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Longtime Linux kernel developer Sarah Sharp last week published a blog post detailing her reasons for quitting the Linux kernel community. Sharp maintained the USB 3.0 host controller driver until January, when she decided to leave rather than continue to "contribute to a community where I was technically respected, but I could not ask for persona...

Dell on Monday announced it would acquire EMC in a deal valued at $67 billion, maintaining VMware as a publicly traded company EMC shareholders will get $24.05 per share in cash, as well as 0.111 shares of new tracking stock per share of EMC linked to the company's economic interest in the VMware business....

I've had to do a lot of thinking about customer loyalty lately, both for my book and more recently for client engagements What's interesting is how chaotic this market is and how many people are writing about it with very little data. There isn't even strong agreement on the similarities and differences between rewards programs and loyalty. Are the...

Apple last week revealed that it had removed from its App Store several apps with root certificates that could allow data monitoring The monitoring could compromise Secure Sockets Layer and Transport Layer Security protocols, the company said. It suggested usersdelete the apps and their associated configuration profiles. However, it did not name th...

Sony last week knocked US$50 off the price of the PlayStation 4, putting the console on par with the $349 Xbox from rival Microsoft A cost cut also went into effect in Canada, where the price dropped from Sony's recommended price point of CA$449.99 to $429.99....

I can understand Linux in the 1990s. It was backed largely by folks who didn't do well with others. The fights between the Linux and BSD folks were as legendary as they were juvenile, and Linux's existence seemed defined entirely by the revolt against Microsoft. Now, though, the platform is backed by huge brands. It is mainstream -- it is the bas...

Reddit earlier this week announced the launch of Upvoted, a new publication featuring original content from a team of staff editors and writers Reddit has more than 202 million monthly users. Its podcast have been downloaded more than 1.6 million times since January, and its newsletter has hundreds of thousands of subscribers, according to product ...

Welcome, dear readers, to Gadget Dreams and Nightmares, the column that's always on the lookout for the most compelling new gadget announcements, pumpkin spice latte in hand ...

Samsung on Thursday assured users that their information is safe following a computer intrusion of a key company linked to its mobile payment system The intrusion ofLoopPay by a gang of hackers known as the Codoso or Sunshock Group may have occurred as early as March, according to a report in The New York Times....

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk's recent comments to a German newspaper -- suggesting that Apple is the "Tesla graveyard" due to its hiring of fired Tesla employees -- has struck some nerves in the U.S. Musk dismissed claims that Apple had poached staff, telling Handelsblatt that those who couldn't cut it at Tesla would go to work for Apple instead -- ...

Amazon on Thursday leapt into the Internet of Things market with the announcement of its AWS IoT platform AWS IoT lets devices -- ranging from cars and turbines to sensor grids and light bulbs -- connect to services from Amazon Web Services....

The rise of social media has given customers a new platform for interacting with travel and hospitality companies, from airlines to car rental agencies. Today's travel customers primarily use these digital technologies to coordinate logistics and log complaints; gone are the days of calling a reservation specialist to book flights or running through seating options at the check-in counter...

Amazon on Thursday announced Handmade at Amazon, a new specialty site designed to sell original handcrafted wares to a unique set of customers in a market led by rival etailer Etsy Etsy, in its 10th year of operation, put the retail industry on notice in April, when its share price rose to US$31, up 88 percent from its initial public offering price...

Facebook on Thursday announced a pilot test of "Reactions," a way to respond to posts on the network in a more nuanced way than its Like button allows. The new feature is live in Spain and Ireland CEO Mark Zuckerberg previously alluded to the eventual landing of a Like alternative, although he said it would not be a much-requested Dislike button.

Verizon has announced it will begin sharing customer data with its AOL Advertising Network, triggering concerns about privacy and customer tracking AOL will use Verizon'ssupercookie -- which is difficult to get rid of -- to track users. [*Correction - Oct. 14, 2015]...

Google on Wednesday announced Accelerated Mobile Pages, or AMP, an open source initiative to speed up mobile Web page loading The aim is to have Web pages with rich content -- such as video, animations and graphics -- work alongside smart ads and load instantly, with one code working across multiple platforms and devices....

The field of fantasy sports is faced with a fresh set of legal questions, following this week's allegations of insider trading on DraftKings and FanDuel, which have drawn the attention of officials and raised a flurry of penalty flags Having been validated by their skill component, fantasy sports have spilled across state lines and even into the wo...

Canadian businesswoman Julia Cordray's plan to launch Peeple, a Yelp-like app that would let people post reviews about other people, has drawn fierce criticism in the tech press and the blogosphere, including a petition against the app's launch and a Twitter campaign to boycott it "It's a legal and ethical minefield," said Alan Pelz-Sharpe, a resea...

eGain is touting a report from Forrester Consulting and my friend Ian Jacobs purporting to show that omnichannel customer service is stagnant or worse when it comes to delivering service that customers need and want Ian does good work and I am in agreement with him on this, but I have trouble with some conclusions, specifically the implication that...

Philips on Monday unveiled Hue Bridge 2.0., which integrates the company's smart home products and iOS's HomeKit, giving users the ability to dictate to smart things from a Siri-enabled smartphone Replacing its round predecessor, the square Hue Bridge 2.0 is compatible with Philips' legacy smart lights and controls. The hub will support new smart p...