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Cisco Systems has made a huge play in the video-conferencing industry, acquiring one of the world's largest makers of such equipment for close to US$3 billion. Cisco is acquiring Tandberg for 153.50 Norway kroners (US$26.37) a share in cash -- an 11 percent premium over Tandberg's closing price on the Oslo exchange.

Graphics processor vendor Nvidia on Wednesday announced its next-generation CUDA graphics processor unit (GPU) architecture, code-named "Fermi." The Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Department of Energy's largest science and energy laboratory, has announced it will build a new supercomputer based on Fermi....

When an Indian company tried to sell its Swastika brand of clothing in the West, it was not quite prepared for the backlash. Why? ...

On Sept. 19, a Saturday -- by all rights a day when normal people do their chores and pay attention to their families -- I noticed a spike in my Twitter following. In one day, more than 100 new followers jumped on my bandwagon, bringing the total number up to somewhere north of 400. Now, admittedly, I've been slow to jump on the latest social network craze. It's true, some of my fellow industry analysts have formed entire business models based on supporting enterprises in their social networking strategies and have thousands of followers. But I have remained skeptical to some degree...

For six years Australia-based security software company Uniloc and Microsoft have duked it out in the courts over charges that Microsoft infringed on Uniloc's patent. A jury said it did and awarded Uniloc what was purported to be the fifth largest patent verdict in history. However, in a 66-page decision, Rhode Island's District Judge William Smith overturned the US$388 million verdict and unceremoniously handed victory to Microsoft.

On Wednesday, Google announced that it will send out more than 100,000 invitations to preview Google Wave Several enterprises and individuals have already used Wave to build applications or in their work....

ATG has launched a program modeled partly on the now-ubiquitous app store concept and partly on the principle of open source code-sharing. The ATG Catalyst Program is an asset distribution channel for posting full-fledged applications or portions of code....

I often hear people express fear at the "threat" of future regulation by a government agency. I have to admit I have the opposite reaction. As leaders in the world of e-commerce and online communication, we are in the driver's seat to either show that we are serious about ethics -- or that we need adult supervision. As we all know from growing u...

I have an ongoing conversation with an industry executive about the nature of on-demand, SaaS and cloud computing. The central question is, what is it exactly? Our conversation is always thought provoking, and I come away from it with at least some additional perspective. Sometimes I think the discussion is incredibly philosophical, like the question about a tree falling in the forest -- does it make a sound if no one is there to witness it?...

After nearly two years of anticipation, Garmin and AT&T announced Tuesday that the long-awaited Garmin Nuvifone G60 will become available in the United States starting Oct. 4 Billed as "the navigation phone" for its integration of phone capabilities with GPS functionality, the Linux-based device will be sold online and in AT&T stores for US$299, af...

Part 1 of this series discusses the history of cybercrime. Part 2 looks into common varieties of malware currently found in the wild. Part 3 explores strategies for increasing your resistance to cybercrime Regardless of the agreements or disagreements on how individuals, companies and governments are to combat cybercrime, one fact stands true: Doin...

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski stirred up the Net neutrality pot last week with his speech at the Brookings Institution where he pledged to create new rules for governing the Internet. While the chairman's comments were delivered eloquently, they were problematic for a number of reasons The FCC boss implied tha...

This is way out of the Dell dude's league Dell's newest addition to the Latitude line, the Z600, is designed as a sleek envy item for high-ranking corporate executives, entrepreneurs and other style leaders, and bears the stats to prove it, beginning with its US$1,999 starting price tag....

Warner Music Group and Google have come to terms on a revenue-sharing agreement that will allow content from Warner's full music catalog to be used in YouTube videos, according to a blog post by Chris Maxcy, director of YouTube partner development. Warner will be able to sell its own ad inventory and use YouTube's Content ID technology to monetiz...

Facebook now has some new "friends:" the United States Secret Service, thanks to a startling weekend poll appearing on the world's largest social network that asked the question, "Should Obama be killed?" The poll provided four possible answers: "Yes," "No," "Maybe," and "Yes if he cuts my healthcare." Some 750 people had responded to the poll bef...

Microsoft released version 1.0 of Microsoft Security Essentials, a free basic anti-malware service from Redmond, on Tuesday This replaces Microsoft's discontinued Live OneCare Security-as-a-Service offering....

Does your Web site work for the press and analysts who visit? How much time and money does your company spend promoting your Web site, your business, your services, technologies and products to the world? What happens when an editor comes to your Web site and tries to find information? Can they find what they need -- or do they click away, going to one of your competitors' Web sites to get the info they need instead?...

Google sent shock waves through the Android community late last week by launching a cease-and-desist order at well-regarded modder Cyanogen for bundling some of its closed-source applications with his CyanogenMod ROM CyanogenMod is a free, heavily optimized build of Android 1.5r2 that focuses on performance and reliability. Its developer -- Steve K...

Looking through the news, it's not hard to find a story about someone driving into a river or onto railroad on the advice of an in-car navigation system Last year, a Seattle bus driver blamed his GPS unit after he collided with a bridge embankment, injuring several of his passengers, according to the Seattle Times. The Mirror newspaper in Great Bri...

The European Union has updated volume standards for portable devices that play music, such as MP3 players and mobile phones. Going forward, new products will be required to maintain their default setting at 80 decibels. The new rules upgrade EU directives CEN, CENELEC and ETSI, which require that warnings about the dangers of listening to music at...