its search-and-destroy tool for Windows took down enough infected PCs that the hackers called it quits

Open-source ERP grows up

Open source is picking up momentum in the ERP market because of its flexibility and relatively low cost

LendingTree discloses insider data breach

The Web-based lending exchange says several former employees illicitly helped a handful of mortgage lenders gain access to customer data

The platform lock-in game moves to the cloud

eBay files governance lawsuit against Craigslist

Company accuses Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster, founder Craig Newmark of entering into transactions that have 'unfairly diluted eBay's economic interest in Craigslist'

Sun looks to free up the rest of Java

Company eyes Linux installations as potential new users

Microsoft eyes management as key to virtualization

Microsoft believes that offering superior system management tools will help it capture a large share of the burgeoning virtualization market

Microsoft ‘kill switch’ resurfaces in Albany’s Office apps

The Albany software subscription model includes a feature that will restrict the apps to limited functionality if their subscriptions expire

TechNet subscribers rip Microsoft over XP SP3 ‘farce’

Subscribers to TechNet and the MSDN, who pay fees to download software for testing purposes, are upset that they will not get an advance look at the Windows XP SP3

Microsoft rewriting applications for hosted offerings

As part of its shift in business model, Microsoft is rewriting many of its applications to make them support multitenancy so that they may be offered in a hosted fashion

Microsoft to host partner software

After announcing that it will offer hosted versions of Exchange and SharePoint, Microsoft is detailing plans to host third-party applications for partner companies

Trampoline unveils ‘corporate Facebook’ software

Trampoline's Sonar Dashboard is modeled after social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, but it is geared toward corporate use

The 5 quickest returns on your green investment

Look for energy incentives from your power company, measure what you're doing, virtualize, and use supplemental cooling in the places that matter most

Under- standing WOA vs. SOA

Daily news beat for April 22, 2008

FCC: Comcast blocking was widespread

Senate committee is told by FCC chairman that Comcast's blocking of BitTorrent peer-to-peer traffic happened even when there wasn't network congestion

Microsoft: Some users may like adware

New statistics indicate some of the most persistent questionable programs on the Internet still have huge numbers of users

Cryptography expert: Lots of security software is ‘snake oil’

Interview: Bruce Schneier discusses the effectiveness of security products and the psychology of security

Discord overshadows Lenovo’s Olympic torch

Controversy over the recent Chinese crackdown in Tibet has had an impact on Olympic sponsors

SugarCRM, NetSuite get boost from BT deal

Deal with BT is an important validation for SugarCRM and NetSuite and could help give open source software more exposure