Datamation Staff

PCWorld: CarrierIQ, the company that has been under fire for software that reportedly monitors smartphone users’ activity, has issued a detailed explanation of exactly what its product does and doesn’t do. According to the company, the logging of SMS messages is an unintentional bug that occurs when users receive a text during a call. It […]

Computerworld: In what could be a sign that regulators are taking a hard look at Google’s proposed acquisition of Motorola Mobility, the European Commission has asked for more information about the proposed merger. The commission had been scheduled to issue the first decision in its approval process by January 10, but the group says it […]

Wall Street Journal: Unnamed sources say that U.S. intelligence agencies now know which Chinese groups have been behind recent cyberspying incidents, and most of those groups have ties to the Chinese military. American diplomats have reportedly already begun meeting with Chinese officials to warn them of the consequences of economic spying, and U.S. officials are […]

InformationWeek: Google has ejected several apps from the Android Market because they contained variations of the RuFraud malware. When installed on a users’ phone, RuFraud sends text messages to premium numbers, racking up unexpected charges for users and earning money for those who own the numbers. The malicious apps looked like free versions of popular […]

New York Times: Although Amazon has sold of lot of new Kindle Fire tablets, it’s also gotten a lot of criticism. Users complain that it has no external volume control, that it’s too easy to hit the “off” switch, that Web sites take too long to load, that it has no privacy controls and that […]

TechCrunch: HP has finally revealed its plans for the WebOS mobile operating system: CEO Meg Whitman said that the company will open source the code for WebOS. “We are so excited about webOS and realized that the very best thing to do is to open source the technology, contribute to it and invest in it,” […]

Computerworld: Intel has lowered its revenue predictions for the fourth quarter by $1 billion. It now expects revenue of $13.7 billion instead of $14.7 billion. The reason for the reduction stems from a hard drive shortage. Flooding in Thailand has halted production at many hard drive component factories. That in turn caused PC manufacturers to […]

The Industry Standard: Senator Kay Hagan (D. – N.C.) has proposed new legislation that would make nearly all IT workers exempt from overtime pay requirements. The Computer Professionals Update Act (ironically also called the CPU Act) would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA) so that employers would not be required to pay overtime to […]

USAToday: Apple launched its Mac App Store less than a year ago, but today the company announced that it has surpassed 100 million downloads. “In just three years, the App Store changed how people get mobile apps, and now the Mac App Store is changing the traditional PC software industry,” said Apple’s Philip Schiller. Developers […]

USAToday: The Australian High Court has dismissed Apple’s patent lawsuit against Samsung, freeing Samsung to sell its Galaxy smartphones and tablets in that country once again. In a statement, Samsung announced that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 “will be available in stores in time for the Christmas shopping period.” This is just one battle in a […]

Wall Street Journal: A Justice Department lawyer has requested that the judge in the AT&T antitrust case postpone the trial until after the AT&T and T-Mobile receive approval from the Federal Communications Commission for their proposed merger. The federal agency brought the case because it is seeking to block AT&T’s $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile […]

Computerworld: Next Tuesday, Microsoft plans to release 14 security bulletins patching 20 vulnerabilities in Windows, Internet Explorer (IE), Office, and Windows Media Player. Three of the Patch Tuesday bulletins are rated “critical,” while the rest are considered “important.” Among the vulnerabilities addressed by the patches are those exploited by the Duqu trojan and the BEAST, […]