How badly does Sun want its acquisition deal with IBM to go through? So badly that it’s willing to lower its purchase price for assurances that Big Blue will finish the deal.

Read More »

In January, Wikipedia claimed nearly 97 percent of the visits that Web surfers in the United States made to online encyclopedias, according to research outfit Hitwise. MSN Encarta received 1.27 percent. Little wonder, then, that Microsoft is discontinuing it. The company announced Monday it would stop selling Encarta software by June and would shut down the encyclopedia’s MSN Web sites on Oct. 31.

Read More »

The ax is indeed swinging at Big Blue. Following reports that it is preparing to cut thousands of jobs in its global services unit, IBM said Thursday it has begun notifying employees of what it likes to euphemistically refer to as “resource actions.” IBM refused to disclose the number of employees affected, but
Lee Conrad, spokesman for a union group called Alliance@IBM, said at least 1,674 in the company’s Application Services unit will lose their jobs.

Read More »

“Our love affair with the iPhone began by simply touching it. This was rapidly becoming the most important device I had ever owned, it was an all-encompassing, complete device. And I knew that that device was going to enable incredible things for gaming.” That breathless and swooning introduction aside, ngmoco co-founder Neil Young’s keynote address at the Game Developers Conference today was a noteworthy one in that it really heralds the arrival of the iPhone as a gaming platform.

Read More »

Oracle’s ongoing pursuit of vertical markets has served it well, particularly in these recessionary times–as its latest earnings prove. No surprise then to see the company bolstering its presence in the health care market with yet another acquisition–its 50th since 2005.

Read More »

Read More »

Palm hasn’t yet set its price or launch date, but it already has a winner on its hands in the Pre. That’s the word from RBC Capital analyst Mike Abramsky, who gave the device one hell of a write-up this morning. Seems Abramsky, who had previously been neutral on Palm, now believes the company has a chance at “smartphone leadership.”

Read More »

In its second quarter, Oracle managed to hit Wall Street’s earnings targets despite the souring economy. Will it manage to do so again in its third? That’s not clear. But, by some accounts, the company’s third quarter is shaping up to be an ugly one–-the company’s worst since the early ’90s.

Read More »

Rather than argue with the Authors Guild over the text-to-speech feature of its new Kindle 2 e-book reader, Amazon is modifying the device’s software to make it optional. Authors and publishers will now be able to decide if they want the function enabled or not on titles for which they own the rights.

Read More »

Now that Sony’s old guard has taken what was once a strong electronics and gaming brand and run it into the ground, the company’s new guard is circling back to resurrect it. This morning the company announced a management overhaul that will see CEO Howard Stringer succeed Ryoji Chubachi as president and assume responsibility for Sony’s key electronics division.

Read More »