Articles by Erika

There has been a reorganization at the top of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division: Its president Robbie Bach, who has been with Microsoft for 22 years, is retiring. Also departing is J Allard, senior vice president of design and development for the division. A 19-year company veteran, Allard will maintain ties with Microsoft, serving as a strategic advisor for CEO Steve Ballmer...

Complaints about Facebook's privacy practices and policies have been building toward a new crescendo, with growing interest on the part of Congress and regulators, as well as a budding viral movement to quit the network. In an effort to cut through the din, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg decided to address his company's attitude toward consumer privacy head-on in an editorial in The Washington Post.

A brewing battle between Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett and Twitter is apparently over. Following Twitter's refusal to comply with a subpoena demanding identifying information on two of its account holders, the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania rolled up its sleeves to prepare a defense. However, Corbett, who recently won the Republican nomination for governor, has decided not to pursue the matter...

The new breed of tablet-style computing devices typified by Apple's iPad -- "media tablets," as IDC calls the category in a new report -- are projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 57.4 percent between now and 2014. That is an increase from 7.6 million units in 2010 to more than 46 million four years from now, according to the firm IDC defi...

Microsoft has filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Seattle against Salesforce.com, alleging that the company infringed nine of its patents. Microsoft is seeking an injunction as well as damages. The patents touch upon a range of functions having to do with cloud-based CRM. Several focus on ease-of-use features, such as toolbars an...

Now close to 15 years old and used by some 360 million people, Microsoft's Hotmail is getting an upgrade. The revamped email service is expected to roll out in July or August The elephant in the room, of course, is Google -- and to a lesser extent, Yahoo, Laura DiDio, principal of ITIC, told TechNewsWorld.

The producers of "The Hurt Locker" have reportedly signed up with the U.S. Copyright Group in order to sue thousands -- perhaps as many as tens of thousands -- of individuals who illegally downloaded copies of the Oscar-winning movie from the Internet. Voltage Pictures could file its complaints as soon as Tuesday of this week, according to The Hol...

Facebook reportedly held a company-wide meeting Thursday to discuss how to deal with the negative publicity surrounding its privacy policies. To be sure, Facebook has been fielding complaints and criticism -- and even mass protests by its users on its own site -- for years. However, a series of recent events has pushed those complaints to a zenith...

SAP has inked a deal to acquire mobile and database software maker Sybase for US$5.8 billion in cash -- or $65 per share. That translates into a purchase price that is more than 55 percent over Sybase's trading price before rumors of the deal became public, which was $41.57 per share. The deal, which still requires regulatory and shareholder approval, has prompted much debate: Do the benefits of acquiring Sybase's mobile application functionality justify the premium SAP is willing to pay?...

Microsoft launched Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 for business customers Wednesday morning in an event held in New York City Office 2007, the last version of Microsoft's cash cow -- Office represents 25 percent of Microsoft's annual revenue -- came out four years ago. Office 2010 offers a plethora of new or upgraded features and functions focusing...

The Android operating system has moved past the iPhone to capture the No. 2 ranking in smartphone operating systems in the first quarter of 2010, with 28 percent of the U.S. market, according to the NPD Group. The Research In Motion OS was still No. 1, with 36 percent marketshare, based on unit sales to consumers. Apple's iPhone OS held steady with 21 percent.

The smartphone market is back in hyper-growth mode, according to the latest IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, which reported this piece of the mobile market posted a 56.7 percent increase in growth for Q1, shipping a total of 54.7 million units That compares to the 21.7 percent growth rate posted by the mobile phone market....

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has laid out a proposal that establishes the agency's authority to regulate Internet broadband providers much as it does telecom service companies. The FCC has always claimed to have this authority -- but it was not put to the test until Comcast challenged an order by the FCC to change its network management practices...

Twitter is rolling out a new tool for embedding tweets directly into third-party websites. It will provide a snippet of HTML code for the purpose, the micro-blogging site announced on Tuesday While any number of users will likely be interested in embedding tweets in their online content -- corporate websites or even government agencies, for example...

Google has acquired Bump Technologies, a company that has developedan application that transforms a computer desktop screen into a 3-D display. The app -- called "BumpTop" -- is compatible with multitouch display technology, a feature found on devices like Apple's iPad and iPhone....

Pegasystems will demonstrate examples of simple integration between its BPM applications and the CRM functionality it will inherit from Chordiant at its upcoming trade show. Then, in the May/June time frame, the company will announce a detailed road map for integration of the two applications, according to comments made by Pega CEO Alan Trefler du...

Rumors about contenders for troubled smartphone maker Palm continue to circulate -- fueled in part by comments from Palm's CEO. HTC and Huawei -- two companies that were rumored to be interested in acquiring Palm -- have opted not to go forward, according to Reuters.

Dell has plans to release five smartphones and two tablet-style PC devices, according to detailed specs and photos of the products that have been leaked to Engadget. The specs for the devices are thrilling the industry in a way that Dell's endeavors thus far -- primarily its Android-based Dell Mini 3 -- have yet to manage. That excitement, of cour...

Google has acknowledged its acquisition of tech firm Agnilux but has not provided any details about the transaction or even hints as to its purpose. The acquisition has prompted a far more spirited discussion than usually occurs when Google buys a company. Agnilux is something of an enigma -- but what is known about it suggests that it could help ...

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday heard oral arguments in City of Ontario v. Quon -- a case that could significantly expand employees' privacy rights in the workplace. Questioning by the justices led some court watchers to conclude that the Court will decide it on very narrow grounds and likely side with the City of Ontario. If that does happen, employers will breath a sigh of relief, said Devjani Mishra, a labor and employment partner with Seyfarth Shaw...