David Needle

Maybe IBM’s new slogan should be “Got Speed?” The computer giant today launched Power6, the latest and clearly the fastest in its Power line of microprocessors. At 4.7 GHz, the dual-core Power6 processor doubles the speed of the previous generation Power5 while using nearly the same amount of electricity to run and cool it, according […]

SAN FRANCISCO — Dell is pulling back the covers a bit on technology rollouts planned for later this year. The event was atypical for Dell , which rarely previews technology it’s not ready to ship immediately. Dell officials discussed new products and services planned for the second half of this year that it said are […]

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Universal search, the idea that a search engine will be sophisticated enough to draw on all the different media types and information sources to present individual users with the best results, is a tough nut to crack. But Google has taken the “critical first steps” toward achieving that goal. At an […]

The latest unit shipment figures for handhelds don’t bode well for the vendors that make them. Market-research firm IDC reports the worldwide handheld device market opened the year with its 13th consecutive quarter of year-on-year decline. This is due, the firm said, to users transitioning to “converged” mobile and other consumer electronics devices. Vendors shipped […]

SAP announced two significant acquisitions at its SAPPHIRE ’07 international customer conference in Vienna, Austria. The one that directly impacts the enterprise software giant’s flagship NetWeaver platform is the purchase of MaXware, a privately-held provider of identity management software with about 30 employees. The other SAP purchase was Wicom Communications, also privately held. Based in […]

In a sign of the increasing popularity of VoIP  phone service, Skype announced a distribution deal with the giant Wal-Mart chain of stores this week. Under the agreement, the voice communications area of 1,800 Wal-Mart stores in the U.S. will carry Skype-certified hardware, including headsets, webcams, and handsets designed to work with Skype, the popular […]

SAN FRANCISO – Good things come in small packages, but sometimes there are just too many. That’s the challenge facing designers of mobile devices and even notebook computers trying to keep up with the multitude of wireless standards and technologies to support it. “We have an exploding number of radio standards to deal with,” said […]

Notebook computer buyers are about to get a raft of new choices. Intel will formally introduce its latest mobile platform, the Centrino Pro, today at an event in San Francisco. The Centrino Pro was known by its codename ‘Santa Rosa’ while in development. Dell  said it’s going to wait till the fall to offer systems […]

Microsoft’s monthly round of security bulletins cuts across several parts of the software giant’s product lineup and are designed to prevent attackers from taking control of users’ systems remotely. Heading the list are three separate bulletins that, in all, address eight separate newly discovered vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office which could allow an attacker to take […]

While most Americans are comfortable using the Internet, far fewer are ready to dive into the latest, more interactive Web services — sometimes described as Web 2.0  — such as creating blogs and posting personal videos. These latest findings are part of a study done by the Pew Internet & American Life Project that surveyed […]

Apptix fleshed out its lineup of hosted services with today’s announcement that it has purchased WebMessenger. Headquarter in Los Angeles, with development offices in Bulgaria, WebMessenger has developed a suite of mobile instant messaging (IM) products that Apptix said works across more devices, platforms and public and private IM networks than any other provider. While […]

MONTEREY, Calif.– Social networks and other Web-based forms of personal expression are connecting people on the Internet like never before. No surprise there. Whether it’s with MySpace profiles or expanding your personal network of contacts via sites like LinkedIn and Facebook, people are reaching out like never before. But at what point is it overkill, […]