Cynthia Harvey

On Monday, a worm quickly spread through social blogging site Tumblr, posting offensive messages on many users pages. Tumblr says it has now fixed the problem. CNNMoney’s Adrian Covert reported, “In yet another incident illustrating that no one is safe from hackers, trolls and script kiddies, Tumblr fell victim to a security exploit Monday morning. […]

ComScore’s October 2012 report on the smartphone market had one noticeable change from previous reports: Apple is now the second most popular smartphone manufacturer in the U.S. LG, the previous number two, sank to third; Samsung retained its dominance as number one. According to the comScore press release, “For the three-month average period ending in […]

Both IDC and Gartner are reporting that revenues from server sales declined during the third quarter. IDC reported a 4 percent drop, while Gartner reported a 2.8 percent drop. According to the IDC press release, “This is the fourth consecutive quarter of year-over-year revenue decline, as server market demand continued to soften following a strong […]

Without a lot of fanfare, Microsoft has increased the licensing fees for several enterprise applications, including Exchange, its Lync communications server, Windows Server and Terminal Services. The fifteen percent increase applies to Client Access Licenses (CALs) only. Robert Mullins from eWeek reported, “Effective Dec. 1, Microsoft is raising the price of client access licenses for […]

A federal judge in Seattle has ruled in Microsoft’s favor on one question in a patent lawsuit brought by Motorola. U.S. District Judge James Robart found that because Motorola had pledged to license the patent in question on FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms) it could not impose a sales ban against Microsoft. CNET’s Don […]

Yesterday, Microsoft was boasting about sales of 40 million Windows 8 licenses, but today researchers said things aren’t looking as good for the new OS as Microsoft would like people to think. The NPD group claims that PC sales actually fell after the introduction of Windows 8. Mashable’s Todd Wasserman reported, “Windows 8 may not […]

A group of computer science professors say they have discovered a technique that allows them to use cloud computing resources for free. They call the hack “Browser MapReduce.” InformationWeek’s Thomas Claburn reported, “Computer scientists at North Carolina State University and the University of Oregon have demonstrated that it is possible to conduct large-scale cloud computing […]

Cisco has announced that it plans to acquire Cariden Technologies for $141 million in cash and retention-based incentives. Based in Sunnyvale, Calif., Cariden provides software for the telecommunications industry. CRN’s Chad Berndtson reported, “Cisco (NSDQ:CSCO) Thursday said it will acquire privately held Cariden Technologies, a maker of network planning, design and traffic tools for telecom […]

Microsoft has begun attacking Google with a controversial new website that compares the search leader to Ebeneezer Scrooge. Warning customers not to get “Scroogled,” Microsoft says that Google’s shopping results are all paid ads and that search users should try Bing instead. At Scroogled.com, Microsoft writes, “In the beginning, Google preached, ‘Don’t be evil’—but that […]

Researchers from several firms are reporting that this year’s Cyber Monday, the first Monday after Thanksgiving, set new records for online shopping. Shoppers spent more money than ever before, and they did a greater percentage of that shopping from mobile devices. Bloomberg BusinessWeek’s Danielle Kucera reported, “Online spending rose 17 percent on the Monday after […]