Stories by Elizabeth Heichler

Whitman: Political campaign gave her 'thick skin'

Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman's bruising run for governor of California left her with a quality that she needs as she seeks to turn around the computer giant: very "thick skin," she told the Simmons Leadership Conference in Boston on Thursday.

Legal nightmare ends for Klarna executives

Two high-level executives of Swedish e-commerce startup Klarna are on their way home after the New York County district attorney agreed to dismiss charges of felony sexual assault that they had faced since early this month.

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Swedish e-commerce startup's execs linked to NYC sex crime

Two Swedish nationals with the same names as top executives of e-commerce startup Klarna were arrested on Saturday in New York and charged with criminal sexual abuse.

SAP pays $3.4 billion for cloud vendor SuccessFactors

SAP America said Saturday that it is paying US$3.4 billion in cash to acquire SuccessFactors, a provider of cloud-based human capital management tools.

How Oracle made the Sun deal work: a lesson for CFOs

CFOs who gathered outside Boston on Thursday to discuss how they can be agents for change within their enterprises were treated to a close-up view of how Oracle not only transformed its own business but made its Sun Microsystems acquisition a success.

Turn IT pros into 'Compassionate Geeks'

In the new book, "The Compassionate Geek: Mastering Customer Service for I.T. Professionals," veteran IT trainer Don R. Crawley lifts a veil on a corner of the enterprise that has some of the most dysfunctional interactions between users and IT: the support desk. Along with co-author Paul R. Senness, Crawley wants to help IT departments raise their stature and reputation within the organization by giving techies some basic training in emotional intelligence and listening skills.

Broadcom buying smart-card security specialist SC Square

Chip maker Broadcom said Sunday that it will pay US$41.9 million for SC Square, a move that will bring expertise in smart-card security to the Irvine, California, architect of silicon for communications equipment.

Apple sues Motorola over patents in mobile phones

Apple filed two lawsuits against Motorola and Motorola Mobility late Friday in a US federal court, claiming violations of its patents in multiple Motorola cell phones, including the Droid line.

Reports: Apple manager arrested over $1 million in kickbacks

An Apple manager with responsibilities for the company's contract manufacturing in Asia was arrested Friday and charged with accepting kickbacks.

Researchers: Poor password practices hurt security for all

A large-scale study of password-protected Web sites revealed a lack of standards across the industry that harms end-user security, according to two researchers working at the University of Cambridge in England.

WCIT: Kroes positions Digital Agenda as crucial to recovery

With Europe's debt crisis top-of-mind for many delegates to the World Congress on Information Technology opening in Amsterdam Tuesday, European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes painted the EC's Digital Agenda five-year plan as key to an economic recovery and the region's long-term fiscal health.

Apotheker is out as SAP CEO

Leo Apotheker has resigned as CEO of German ERP giant SAP, the company disclosed on Sunday. The decision was by mutual agreement with SAP's supervisory board, and is effective immediately.

Google, plaintiffs submit revised book search settlement

Right up against a deadline to submit a revised settlement agreement to a judge overseeing a lawsuit filed against Google by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers, the parties filed their second take near midnight on Friday. The original settlement agreement had come under fire from many parties but most notably from the U.S. Department of Justice, whose withering and broad critique of the deal led the judge to demand revisions in the proposal.

EmTech 08: Mundie's bets are on 'first life'

The dramatic increase in compute power unleashed by multicore processors will enable applications that blend virtual representations of the real world with information that meets users' contextual needs, Microsoft's top researcher said at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Thursday.

Audits, open source needed with e-voting

U.S. jurisdictions using electronic voting systems this November would do well to implement routine post-election auditing and press for open-source software to help ensure fair votes in the future, said e-voting experts at the Technology Review EmTech conference on Thursday.