Hewlett-Packard

With its mind in the clouds and an eye on rival Microsoft, Google on Tuesday launched an online application store for third-party programs that can be integrated with its online Google Apps office suite, with a single log-in and Google's universal navigation. The programs can sync with Gmail and Google's calendar, and use document-sharing features.

Dell is fed up with losing ground to Acer. Last year Dell lost its spot as the world's second-largest computer maker to its Taiwanese rival, lagging behind Acer in market share for the first time ever. As of the fourth quarter of 2009, Dell had just 12.4 percent of the global market, according to market research firm IDC, compared with 13.4 percent for Acer and 21 percent for Hewlett-Packard.

It may be late, but Intel has launched a new Itanium processor that is expected to double the performance of its predecessor. After two delays, Intel on Monday launched the Itanium 9300 series, a quad-core processor code-named Tukwila.

The chip, a 64-bit processor designed for enterprise servers and high-performance computing systems, was slated to be released in early 2009, but Intel delayed the release, saying only that it was undergoing application scalability enhancements. A second delay was announced in May.

IBM on Monday unveiled high-capacity servers that are the first to be based on its new, multi-core POWER7 chip. The company said the new product line is designed "to manage the most demanding emerging applications," including high-capacity smart electrical grids and real-time analytics for financial markets.

The servers are optimized for processing huge workloads of simultaneous transactions, data handling, and analysis. IBM said they offer "dramatic improvements" in price versus performance, energy savings, and server virtualization.

Energy Efficiency

IBM on Monday unveiled high-capacity servers that are the first to be based on its new, multi-core POWER7 chip. The company said the new product line is designed "to manage the most demanding emerging applications," including high-capacity smart electrical grids and real-time analytics for financial markets.

The servers are optimized for processing huge workloads of simultaneous transactions, data handling, and analysis. IBM said they offer "dramatic improvements" in price versus performance, energy savings, and server virtualization.

Energy Efficiency

El grupo surcoreano Samsung Electronics ha anunciado hoy que en 2009 su beneficio neto aumentó un 75% y que sus ventas ascendieron hasta los 84.470 millones de euros (114.410 millones de dólares), con lo que se convierte en la mayor compañía de tecnología del mundo.

Flanked by a coterie of gadgets in a private suite at the USA's biggest consumer electronics show, Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers might seem like the proverbial fish out of water.

Yet the leader of the computer-networking giant had delivered a keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show [and] was outlining its consumer plans.

It's all part of Cisco's audacious gambit to plunge into new markets, spend billions to snap up companies and partner with others, despite a sour economy.

Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft said Wednesday they will jointly spend $250 million to develop hardware and software products that are designed to work together smoothly in their customers' data centers and in cloud computing facilities.

"This is all about integrating technology and making things as close to 'plug and play' as we can," HP CEO Mark Hurd said during a telephone conference call with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and other executives, in which they announced a partnership that appears to represent another move toward consolidation in the commercial tech industry.

Whatever might be said of its methods and accuracy, there is little question that the Greenpeace "Guide to Greener Electronics" has become an important fixture on the consumer electronics scene.

In August 2006, Greenpeace took its first stab at ranking the green bona fides of 14 makers of consumer electronics. In a nutshell, the appraisals hinged on the elimination of certain hazardous chemicals and a willingness to take responsibility for products across their life cycles, through take-back programs, recycling and other efforts.

If Apple is hoping to keep a tablet computer unconfirmed until it reveals the product later this month, a comment made Monday by a France Telecom/Orange executive undermines those plans. In a broadcast interview with French television, France Telecom Deputy CEO Stephane Richard confirmed that a tablet is coming.

In the interview, Richard indicated the tablet will include a webcam that offers real-time video streaming. And his answer of "Oui" to a question about whether Orange customers can use it is being taken to mean that the tablet will have 3G connectivity.