Apr 12, 2013

PC sales in first quarter see worst drop ever

Worldwide sales of personal computers slid 13.9 percent in the first quarter of 2013, research firm IDC said Wednesday, the worst contraction since it began tracking the market in 1994. IDC said global PC shipments totaled 76.3 million units in the first quarter, the ...

Apr 6, 2013

Tablets set to take 7.6% bite out of PC market

Sales of traditional desktop and laptop computers are expected to drop 7.6 percent this year as consumers shift to tablets and other more mobile devices, a market tracker said Thursday. The report by the research firm Gartner said all connected devices — PCs, tablets ...

Dell studies offers amid bidding war

Mar 27, 2013

Dell studies offers amid bidding war

A bidding war broke out Monday for U.S. computer maker Dell as two new acquisition offers emerged in competition with the private buyout led by founder Michael Dell. The company said the offers were from billionaire corporate raider Carl Icahn and investment fund Blackstone ...

Mar 27, 2013

Yahoo buys app from British teen

Yahoo announced plans Monday to buy mobile news reader app Summly from the London teenager who invented it, likely making him one of the world’s youngest self-made multimillionaires. The company did not disclose the terms of the deal it struck with 17-year-old Nick D’Aloisio, ...

Mar 16, 2013

Browser makers consider limits to tracking users

It is often hard to tell which is the Web’s priority: helping you learn about the world or helping the world — and especially advertisers — learn about you. But that balance is beginning to shift, to the delight of consumer advocates and the ...

Mar 12, 2013

Google takes a big bite out of rival Apple

Google has retaken the role of tech sector superstar with a stunning stock rally as rival Apple falters. Google has hit fresh all-time highs in recent weeks, and closed Friday at $831.52, capping a nearly tenfold rise from its public offering price in 2004 ...

Mar 9, 2013

Android OS top malware virus target: report

The Android operating system accounts for 79 percent of all malware infections on smartphones and the threat is multiplying, a security firm said Thursday. Finland’s F-Secure said in a report that the free Google operating system, which has been gaining smartphone market share globally, ...

Feb 26, 2013

Firefox handset OS to challenge Google, Apple

Mozilla Foundation announced Sunday it will launch in midyear its Firefox operating system for smartphones in a direct challenge to the duopoly of Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. Mozilla, which campaigns for open development of the online world, showed off the first commercial version ...

Android 'fragmentation' leaves smartphones vulnerable

Feb 8, 2013

Android 'fragmentation' leaves smartphones vulnerable

In late October, researchers at North Carolina State University alerted Google to a security flaw that could let scam artists send phony text messages to Android phones — a practice called “smishing” that can ensnare consumers in fraud. Google’s security officials replied in minutes, ...

Jan 8, 2013

World's first tabletop computer for 'interpersonal' use unveiled

Lenovo on Sunday unveiled a home tabletop touch-screen computer aimed at turning typically solitary online activities into family affairs. The Chinese computer colossus proclaimed the arrival of the “interpersonal PC” with the debut of the IdeaCentre Horizon Table in Las Vegas, where the Consumer ...