Business

Tired of your laptop battery dying out, or worried that it might actually pose a fire threat? Notebook batteries are notoriously fickle pieces of machinery, and their unpredictable nature can threaten one's work and even his or her health. ... Boston-Power Inc, makers of "green battery power" plan to redefine how laptop owners feel about the batteries powering their computers. Dedicated to producing safe and long-lasting lithium ion batteries, Boston-Power has announced that it intends to release a new battery boasting ultra-endurance -- performance that appears brand-spanking-new even three ... (view more)

Microsoft is attempting to get people talking about their search engine through the launch of a new campaign strategy that will offer perks to people and advertisers who use Live Search. One incentive is called "Cashback", which will benefit the ... consumer while ensuring a tremendous increase in online sales for companies who advertise with Live Search. When a user selects an ad on Live Search and makes a purchase, Microsoft will use some of the ad revenue to fund a portion of the purchase. (Source: theglobeandmail.com ) Microsoft is also in the trial stages of a "SearchPerks" incentive which ... (view more)

Facing an economic crisis that is hitting Japanese electronics companies harder than their American competitors, Sony has announced that it will lay off about 8,000 workers in the coming weeks. Sony, the Japanese tech giant responsible for the ... PlayStation 3, Bravia TVs, Blu-ray players, and just about any other type of handy home device you can think of, currently employs about 160,000 full-time workers. However, due to continued economic worries the company plans to lay off a combination of full-time, contract, and temporary employees, totalling about 8,000 cuts. Sony also plans to tighten ... (view more)

Just in case we forgot Microsoft was leading the charge against pirated software, the company recently revealed that it has filed 63 new actions against counterfeiters in twelve different countries around the world. According to Matt Lundy, ... Microsoft's senior attorney on its anti-counterfeiting team, the actions have been taken against individuals accused of pirating versions of Microsoft Office, Windows operating system XP, and a number of other products. Much of the counterfeit software was resold at online auction sites, says Lundy. Those on the wrong end of legal action hail from just ... (view more)

Google has unveiled technology that allows search users to customize their results and even post comments about particular sites for other users to read. However, the firm has dropped a separate unbranded search engine which it had been using to ... test out new features. The main feature of the new SearchWiki tool is a series of buttons which appears next to each result whenever you search while signed into a Google account (such as Gmail). The first, an arrow pointing upwards, allows you to move a site up the list of the results. (After doing so, you also then get the option to move it down ... (view more)

Not long after reports surfaced describing Apple's first-ever recommendation that owners of its computers use antivirus software, the company has pulled that very statement from its official web site. The admission that users should use an antivirus ... program when using a Macbook was especially surprising to Mac and even PC owners. For years, Apple has proudly flaunted the fact that few viral or spyware threats exist for the niche computer line. However, as early as Tuesday night Apple ripped that warning down, dismissing it as "old and inaccurate", according to one spokesperson for the company ... (view more)

For the first time ever, fewer than 90% of computer users are running Windows. The figures show the growing success of rival operating systems -- though there's no sign of Microsoft losing its dominant position any time soon. The figures come from ... Internet services firm Net Applications. They regularly measure which operating system users are using when connecting to web sites. While this is obviously not a perfect way to quantify market dominance, it does provide a decent sampling method given how many users have an Internet connection these days. The figure for Windows in November was 89.6 ... (view more)

It seems as if the pot has finally called the kettle black. After routinely needling Microsoft and PC users for having to run antivirus programs, Apple has finally recommended that owners of its hardware use similar software to protect their ... computers. Traditionally, Apple hardware and the Mac operating system have been free from viral or spyware attacks for one very simple reason: too few people actually use those systems. From a spyware goon's perspective: if only about 5 per cent of computer owners are Apply users, then why design a spyware program or hack for such a small segment of the ... (view more)

You'd think a company named after a fruit would be particularly adept at marketing products that are safe for the environment. Not so in the case of Apple, who once again has been targeted by Greenpeace in the latter's tenth Guide to Greener ... Electronics. According to a recent advertisement airing on American TV, Apple's new Macbooks (well-received by most technology critics) are "The world's greenest family of notebooks." This particular ad shirks many other features that make the Macbook so great, including its processing, memory, and graphics powers. It seems an indication that the ... (view more)