Cynthia Harvey

Facebook has announced that it hit 1 billion active monthly users on September 14 at 12:45 p.m. Pacific time. To put that figure in perspective, one billion people is roughly one-seventh of the world’s population. In The New York Times, Nick Bilton reported, “Facebook shared some information on what its billion users have been doing […]

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has had a big week, prevailing against purveyors of fake antivirus software and fake tech support. First, the FTC scored a win in a court case against a company it had accused of selling fake virus removal tools. Ars Technica’s Cyrus Farivar reported, “A federal court in Maryland has imposed […]

Samsung has asked a federal court to declare a mistrial in the recent patent infringement lawsuit that resulted in a $1 billion judgment for Apple. Samsung says the jury foreman in the case, Velvin Hogan, lied when asked if he had ever been involved in a lawsuit. In fact, he had been successfully sued by […]

On Wednesday, numerous media outlets ran a fresh round of rumors related to a smaller version of the iPad, often called the “iPad Mini.” Although Apple has not commented on the rumors, some seem very credible. According to The Wall Street Journal’s Lorraine Luk, “Asian suppliers for Apple Inc. have started mass production of a […]

The fourth and fifth largest wireless carriers in the U.S., T-Mobile and Metro PCS, have announced their intentions to merge the two companies in a complicated deal worth $1.5 billion. If regulators approve the plan, the resulting company will still be the fourth largest U.S. mobile carrier, but it will be in a better position […]

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has posted a review of the Windows 8 operating system on his blog. While the review is generally positive, he does admit that the new OS might be “puzzling” for some users. He wrote: The new tablet features in Windows 8 are particularly bold and innovative. A few minor issues aside, […]

Business concerns about the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend have been well documented, but a new Harris survey commissioned by Fiberlink reveals that employees have worries about BYOD policies as well. The vast majority of the 2,243 enterprise workers surveyed said they are concerned about their employers being able to access their personal devices. The infographic that […]

On Monday, Google’s stock price climbed as Microsoft’s dropped, giving Google a market capitalization of $249.19 billion compared to $247.44 billion for Microsoft. That made Google the world’s third most valuable company and the second most valuable tech company, behind Apple. Marketwatch reported, “Google’s surge in market value comes as the company’s stock price notched […]

Juniper Networks is laying off 500 workers, or about 5 percent of its total workforce. Initially, rumors suggested that those layoffs would primarily affect personnel working on Juniper’s QFabric line, but Juniper later said those rumors were “inaccurate.” TechTarget’s Shamus McGillicuddy first reported the job cuts, writing, “Some industry insiders said the team responsible for […]

Apple and Samsung continue their legal wrangling in their ongoing global patent war. As promised, Samsung has formally added the iPhone 5 to an existing lawsuit that accuses Apple of violating eight of its patents. Meanwhile a judge lifted the U.S. ban on Samsung’s Galaxy 10.1 tablet. Speaking about the lawsuit, Samsung told Reuters, “…we […]