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IBM announced a collaboration with Colleagues In Care to empower medical workers in Haiti through use of the IBM SmartCloud cloud computing platform. - IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced that its cloud technology is being used as part of an effort to improve healthcare delivery in Haiti through a collaboration with ‘Colleagues In Care Global Health Network. The organization is using IBM cloud-based social analytics and collaboration services to provide the...

AT&T plans to swallow fewer device costs for subscribers, CEO Ralph de la Vega said during an investors call, in an effort to raise revenue. Like Verizons CFO the day before, he also spoke of devices sharing data plans. - AT amp;T plans to increase revenue by reducing mobile phone subsidies and encouraging consumers to share data allowances between multiple devices, according to a May 17 Reuters report on an AT amp;T investors meeting that day. The news follows Verizon Wireless CFO Fran Shammos statement, at a JP Mo...

Wireless carriers are deploying an emergency alert system along with FEMA to notify the public about weather conditions, AMBER alerts and presidential messages. - Look out for emergency messages from the government on your smartphone. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and wireless carriers are rolling out emergency alerts, called the Wireless Emergency Alert, or WEA, system, via text-like messages on mobile phones to allow federal, state and local gover...

Microsoft has added improved support for JavaScript development in Visual Studio 11, the next version of its flagship development platform that will support Windows 8. - Microsoft has added new tooling support for JavaScript in Visual Studio 11. In a recent blog post, Jason Zander, Microsofts corporate vice president for the Visual Studio team said Microsoft has added a slew of improvements to Visual Studio 11 to make things easier and better for JavaScript develop...

A class action lawsuit filed against the social networking giant combines 21 lawsuits from across the country. Separately, a German official has also expressed concerns about Facebook's privacy approach as well. - A class action lawsuit filed against Facebook in California is seeking a whopping $15 billion in damages for privacy violations tied to the tracking of Web users. The suit, which was filed by law firm Stewarts Law US, combines 21 privacy lawsuits filed against the social network in more than a do...

The networking company, which has an edge router portfolio, is expected to announce new core router capabilities, drawing it into tighter competition with Cisco and Juniper. - Alcatel-Lucent seems poised to challenge Cisco Systems and Juniper Networks in the core router market. Alcatel-Lucent officials sent out an announcement about a press conference May 22 during the companys two-day annual Technology Symposium 2012 in Santa Clara, Calif. During the press conferenc...

It's no secret that explosive data growth and shrinking IT budgets are putting pressure on companies to find creative storage solutions to meet their organizational demands. Despite vocal naysayers from the spinning-disk school, tape storage& which turns 60 years of age in 2012& continues to hold its own, by and large, throughout enterprise IT. This, of course, is due to its significant cost advantages, reliability and continued improvement in capacity, speed and ease of use. While many organizations are already familiar with tapes traditional uses& backup, disaster recovery and compliance& most probably don't realize that modern applications now enable tape to be used as an active file archive and as low-cost network-attached storage for latency-tolerant data. For access to large quantities of stored data, tape's role in big data, cloud, high-performance computing and IT operations is expanding dramatically. These markets take advantage of the integration of tape's historical benefits (cost effectiveness and media longevity) and updates (data-integrity verification and file-system interfaces) to use tape to protect large data sets. A recent ExecEvent Tape Summit in San Francisco, organized by storage analyst Greg Duplessie, highlighted these points, as did a webinar produced by the LTO Program May 15. Here's a list of data points, as presented by both organizations, that are aimed at setting the record straight against the unfounded claims of tapes obsolescence that have long been spread by disk-storage advocates. - ...

In a world full of mobile devices, what else can smartphone makers do to distinguish their phones from the others? When it comes to the latest wave of smartphones, a large, high-quality display is a major selling point and clearly the most visible component of the handset. As more users connect to the mobile Web to view and download content& video content, in particular& having a larger screen translates to a better viewing experience. It now appears that Apple also might move to a larger screen for its upcoming iPhone 5. On May 16, several reports surfaced that the next generation of Apples highly anticipated iPhone would feature an enlarged 4-inch screen. This compares with the 3.5-in. display the iPhone has featured since its first iteration. Apple is far from the only handset maker figuring out that bigger is better. Samsung, LG and other OEMs are offering mobile devices that stretch screen sizes to the very limit of design& and often to the edge of the smartphone itself. - ...

Security experts expect WiFi freeloaders, man-in-the-middle attacks and targeted attacks against those working at the Chicago site of the upcoming NATO Summit. - Occupy Wall Street is expected to protest alongside the anti-globalization movement. Traffic will induce migraines. Some schools have rescheduled their proms. But an onslaught of cyber-attacks and WiFi freeloading will likely be the nastiest cherry on the NATO Summit pie, security experts say. ...

Samsung executives told a South Korean newspaper that Galaxy S III preorders have already passed 9 million. The smartphone, which offers a 4.8-inch display and sensors that help it intuit its owners intentions, is seen a major challenger to the upcoming iPhone 5. - Sales of the Samsung Galaxy S III may actually measure up to the hype that preceded the smartphones introduction. Samsung says it has received more than 9 million preorders for the S III, according to a report from the Korean Economic Daily. A Samsung official told the paper that Samsungs smar...

ARM CEO Warren East says the notebook space will be a better opportunity for ARM than the crowded mobile chip market will be for Intel. - Intel may gain some share of the competitive smartphone space, but ARM will take a bigger bite out of the PC market, according to ARM executives. Speaking to The Wall Street Journal May 17, ARM CEO Warren East said he expects that by 2014 or 2015, 10 percent to 20 percent of notebook PCs will b...

A busy T-Mobile is offering a new way for subscribers to take advantage of its 4G network without committing to an annual contract. Mobile broadband passes will be available, starting May 20 and at prices from $15 to $50. - T-Mobile is offering subscribers a new, contract-free way to connect to its 4G network. Beginning this Sunday, May 20, it will offer No Annual Contract mobile broadband service passes. The passes come in four options: 300MB for a one-week pass, for $15; 1.5GB for a one-month pass, for $25; 3....

NEWS ANALYSIS: HP and Yahoo may be down for the count now and looking at huge layoffs, but that in no way indicates that they won't continue to be the IT giants they are. - Two long-established and respected IT companies appear to be, as they say in boxing, quot;on the ropes. quot; Not the first time we've read something like this, and certainly not the last. Hewlett-Packard, established in 1939, and Yahoo, born in 1994, are both at nadirs in their histories, looking...

When it comes to starting a business, location can be everything. If youre a restaurant, you want to be on a highly visible and well-traveled street, whereas an IT distribution company might want to be closer to an airport or major highway. Most important can be the actual city you pick to start your business, which is why Thumbtack.com, in partnership with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, conducted a two-month survey of more than 6,000 small-business owners nationwide. The survey offered insight into the United States' business regulatory climate and the nation's economic health, as well as breaking down which cities are the best (and worst) when it comes to things like training programs, hiring costs, networking programs, tax codes, zoning, health and safety, licensing and overall friendliness. The results may surprise you. Here, eWEEK takes a look at what cities are the best bets for starting a small business during these challenging economic times when budgets are stretched to the max. - ...

Small-business owners have faith in their local economies and are optimistic about growth, but still really stressed out, a Bank of America survey indicates. - A survey of small-business owners by Bank of America suggests running a small business is more stressful than raising a child or managing a relationship with a significant other, but the study also found that optimism and plans to hire are strong among business owners. Nearly one-third (31 perce...

Venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers announced the launch of a new $525 million fund, known as the KPCB 15. - Vaunted Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield amp; Byers (KPCB) announced the closing of a new $525 million fund known as Kleiner Perkins Caufield amp; Byers XV, LLC (KPCB 15). The new venture capital fund focuses on investments in early-stage digital consumer and ente...

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has unveiled a proposal to increase wireless spectrum for Medical Body Area Network devices to enable uninterrupted monitoring of patients. - The Federal Communications Commission is set to discuss new rules governing remote monitoring that would make the United States the first country to allocate spectrum for Medical Body Area Network (MBAN) devices. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski unveiled the new proposal on May 17 at George Wash...

The Application Developers Alliance announced the addition of a series of new members aimed at advancing the cause of the app dev community. - The Application Developers Alliance announced a bunch of new members, including App Partner Development, Apptology, Banjo, ChallengePost, Marmalade, Thumb Arcade, TVCOFA and Wink Nudge. All of these groups have joined as corporate partners of the alliance, which is an association for the developer...

Microsoft held its first Security Development Conference in Washington, D.C., to share information about computer security with industry, government and academia, as well as to promote the Microsoft Security Development Lifecycle (SDL). - At Microsoft's Security Development Conference 2012 in Washington, D.C., a diverse set of companies, government agencies and academic institutions shared their own experiences with adopting a Security Development Lifecycle (SDL). The event, held May 15 and 16 at Washington's Fairmont hotel, in...

As Facebook's global reach continues to grow, U.S. users are still far and away its largest audience, Nielsen reports. - As social networking behemoth Facebook prepares for its epic initial public offering, the analysts over at Nielsen took a look at where Facebooks user base of more than 900 million people hangs out. Unsurprisingly, the United States was home to the most unique visitors to Facebook from home or w...