Attract, Retain and Delight More Customers
Close more deals in less time, track your sales activities and access customer data from your mobile device. Grow your business with Zoho CRM.
Sign up now for a free 15-day trial.

Tablets May Push PCs to Edge of Oblivion April 04, 2013 Tablets, especially lower-priced tablets, are on track to overtake PCs within the next few years, according to new projections from Gartner. PC, tablet and mobile phone shipments are forecast to reach more than 2.9 billion units in 2017, but the mix will significantly change in the intervening years to favor lower-priced tablets.

Anonymous Taunts North Korea April 04, 2013 The hactivist group Anonymous has taken on North Korea, hacking into the country's official Twitter and Flickr accounts on Wednesday. It reportedly sent out tweets ridiculing the country's leader, Kim Jong-un, and used its Flickr account to portray him in an unflattering light, to put it mildly. It appears that North Korea has regained control of its social media channels since the hack.

Pirate Bay Proxy Operator's Bank Account Seized April 04, 2013 The Netherlands has had the damnedest time blocking The Pirate Bay. Taking a cue from the UK, as well as from Belgium and others, the Netherlands ruled last May that Dutch Internet service providers must block The Pirate Bay. Alas, the ruling didn't quite do the trick, as people began offering proxies that afforded users circuitous routes to the piracy hotbed.

Piracy-Flavored Ad Campaign Pushes Buttons April 04, 2013 The campaign was created to promote the band Ghost Beach. However, the name of the campaign is "Piracy Is Progress," and it asks people to take a stand on the issue of downloading copyrighted music for free. That includes the chance to vote in favor of piracy at the website ArtistsVsArtists.com. A major clothing retailer, American Eagle, and the ad agency TWBA/Chiat/Day are behind the campaign.

It's Time for Aereo to Soar April 04, 2013 Aereo streams television over the Internet for a fee -- so far only in the New York City region. Its expected rapid rollout has not happened over the past year. Why? One reason is that Aereo was being sued by various broadcasters. However, the decision handed down this week from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals looks good for Aereo.

Rubber Band Patent Rejection Could Bounce Apple Back to Court April 03, 2013 Apple apparently is not accepting the recent ruling by a U.S. patent examiner invalidating a patent it successfully used in a suit against Samsung. The "final" action does not signal the end of reexamination at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the company argues in a filing submitted Tuesday. Nor does it mean there will be no further consideration or reexamination of the patentability of the claims.

Baidu May Be Developing a Glassy Eye April 03, 2013 Living up to its billing as the Chinese Google, Baidu, China's top search engine, reportedly is working on Baidu Eye, something that sounds a lot like Google's Glass. Worn like eyeglasses, the Internet gadget will be controlled by voice and will feature an LCD display that can recognize images. While these features are rumored to be up and running, the product's design and battery life are still works in progress.

No Clear Reason for Windows 8's Failure to Thrive April 02, 2013 Windows 7 is the most popular desktop operating system, with 44.73 percent market share, according to Net Applications' March report. Windows 8 is not even a close second -- old standby Windows XP is. Though Microsoft released Windows 8 with great fanfare last October, it hasn't developed much traction so far. In fact, it trails behind Vista -- an OS not known for its legions of loyal fans.

Apple Apologizes to Chinese Customers Following Media Beatdown April 02, 2013 Apple CEO Tim Cook apologized Monday to Chinese customers over the company's warranty policy, adding that he would improve customer service in China, which is now Apple's second-biggest market. The apology may be linked to a mid-March television special that aired on "Consumer Rights Day," claiming Apple's Chinese customers were treated worse than their Western counterparts.

Yahoo and Summly: CliffsNotes for the Mobile Era? April 02, 2013 The IT industry is no stranger to youth worship, but Yahoo's multimillion-dollar deal for Summly pushes that notion into cradle-robbing -- well, high school-robbing, anyway -- territory. That's because the punchline beneath the headlines is the age of Summly founder. Nick D'Aloisio, 17, appears to have qualified as the world's youngest VC-backed entrepreneur.

Finance Companies Bristle at Public Airing of Consumer Complaints April 02, 2013 The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau announced last week that it has expanded the Consumer Complaint Database it launched last summer, increasing the number of complaints about credit card companies from 19,000 or so to 90,000. The added data comes from additional players such as mortgage companies, banks, private student loan providers and other consumer lenders.

Michael Dell Goes Into Safe Mode April 01, 2013 Michael Dell, CEO of the PC maker that bears his name, may be considering a buyout offer from the Blackstone Group -- a bid that competes with a deal he put together himself -- but only with some serious strings attached. Apparently he not only wants the company to retain the Dell moniker, but also wants to remain in charge.

Zuckerberg Lobbies to Become a Bigger Difference Maker April 01, 2013 It appears Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is plunging into the controversial national debate on immigration reform. An issue-advocacy group he formed has hired two lobbying firms. It is unclear exactly what Zuckerberg's goals are, but he reportedly wants to push for comprehensive immigration reform, possibly including a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

Tibet-Documentary Filmmakers Draw Ire of Chinese Hackers April 01, 2013 Members of a film crew working on State of Control, a documentary about Tibet, are convinced that the Chinese government is behind cyberattacks on their computers. They've been faced with unknown parties taking external control over a computer's cursor; abrupt log-offs; at least one fried operating system; and DDoS attacks.

What the iWatch Could Be if Apple Still Had Guts April 01, 2013 Steve Jobs was a guy who took big risks. The iPod was a big risk. The iPhone was even bigger, given that the market was dominated by companies like Nokia and BlackBerry, which had locked up the carriers in many regions. The iPad was riskier still, given what a failure the Windows tablet had been. Now that Steve isn't at Apple anymore, the company's investors and folks like Steve Wozniak are losing hope for the firm.

The UK's Bloody Mad Blogosphere Battle March 30, 2013 News surfaced last week that the UK was mulling an overhaul of press regulations. The legislation, born out of the phone-hacking investigation known as the Leveson Inquiry, is designed, among other things, to better regulate online media. Alas, while trying to account for more media outlets, the legislation never bothered to define what it considered a media outlet.

Grabbing the Mobile App Brass Ring March 30, 2013 By the end of 2012, 60 percent of U.S. broadband households owned at least one app-enabled consumer electronic device. With connected device ownership at mainstream levels, there is a solid foundation for app development and rapid growth in app economies. Of the primary devices used to access apps, smartphones have the highest penetration rates.

BlackBerry's Q4 Black Ink Bewilders Wall Street March 28, 2013 After a bumpy lead-up to the launch of its Z10 handset, BlackBerry surprised Wall Street on Thursday by reporting a profit for its fourth quarter ending March 2. That wasn't enough to offset its accumulation of losses, though; it reported a net loss of $628 million for the entire fiscal year. It posted fourth-quarter revenue of $2.7 billion, and GAAP income of $94 million, or 18 cents per share.

Street View Creeps Through Post-Tsunami Japanese Ghost Town March 28, 2013 Google Street View has had its share of intrepid adventures -- Antarctica, say, or Everest Base Camp. However, the Google Maps service has a sober side, too. Street View just unveiled startling images of Namie, a Japanese town firmly planted inside the evacuation zone described in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster.

BlackBerry Z10: All Sizzle, No Steak March 28, 2013 When the BlackBerry Z10 was first in my hands, I was prepared to write a glowing review of the new device and operating system. I like BlackBerry. I thought I was going to be able to write how it was a real competitor to the Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy. I was hoping to be able to say BlackBerry was back. Unfortunately, I can't -- not yet. The new Z10 is better in some ways and worse in others.