Datamation Staff

InfoWorld: For years, relational database management systems (RBDMSes) have played a critical role in application infrastructure, but analysts say this old technology is giving way to tools like NoSQL, NewSQL and Hadoop. The relational database as it stands is dead,” says Bloor Group analyst Robin Bloor. “Its architecture is old, and it needs to be […]

NetworkWorld: Security experts report that hackers are trying a new social engineering technique to entice e-mail recipients to click on malicious links: they’re threatening to sue. In the latest scam, intended victims receive an e-mail accusing them of being spammers and threatening lawsuits if the spam doesn’t stop. The e-mail includes an attachment which the […]

Cnet A new Gartner report predicts that 63.6 million tablets will be sold this year, including 46.7 million iPads, or 73.4 percent of the market. The research firm believes that Apple will continue to dominate the tablet space for the next four years, selling 148.7 million iPads in 2015, followed by Android with 116.4 million. […]

TechCrunch: Just two days before its F8 Developer Conference begins, Facebook is rolling out major changes to its interface. Users will now see a “smarter” news feed on their main page that allocates appropriate space to top stories based on how long it has been since the user last logged in. In addition, the right […]

Wall Street Journal: Google has officially opened up its Google+ social networking service to anyone who wants to use it. Until now, only those with an invitation could join. Google+ is also rolling out some new search features. Google+ currently has about 25 million unique visitors per month. Rival Facebook has about 750 million active […]

NYTimes: On Wednesday, Google chairman Eric Schmidt will testify before a Senate panel about the company’s competitive practices. Specifically, he will face questions about whether Google’s search engine favors the company’s own products over those of competitors. Several Google competitors will also speak, including Jeffrey G. Katz, chief executive of Nextag; Jeremy Stoppelman, chief executive […]

eWeek: HP has confirmed that it has begun layoffs of staff in its webOS division. Many workers in the group had already left the company after HP announced it would discontinue production of webOS devices. In all, more than 500 workers will likely lose their jobs. HP has also announced that it will close its […]

The Register: Microsoft’s new Windows 8 operating system is causing some consternation in the open source community. Several bloggers and computer science professors are warning that Microsoft’s proposed changes to the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) firmware would prevent end users from installing Linux or BSD on their PCs. Those sounding the warning say the […]

SlashGear: For the eighth year in a row, the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) has ranked Apple as the top computer company for customer satisfaction. Apple achieved a score of 87 on the 2011 index, one point higher than its 2010 score. HP placed second on the index, with a score of 78. Compaq came […]

Wall Street Journal: Monday’s face-to-face meeting between Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle, and Larry Page, CEO of Google, failed to result in a settlement. The two companies are embroiled in a lawsuit over whether the Android mobile operating system violates patents on Oracle-owned Java technology. The judge in the case has ordered the two Larrys […]

Cnet: Google has officially launched its Google Wallet service, which allows Android smartphone owners to use their devices to pay for purchases. For now, Google Wallet is only available on Samsung Nexus S smartphones, which run on the Sprint Nextel network. However, the company plans to add more phones and networks soon as more devices […]

Ars Technica: Boston University researchers have published a new paper which finds that since 1990, publicly traded companies have lost a total of $500 billion because of lawsuits brought by “non-practicing entities,” aka “patent trolls.” In the last four years, companies have lost an average of $83 billion per year, which the study’s authors say […]