+ Powering up with Microsoft CRM adoption—Residential energy retailer, Australian Power & Gas, has adopted the Microsoft dynamics customer relation management (CRM) system to maintain and trac...

+ Opengear increases sales, ramps up UK, Europe business—Australian network equipment manufacturer, Opengear, has achieved a 49.9 per cent increase in first quarter sales this year compared to 2011 just as t...

+ Businesses now more accepting of bring-your-own devices—Business and IT leaders in the United States are now accepting, and in some cases embracing, bring-your-own devices (BYOD) as a reality in the enterpr...

+ NEC completes Convergys acquisition—NEC and its wholly-owned subsidiary, NetCracker Technology, have completed the acquisition of Convergys Corporation’s information management business ...

+ SpaceX scrubs first flight to ISS at last second—The first commercial mission to the International Space Station was aborted just before liftoff early Saturday morning on May 19, 2012, when a sensor ...

+ Mandriva has become a joke—Mandriva SA, the French company that used to control development of the Mandriva GNU/Linux distribution, has become something of a joke.

+ And then there were 10: Oracle trial loses another juror—The jury in the case filed by Oracle against Google is now down to 10, with one juror who was taken ill on Thursday being unable to attend jury duty y...

+ NASA makes better count of potentially hazardous asteroids—The most accurate count to date of the number of potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs) out there in the solar system has come from NASA’s Wide-field ...

+ Bridgestone picks Nokia Lumia—Windows Phone gets a boost with a brand-name corporate adoption.

+ Greenpeace butts heads with Apple again—Has the environmental campaigning organisation once again failed to give credit where it is due? Is it taking credit that it doesn't deserve?

+ Eugene Kaspersky issues URGENT cyber warfare warning—War is hell, but the horror of all-out cyber warfare and some seriously scary worst case scenarios is keeping legendary Russian Internet Security bill...

+ Trivia - decisions, decisions—This is an old, old puzzle, but still worth a run.  You have a life-saving question to ask, how would you do it?

+ Oracle case: Illness cuts short jury's day—Jury deliberations in the patents phase of the case that Oracle has filed against Google were affected by mundane issues yesterday, when a juror fell ...

+ Alcatel-Lucent set to challenge Cisco and Juniper in the core—Alcatel-Lucent will next week make its long-expected entry into the core router market - dominated almost entirely by Cisco and Juniper Networks - wit...

+ More Lumia WinPhones from Nokia—Nokia has expanded its range of WIndows Phones with two more Lumia models, addressing high end and midrange price points.

+ Facebook IPO price has been announced—In an overnight release, Facebook has confirmed the IPO price for its new shares.

+ HP installs 'world's most efficient' data centre—HP has completed the installation of an HP EcoPOD at one of its data centre. The company claims the EcoPOD is "the world's most efficient data centre....

+ HP instals 'world's most efficient' data centre—HP has completed the installation of an HP EcoPOD at one of its data centre. The company claims the EcoPOD is "the world's most efficient data centre....

+ Actifio ramps up in Australia with virtualised data management—Data management company, Actifio, has hit Australia with a platform which, according to its founder and CEO, Ash Ashutosh, is a radically simplified s...

+ Actifio ramps up in Australia with virtualised storage management—Storage management company, Actifio, has hit Australia with a storage platform which, according to its founder and CEO, Ash Ashutosh, is a radically s...

+ Cloud crash-tackles traditional shops—Perth based Kitchenware Direct is planning a major assault on Myer and David Jones with the release of its new online commerce venture Avago.com.au sc...

+ Cloud computing slugs it out with legacy—Adoption of cloud computing has reached a tipping point  - but don’t expect legacy systems to disappear for at least two more decades according to Pau...

+ Kaspersky moves AFL sponsorship to Collingwood—Security company, Kaspersky, has secured a sponsorship deal with AFL club, Collingwood, as its official coaches’ partner this year, with the company’s...

+ Technology, social media drive recruiter growth—Recruitment technology and social media have played a significant role in growing business in the recruitment industry, according to a newly published...

+ Global survey says 44% ‘never’ click on Facebook sponsored ads—In yet another blow to the Facebook IPO this week, following the withdrawal of GM’s $10m Facebook advertising campaign, a new global survey says 30% o...

+ Technology, social media drive recruiter growth—Recruitment technology and social media have played a significant role in growing business in the recruitment industry, according to a newly published...

+ Raspberry Pi to rebirth an era of Woz-like super creativity?—The Raspberry Pi computer board is the world’s most inexpensive yet incredibly useful, useable, configurable, programmable and extendable credit card ...

+ BlackBerry OS 7.1 ready to go—RIM's latest operating system update is now available to Australian users - including those in government jobs where security is an issue.

+ Sony claims smartphone 'magic' with Xperia Sola—Sony's latest Android smartphone has an interesting feature: "floating touch navigation."

+ HP optimises enterprise networks—HP has announced new services to analyse and optimise enterprise network performance.

+ Mobile shopping service StreetHawk hosts in Ninefold's cloud—StreetHawk, a new location-based mobile personal shopping service, has chosen to host its business with Australian cloud computing and storage company...

+ Its official - climate change is human-caused—Having exhausted all other possible causes, Melbourne University researchers conclude that the dramatic increase in local temperatures over the past 6...

+ Oracle gambles on judge ruling APIs can be copyrighted—Oracle yesterday agreed to settle for statutory damages of $US150,000 on each count in the case it has going against Google if the judge decides that ...

+ Optus scores five year, $15m contract to deliver NSW distance education via satellite—The NSW Department of Education and Communities has awarded Optus a five year contract worth around $15m to provide satellite services for its distanc...

+ Trivia - getting into training—Here we have an intiguing mathematical puzzle that exposes problems with train timetables.  Enjoy!

+ Flashback not so profitable after all?—Symantec has revised downwards its estimate of the revenue achieved by the players behind the Flashback.K malware.

+ Chrome 19 delivers tab sync and more—The latest release of Google's Chrome browser delivers tab syncing and a stack of security fixes.

+ Perth business bids to pioneer cloud commerce—Perth based Kitchenware Direct wants to be one of the first 100 companies in the world to use NetSuite’s Commerce as a Service offering which was anno...

+ Roamz reaches Android—Popular Australian iPhone app is now available for Android too.

+ Use Facebook, get expelled from school—A primary school in Queensland is threatening to expel students who use Facebook in contravention of the "under 13 rule."

+ 3 Earths needed to support us in 2050—According to the World Wildlife Fund, humans are using resources faster than the Earth can provide them. By the year 2050 we will need three Earths to...

+ Study hopes to prevent Alzheimer’s—A new clinical trial headed by scientists from the United States is hoping to find treatments to prevent Alzheimer’s disease, a type of dementia that ...

+ Businesses still want desktops and printers—A new survey suggests the spending intentions of Australian businesses include a curious mix of old school and new school IT.

+ StorNext M660 improves performance and scalability—Quantum's new StorNext M660 can handle up to 800 million files.

+ HGST CinemaStar drives aimed at video devices—A new range of hard drives from HGST are designed for PVR and similar applications.

+ AMD A-Series update aimed at diverse PC designs—AMD's second-generation A-Series processors are intended for use in a wide range of PC styles, from ultra-thin notebooks to conventional desktops, as ...

+ QuickTime for Windows patched—Apple has released an updated version of QuickTime for Windows to deliver a number of security fixes. Several of the issues were previously addressed ...

+ HP packages UC systems—HP has introduced a pair of preconfigured systems for organisations wishing to adopt Microsoft Lync or PolyCom RealPresence unified communication syst...

+ Emerson debuts data centre optimisation products—Emerson Network Power has launched the first four applications in its Trellis suite of data centre management and optimisation products - announced ov...

+ Retriever fetches Schultz from Telstra to head operations—Field force automation provider Retriever Communications has appointed Steve Schultz as its operations director.

+ Yogurt makes mice bigger and better—U.S. researchers fed mice yogurt on a daily basis, while others got a regular mouse diet or a fast-food-equivalent diet. They found that these yogurt-...

+ Despite new Androids, all eyes still on upcoming ‘new iPhone’—Three 2012 flagship Android phones have launched, and while this has made some Fandroids super happy, everyone is still waiting – and wondering – what...

+ First NBN era ISP AusBBS signs Utilibill as cloud-based billing provider—Australian Broadband Services (AusBBS), the recently launched ISP that describes itself as the first new player to emerge specifically to exploit the ...

+ LinkedIn to buy SlideShare for $US119m—LinkedIn is to acquire content sharing community, SlideShare for $US119m, 45 percent in cash and 55 percent in stock.

+ Telstra picks publishing exec as new director—Telstra has announced the appointment of Margaret (Margie) Seale as a non-executive director.

+ Government moves to make TIO more accountable—The government has released its review of the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman calling for regular independent reviews and greater accountability...

+ Call of Duty Black Ops II disruptive innovation—Call of Duty is undoubtedly one of the biggest franchises in video game history, and publisher Activision is not going to let the sales success of the...

+ Critical update for Flash Player plugs exploited vulnerability—Adobe has released a security update for Flash Player to plug a vulnerability that is being actively exploited against Windows users.

+ Intel picks PR head to manage marketing—Intel has appointed Anna Torres as national marketing manager for Australia and New Zealand.

+ New national reseller manager at Intel—Intel has appointed V R Rajkumar (Raj) as national reseller channel manager.

+ NSW plans escape from ICT dark ages—Four plum ICT jobs with salaries of more than $199,000 each are on offer in the NSW Government as the State works out how to implement its brand new I...

+ Slackware is alive and kicking: Volkerding—An uninformed comment on a Linux community blog has led to questions over the stability and finances of the Slackware GNU/Linux project, but its found...

+ GNOME accepts 10 more women interns—The GNOME Foundation has admitted 10 interns to its Outreach Program for Women, an initiative that encourages women's participation in the GNOME Deskt...

+ Cloud top trend in IT this year, but IT budgets under pressure—It will be much of the same in the ICT industry this year as it was in 2011, according to a global market trends report just published, which predicts...

+ NSW Govt, ICT industry must cooperate on strategy: AIIA—The New South Wales Government’s newly released ICT strategy has been welcomed by the Australian Information Industry Association but also brought a n...

+ LifeSize strengthens ANZ distribution—Logitech’s video collaboration division, LifeSize Communications, has strengthened its distribution network in Australia and New Zealand with the appo...

+ Fashion app a first for NoQ iPhone—Adelaide fashion boutique Ravvel has become the first Australian fashion store to offer customers access to its range of products through the NoQ iPho...

+ Accredo sets up in Australia—Global business management software provider to SMBs, Accredo, is ramping up its presence in the Australian market, opening up a head office in Melbou...

+ Fleeting win for Trimble with telematics contract—Australian fleet insurance group, Zurich, has deployed fleet management and driver safety solutions from global transportation and logistics solutions...

+ Patch Tuesday to bring wide-ranging updates—Microsoft is preparing to release seven security bulletins this week, covering all supported versions of Windows, plus Microsoft Office and Silverligh...

+ Solidoodle hits the spot?—3D printers - devices that can turn 3D files into physical objects - are attractive to a range of designers and hobbyists. The Solidoodle is perhaps t...

+ Fresh speculation about 2012 iPhone—Could Apple be preparing to do something as crazy as dumping the familiar 30-pin Dock connector? One source thinks so, yet also suggests the styling o...

+ Oracle case jury may end up deadlocked—Jurors in the case filed by Oracle against Google have still not reached a verdict and indications yesterday were that a unanimous decision was provin...

+ Cisco to buy Truviso to boost network analytics offerings—Cisco is to acquire privately held Truviso, a Californian company that provides network data analysis and reporting software.

+ Kerio Connect 7.4 optimises administration via iPad—A key feature of the latest version of the Kerio Connect messaging server is that its web interface for administrators has been optimised for the iPad...

+ British Linux magazine pulled off shelves in US—An issue of the British magazine Linux Format, which contained an article titled Learn to Hack, has been pulled off the shelves by Barnes and Noble.

+ Government grant for Canberra crypto developer—Canberra-based QuintessenceLabs has been awarded funding in excess of $1 million from the Department of Defence.

+ Ingres goes geospatial with 10S edition—Actian has added geospatial support to a new edition of its Ingres database.

+ Neil Armstrong speaks, at last—Famous for shunning the media spotlight following the Apollo 11 mission, Neil Armstrong has opened up over his ground-breaking experiences.

+ SpaceX delayed to at least May 10, maybe later—NASA has confirmed that SpaceX will delay the first commercial flight of a spacecraft to the International Space Station from May 7, 2012, to at least...

+ Miss Scarlet in the ballroom with a PS3—A limited edition Scarlet 320GB PlayStation 3 is hitting stores, all the clues are within.

+ NetIQ helps manage user access rights—Sometimes it's not enough to merely do the right thing - instead it's necessary to be seen to be doing the right thing. NetIQ's Access Governance Suit...

+ Review: Prototype 2 —Still feel like being a virtual badass?  Even after you had a feast of recent games such as infamous 2 and Batman: Arkham City, well perhaps it is tim...

+ Debian to include cloud software with Wheezy—The next version of the Debian GNU/Linux distribution, version 7 or Wheezy, will include software that allows users to easily set up their own cloud o...

+ Juniper assists IT managers on the BYOD track—New products and feature changes to Juniper's Simply Connected family make it easier to enforce security policies, even in a BYOD environment.

+ Kaspersky boosts SharePoint security—A new product from Kaspersky minimises the risk of users uploading malware or undesirable content to SharePoint servers.

+ Mandriva gets another lease of life—The French Mandriva GNU/Linux company has been given another lease of life it would appear from the company's blog.

+ Nike+ SportWatch features GPS tracking—A new tech partnership for Nike delivers a watch that knows where you ran and how long it took.

+ ACS, CAUDIT get together on ICT education initiative—The Australian Computer Society (ACS) has teamed up with the Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology (CAUDIT), to foster ...

+ Nokia opens new patent battlefront: against HTC and RIM—Nokia has filed suits in the US and Germany alleging infringements of a total of 45 patents by HTC, RIM and ViewSonic, and has also lodged a complaint...

+ LibreOffice releases update—The Document Foundation has announced the release of LibreOffice 3.5.3, the fourth release of the 3.5 branch.

+ Jury yet to reach verdict in Oracle trial—Jury deliberations in the case filed by Oracle against Google continued yesterday with one difference - one juror asked the judge a question that coul...

+ Optus and Vodafone to share base station sites—Optus and Vodafone have struck a wide-ranging cell site sharing and roaming agreement that will enable both to accelerate network expansion in capital...

+ Interactive Intelligence imports Irecki—Unified communications provider Interactive Intelligence has appointed Stephen Irecki as pre-sales engineer.

+ HGST claims industry first with 12Gbps SAS SSD demo—HGST has demonstrated a 12Gbps SAS solid state drive working with adaptors from two other vendors.

+ Bionic vision to become reality by 2013 say Australian researchers—Visually blind people may be able to see through an Australian developed bionic eye by as early as 2013, according to researchers at the University of...

+ VelociRaptor family grows with 1TB model—WD has begun shipping the 1TB version of its VelociRaptor hard drive.

+ Local developer offers cross-platform mobile apps IDE—Need to develop cross-platform mobile apps? Retriever Communications reckons it has the answer.

+ Melbourne medical project wins Australian round of Imagine Cup contest—The winning team in the Australian round of Microsoft's Imagine Cup developed a digital stethoscope that can diagnose pneumonia, the largest killer of...

+ Tools lift BYOD experience—In a bid to make virtualisation and cloud computing more palatable to enterprises which have a high concentration of mobile users, or are implementing...

+ How much effort you expend depends on dopamine—A U.S. study has determined that the more effort a person puts into work or play may well be determined by the brain chemical dopamine. Your decision ...

+ Nine cool things I love about the Apple iPad—Now in its third generation, Apple’s iPad is the stunning standard bearer for modern personal tablet computing, with some great features that are defi...

+ CIOs, legal working relationship could be better—There’s a need for company CIOs and chief legal officers to work closely together and communicate more effectively, particularly when it comes to the ...

+ Lesson learnt: Thodey sidesteps NBN politics—In his latest investor presentation, Telstra CEO, David Thodey, has avoided making any comment on what a Coalition Government NBN-alternative might me...

+ Crown Castle to buy Agile's (Internode's) South Australian radio towers—Crown Castle Australia is to acquire the network of radio towers in South Australia built by Internode subsidiary Agile Communications.

+ Thomas Duryea and Good Technology get together—IT infrastructure provider, Thomas Duryea Consulting, has entered into a new partnership with multiplatform enterprise mobility solutions company, Goo...

+ Go Daddy serves it up in the cloud—Web hosting and domain name provider, Go Daddy, is now offering a cloud server service which it says gives businesses the ability to move from traditi...

+ Jury deliberations continue in Oracle-Google case—Jurors in the case brought by Oracle against Google yesterday continued their deliberations over the copyright phase of the trial which ended last wee...

+ Appy days for jobhunters thanks to Seek—The Seek Jobs app for iPhone claims to deliver more jobs than any other app.

+ Tatchi delivers augmented video as tablet app—An Anglo-Australian company has produced a new platform for selling enhanced video content to iPad and Android tablet users.

+ Polycom plucks Denman from Microsoft—Unified communication specialist Polycom has appointed Gary Denman as managing director of Polycom Australia and New Zealand.

+ Gen-i plans to hire more than 60 in Australia—Gen-i, the systems integration business of Telecom NZ, plans to expand its Australian workforce by 30%

+ Former ANZ MD appointed president of SAP North America—SAP has appointed Geraldine McBride as president of its North America region.

+ amaysim trims PAYG and international rates—Amid the gloom surrounding continuing waves of retrenchments, amaysim offers a glimmer of economic hope with the announcement of a useful cut in its p...

+ Optus to shed 750 staff & take $37m hit - UPDATED—Optus is to shed 750 staff over the next few months and take a $37m hit in response to what it says is an increasingly competitive environment.

+ Optus to shed 750 staff & take $37m hit—Optus is to shed 750 staff over the next few months and take a $37m hit in response to what it says is an increasingly competitive environment.

+ Wallee family expands for new iPad and Galaxy Tab—The Wallee range of cases and mounts now makes provision for the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the new iPad.

+ ZoneAlarm 2013 boosts free functionality—Check Point's ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall 2013 delivers unusually broad functionality for a free product.

+ Microsoft and Tata Comms join global telepresence collaboration—The Open Visual Communications Consortium (OVCC), a body that aims to enable the delivery of "high-quality video collaboration that connects any vendo...

+ ZoneAlarm 2013 boosts free functionality—Check Point's ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall 2013 delivers unusually broad functionality for a free product.

+ RIM pins it hopes on new BlackBerry 10 OS—Research In Motion has released the long awaited upgrade to the BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry 10, along with an initial developer toolkit for native and H...

+ Dollars the driver for Flashback—One of the questions asked about the Flashback malware is "what does it actually do?" The answer: make money for the bad guys.

+ Semiconductor market defies economic problems—The worldwide semiconductor industry weathered economic uncertainties and natural disasters last year to post revenues of $301 billion, with Intel con...

+ Full Moon gets really BIG May 5-6, 2012—The biggest full Moon of 2012 will occur on Saturday, May 5, 2012, at approximately 11:35 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on the eastern coast of the...

+ Review: Crimson Steam Pirates—Steam-punk sea battles with blimps, swashbuckling heroes, Tesla coils, teleportation and other Jules Verne inspired imagery and adventure.

+ Appointment heralds Layer 7 renewed APAC market push—IT and cloud services provider, Layer 7 Technologies, has appointed a new Australian-based regional sales chief as the company looks to build marketsh...

+ QUT selects SGI for major systems upgrade—Queensland’s University of Technology has deployed SGI systems as part of a significant upgrade to its high performance computing system and to suppor...

+ SAP baits the IT skills hook—Software giant SAP has announced that it is extending its two year old Young ICT Explorers competition into NSW, with hopes to offer the programme to ...

+ Wipro to acquire Promax in $35m deal—Giant Indian IT services and outsourcing group, Wipro, is acquiring Australia’s Promax Applications Group (PAG) analytics and trade promotion manageme...

+ Software for customer self-service developer, Transversal, targets Australia & NZ—UK software company Transversal Corporation - which specialises in online, multichannel and self-service applications for customer-facing websites, in...

+ Telecom NZ & Westpac team to trial cellphone payments for public transport—Telecom New Zealand, Auckland Transport and the Westpac Bank in collaboration with Gemalto, Thales and Paymark are to launch a trial of using mobile p...

+ IBM makes big push for $22b enterprise mobility market—IBM has leveraged its recent acquisition of the Worklight mobile application development platform to unveil what it says is "a comprehensive portfolio...

+ Worldreader takes a page from OLPC's book—As PC sales worldwide stagnate, computer and other tech device makers have started looking around for new markets to enter.

+ Cloud computing set to boost Australia's flagging productivity—Widespread uptake of cloud computing services by Australian organisations could lift GDP by $3.3b annual in ten years time, according to a study from ...

+ Four senior appointments at CA Technologies—CA Technologies has appointed of three new senior sales directors and a president of services.

+ Cloud alliance tackles big data—The Open Data Centre Alliance (ODCA) – formed of major end user organisations with a combined annual IT spend of $100 billion plus – which is focussed...

+ Axis targets homes and small businesses with new security cameras—New surveillance cameras from Axis are low-cost and easily installed, making them ideal for home and small business applications.

+ LiveBackup backs up 150TB of customer data—In less than two years, Australian-based online backup service LiveBackup has backed up 150TB of its customers' precious data.

+ FalconStor fills local and regional positions with Masi and Nair—Data protection software specialist FalconStor has appointed Vic Masi as country manager of ANZ and Suresh Nair as general manager and vice president ...

+ Do public Wi-Fi users know the risks?—The most common users of free public Wi-Fi services seem to be the least concerned about the privacy implications a new survey shows.

+ JVM maker to offer support for Ubuntu—A company that markets its own Java-compatible JVM, which is optimised for GNU/Linux, has extended its support to cover the Ubuntu distribution.

+ Oracle case: copyright issues in jury's hands—The first phase of Oracle's case against Google has gone to the jury which began deliberations last evening after the lawyers for either side had made...

+ Supercomputers speed into higher ed—University and research supercomputing is being revolutionised by the march of platforms built using commodity graphics processor chips used in games ...

+ Internode expands broadband offering—iiNet-owned broadband provider, Internode, has today started offering its “best-selling” Easy Broadband ADSL2+ services from an extra 240 telephone ex...

+ Smaller organisations falling victim to targeted attacks—The idea that only large organisations are likely to suffer targeted attacks has been challenged by Symantec in the company's latest Internet Security...

+ Venus is brilliant in early May 2012—The planet Venus will be brilliantly shining in the early night sky for the early part of May 2012, as it approaches closer to our home planet Earth. ...

+ The cyber-criminal's new groove - it's a black hole!—Cyber threats come and go, but the latest research suggests that the naughty lads of the Internet have settled into something of a groove; albeit a ve...

+ WatchGuard promotion to Asia Pacific role—Global security solutions vendor, WatchGuard Technologies, has promoted one of its own Australian senior managers to head up its Asia Pacific regional...

+ Hosting provider deploys Brocade solutions for cloud services—Australian hosting and cloud services provider, 6YS, has deployed Brocade’s ethernet fabric and routing infrastructure as a foundation for what it say...

+ Interactive Intelligence launches Oz training centre—Unified IP communications provider, Interactive Intelligence, has launched new, purpose-built training facilities in North Sydney enabling the company...

Last new 20/5/12 6:04am.