Stories by James Niccolai

HP pays $425,000 to settle claims over hazardous laptop batteries

Hewlett-Packard will pay US$425,000 to settle a claim that it knowingly sold laptops with hazardous batteries that could overheat or catch fire, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Monday.

Google expands revenue but misses forecast

Google's fourth-quarter revenue climbed 25 percent from a year earlier but was less than analysts had expected, pulling its stock price down 9 percent in after-hours trading Thursday.

Windows 8 on ARM: You can look but you can't touch

For a touch-based interface it was awfully hard to get hold of. Microsoft's Windows 8 OS was shown on a handful of prototype ARM-based tablets at the Consumer Electronics Show this week, but almost no one was allowed to try it out.

WowWee puts real toys in digital games, creates 'appcessories'

WowWee showed an upcoming game platform at the Consumer Electronics Show called AppGear, which combines real toys with on-screen animation to create a new product category it calls "appcessories."

After Microsoft, what next for CES?

Steve Ballmer gave Microsoft's last keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show Monday night, a damp squib that confirmed for some that the software maker has outstayed its welcome on CES's opening night. But whether Microsoft's departure is the beginning of the end for the world's biggest consumer electronics show depends on whom you ask.

For Microsoft's last CES keynote, Ballmer hawks Windows 8, Kinect

Microsoft's motion-sensing Kinect technology will be available for Windows PCs in a few weeks and is destined for a lot more than just gaming, CEO Steve Ballmer said at the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas Monday.

Sweden's Tobii shows 'gaze control' on Windows 8 PC

We've had gesture control with Microsoft Kinect. Now get ready for gaze control. Swedish firm Tobii is at the Consumer Electronics Show this week to promote the use of its eye tracking technology in PCs and tablets, though it could be a couple of years before it's ready for mainstream use.

Acer to offer free cloud service, shows super-slim ultrabook

Acer kicked off the Consumer Electronics Show on Sunday by previewing a free cloud service for storing images and other documents online, and showing a novel ultrabook that hides its I/O ports in a hidden pop-up section at the back.

Android app allows remote search of Macs and PCs

Wyse Technology has launched an Android app that lets people search remotely for files on their PCs and laptops, then download them, copy them, or send them to another person, all from inside the app.

Google offers Currents, a Flipboard-like app

Google has released a free mobile app that pulls content from different websites into one place and lets people build what looks a bit like their own personalized online magazine.

'Important' Oracle patent rejected in Google Android case

Oracle has suffered a setback in its lawsuit accusing Google of patent infringement and copyright violation in its Android operating system: The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has rejected one of Oracle's Java-related patents -- although it did uphold another.

HP to put Xeon chips in high-end Integrity servers

Hewlett-Packard has updated the road map for its high-end Integrity servers to include systems that can accommodate both Xeon- and Itanium-based servers side by side, the company announced Tuesday.

S3 Graphics loses a patent fight with Apple

The U.S. International Trade Commission has determined that Apple did not infringe technology patents owned by S3 Graphics and ended its investigation of the matter, the ITC announced Monday.

Top500 list passes another milestone: 10 petaflops

Japan's K Computer has retained its pole position on the Top500 list of fastest supercomputers and become the first machine on the list to achieve performance of more than 10 petaflops.

RightScale cozies up to OpenStack, SoftLayer

RightScale is adding OpenStack and SoftLayer to the list of cloud services that can be managed from its RightScale Cloud Management Platform.