Business

Dell executive Amit Midha on Monday announced that the hardware company is considering using the Google Chrome operating system (OS) on a select list of its laptop computers. That could represent a step away by Dell from Microsoft's Windows ... offerings, and will likely be a major concern for the Redmond-based software giant. In an interview with Reuters, Google senior executive Midha admitted that the company was considering a partial switch from Windows to Chrome on its laptops and perhaps some of its smartphones and tablet computers. The move could be enormous for all of the firms involved, ... (view more)

Connecticut's top law official says he may be joined by others in investigating Google's alleged WiFi privacy breaches . It follows similar action in both Europe and Australia. The dispute came about when it emerged that, while taking photographs ... for its Street View mapping service, Google used its vehicles to scan for local wireless networks, a move it says was designed to allow it to show the locations of free public hotspots on its maps. However, in this process it "inadvertently" collected snippets from emails and data from websites which were being transmitted wirelessly, with ... (view more)

Microsoft is making it easier to help spread the word on incidents of Internet fraud and stolen personal data. In its latest corporate venture, the company has teamed with the National Cyber-Forensics and Training Alliance (NCFTA) to establish a ... centralized service called "Internet Fraud Alert." Security researchers now have one universal location for which to report any kind of stolen data, ranging from online account login information to credit card numbers. The service can also be used to warn financial institutions immediately after a security breach has been identified. Program ... (view more)

Microsoft is running a special offer allowing students to upgrade to Windows 7 for just $29.99. They can also buy a special academic edition of Office 2010 for $79.95 outright. The upgrade offer is for the Professional edition of Windows 7. That's ... effectively the midway point between Home Premium (the edition most home users will be running) and Ultimate (the most feature-filled and expensive edition for individuals). Compared with Home Premium, the Professional edition offers some extra features which might not appeal to students, such as easier company network connections, but one which ... (view more)

Amazon has slashed the price of several versions of its Microsoft Office 2010 applications suite. Cuts have been as high as 13 per cent at the online retailer, which insists the reductions have nothing to do with weak demand. Leading the cuts is the ... Home and Student version of Office: Microsoft lists the software at $149, but Amazon currently posts it at just $129. Receiving slightly less drastic cuts is the Home and Business edition, available for $259 (usually $279) and the Professional version, listed at $459 by Microsoft but sold by Amazon for a whopping $499. (Source: informationweek.com ... (view more)

Google's forthcoming Chrome operating system (OS) will be able to run applications from other operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows. The procedure is a relatively simple technical solution, though one which has practical limitations. The ... Chrome operating system, which has been released in a form developers can experiment with works in a different way than most web browsers. It's designed to run when the computer is online and is, to a major extent, a souped-up version of Google's Chrome web browser. Chrome OS Goes Easy on Old PCs Instead of standalone applications on the computer, most ... (view more)

One of the major concerns about the launch of Windows 7 was that the new operating system would be too bulky for a very popular kind of PC: the netbook. The alternative was the decade-old Windows XP, but that option won't be around come the end of ... October, 2010. In a recent statement, Microsoft officials noted the deadline date for OEMs to cut off the loading of Windows XP on new netbooks: October 22, 2010, one year to the day since the launch of Windows 7. "OEMs will no longer be able to pre-install Windows XP Home on new netbook PCs," Microsoft said. (Source: appscout.com ) Performance, ... (view more)

Microsoft has released security updates for 34 different problems, a monthly total that has only been matched once. Three sets of problems are ranked as critical, and several are so-called zero-day bugs. A zero-day bug is one in which the problem is ... not discovered by the software developer itself. This creates the risk that hackers will be able to get a head-start on finding a way to exploit the bug before the developer is able to produce a fix. The critical issues affect both Internet Explorer and Windows itself. Of the 10 security bulletins, these are the priority for installation and ... (view more)

Apple has given the world a glimpse of their latest smartphone offering, the iPhone 4, unveiling the product at the company's recent Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) this past Monday in San Francisco. Apple is anticipating great things for the ... new smartphone, even going so far as to call it the "biggest leap" since the original model back in 2007. Among its many impressive features, the iPhone 4 boasts a much sharper display, the new Apple iAd mobile advertising platform, and video capture. All of the features are eclipsed, however, by Apple's crown jewel: video chat. iPhone 4 Users Get ... (view more)

Microsoft has officially unveiled online versions of its Microsoft Office 2010 applications, including cloud versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. The company revealed its new products with surprisingly little fanfare, though it's likely ... they'll garner considerable attention in the next few days. Microsoft's move towards cloud computing alternatives for its traditional Office suite of applications is largely a response to Google's line of rival online products. The search giant has had considerable success with its Google Docs program, which allows users from anywhere in the world ... (view more)