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Barnes & Noble Inc. will ship its Nook electronic readers to 2,500 Wal-Mart stores this month to reach more shoppers ahead of the holiday season.
The devices will hit Wal-Mart shelves as soon as Oct. 24 and will be available on the discount chain’s Web site, the world’s largest bookstore chain said in a statement Thursday. Get the full story »
Apple's new ultralight MacBook Air laptops will start at $999. (Getty Images)
Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the thinnest, lightest Mac laptop yet with features borrowed from iPhones and iPads, hoping to grab more market share from Microsoft’s Windows PCs.
The new MacBook Air starts at $999, weighs as little as 2.3 pounds (1 kg), and measures 0.11 inches (0.3 cm) at its thinnest to 0.68 inches (1.7 cm) at the rear. It is designed to replicate the versatility of popular devices like the iPhone and iPad on its venerable computer line, and will incorporate Facetime video chats and an apps store.
Running on flash storage like the iPad rather than hard drives like conventional computers, it can power up instantly and store data twice as fast, executive said. Get the full story »
Microsoft Corp said on Monday that chief software architect Ray Ozzie, the man who took over that role from co-founder Bill Gates, would retire and not be replaced.
The move signals a new phase in Microsoft’s shift toward cloud computing, which Ozzie championed, and cements control of the company’s direction under Chief Executive Steve Ballmer. Get the full story »
A scene from the Facebook app FarmVille which was found to share private info with marketers. (Facebook)
Many of the most popular applications, or “apps,” on the social-networking site Facebook Inc. have been transmitting identifying information — in effect, providing access to people’s names and, in some cases, their friends’ names — to dozens of advertising and Internet tracking companies, a Wall Street Journal investigation has found.
The issue affects tens of millions of Facebook app users, including people who set their profiles to be completely private. The practice breaks Facebook’s rules, and renews questions about its ability to keep identifiable information about its users’ activities secure. Get the full story »
Apple Inc.’s shares cruised past $300 for the first time as investors anticipated another strong earnings report from the iPhone maker next week. Get the full story »
Apple Inc.’s stock flirted with $300 Tuesday as investors high on the iPad’s promise pushed shares to a record peak. Analysts see few reasons to believe shares will stop there. Get the full story »
Microsoft Corp. issued its biggest-ever security fix Tuesday, including repairs to its ubiquitous Windows operating system for flaws that could let hackers take control of a user’s personal computer.
Microsoft released 16 security patches to address 49 problems it identified in its products.
It said four of the patches were high priority and should be deployed immediately to protect users from potential criminal attacks on the Windows operating systems. The patches are software updates that write over glitches. Get the full story »
IBM shares hit an all-time high Monday, with the stock riding a slight market upswing. It rose as high as $139.88 before closing at $139.66, up 81 cents for the day. The previous high was $139.19, reached during the dot-com boom on July 13, 1999. Get the full story »
Amazon.com Inc. plans to open a software-applications store for smartphones running Google Inc.’s Android operating system, putting it in head-to-head competition with Google’s own digital-app store.
According to an Amazon document for developers viewed by The Wall Street Journal, Amazon would take a 30 percent cut of sales, with the developers keeping the rest. The document includes a stipulation that the apps can’t be offered at a lower price elsewhere. Get the full story »
Motorola’s mobile devices and TV set-top box subsidiary is suing Apple for patent infringement, alleging that its California-based rival is illegally using Motorola technology in many of its core products and services, including the iPhone and the App Store.
Motorola Mobility, the subsidiary, filed complaints in the Northern District of Illinois and the Southern District of Florida, as well as with the U.S. International Trade Commission. The company said the complaints involve 18 patents relating to “early-stage innovations developed by Motorola” that can be found in the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and some Mac computers. The patents cover such technologies as antenna design, wireless e-mail and location-based services, Motorola said. Get the full story »
Chicago is one of the 38 cities that will be included in Verizon Wireless’ launch of its 4G network later this year, the operator said Wednesday.
Verizon, which will use a fourth-generation network technology called Long-Term Evolution, said its Chicagoland network will extend from the Wisconsin border, to Tinley Park and Homer Glen to Lake Zurich, Hoffman Estates and Bolingbrook. Lake Michigan will form the network’s eastern border. Get the full story »
Toshiba Corp. plans to release new tablet devices in the U.S., Japan and elsewhere early next year, a top engineer at the company involved in the development of tablet computers told Dow Jones Newswires Tuesday.
“The market for tablets is very hot right now,” said Hideo Kasuya on the sidelines of the annual Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies, near Tokyo. Get the full story »
Apple Inc. is challenging the verdict in a patent infringement lawsuit that could force the consumer goods giant to pay up to $625.5 million in damages, according to documents filed with a federal court in Texas on Sunday. Get the full story »
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer shows Slate PCs during his keynote speech before the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show in January. The company plans to introduce a new slate to counter the iPad. (Reuters)
A Microsoft slate to counter Apple’s popular iPad tablet computer will be seen by the Christmas holiday, Microsoft’s Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Tuesday.
Ballmer did not say whether the palm-sized slates would actually be on sale in time for Christmas, nor did he say who would make them. Microsoft has been slow to respond to the iPad, and has also made little headway in mobile phones.
“You’ll see new slates with Windows on them. You’ll see them this Christmas,” he told an audience of students, staff and journalists at the London School of Economics. Get the full story »
Goldman Sachs downgraded Microsoft Corp. on Monday to neutral from buy, and lowered its price target on the software giant to $28 from $32.
Among the reasons for the move, the broker cited “increased caution near-term on a more elongated PC refresh cycle” as well as the threat that some of the notebook market could be cannibalized by tablet PCs, where Microsoft Windows doesn’t yet have a presence. Get the full story »
