Bill Gates

The founder of Microsoft put to rest the rumors that he was going to be returning to take the helm of his corporation.  Seems Bill and his wife are just fine, thank you , handling their charitable concerns even though many have opined that MS would find its direction again in Mr. Gates returned. Full Story

Technology company Hewlett-Packard says it’s making its webOS mobile software available as open-source software that any developer can use and modify freely.

The company Steve Jobs founded may be riding high on sales right now but there were a few big bites taken out of his Apple this week.

1. China ruled that the iPad may not be sold under the Apple trademark

in that massive Asian market.  But , heck, with all the counterfeit Apple products being made by unscrupulous Chinese manufacturers, who would have been able to tell the difference?

2. Apple lost a lawsuit with Samsung allowing it to sell its tablets in Australia.

3. Apple products could face German ban thanks to Motorola victory.

If you are an AT&T customer this may not be breaking news. Consumer Reports has once again named AT&T as the very worst communication company for customer service. Consider the irony of the fact that AT&T is fighting the FCC ruling that it can’t gobble up T-Mobile which has been noted as one of the BEST customer service communication companies!

It’s not likely a surprise to anyone, but on-line activity in the retail category has increased year-after-year and this year was no exception, according to a Brand Keys survey. Cyber Monday got off to a turbo-charged start with an increase of traffic of nearly 25%, which translated to nearly $1.25 billion in sales.
According to the Brand Keys Holiday Survey, here’s how online retailers ranked, the top-15, when it came to customer visits:
1. Amazon
2. Wal-Mart
3. Apple
4. Target
5. Zappos
6. Best Buy
7. Kohls
8. Sears
9. JCPenney
10. Macy’s
11. Toys R Us
12. Kmart
13. Overstock
14. Bed, Bath, and Beyond
15. GameStop

Need to connect to and control a Mac from your PC?  One quick and easy solution can be found in Google’s Chrome Remote Desktop feature.

Salvation Army Bell Ringing Volunteers

One of the most revered traditions of the holiday season is getting an upgrade.  Salvation Army bell ringers have braved the cold for decades ringing their tiny bells to raise support for the charities efforts.  Now donors can come in from the cold and give online as well.

Floods of the century have ravaged Thailand devastating cities and ruining the economy.  One of the unintended victims may be the Cloud, the place where more and more computing is done.  Full Story

Hapless HP has high hopes..that a new version of its proven Win 7 Slate tablet can attract business users.  This may be a winning move since the device uses both pen input and a touch screen technology along with an operating system that is a proven winner in enterprise and a favorite among windows users.  No need to trick old dogs new tricks.  Hope Slate 2 does better than the forgettable Slate 1.

If you thought that replacing your home phone with a cell phone would keep the bill collectors away, think again.  Eileen Ambrose of the Baltimore Sun wrote an in depth article on the legislative battle going on over keeping debt collectors from hounding us everywhere we go on our portable phones.  The full article appeared in a recent Detroit News edition.