News

• CERN retires proprietary video conferencing system in favor of Vidyo

  Tim Smith has some of the best IT end users in the world: the physicists who do research at CERN, which runs the particle physics lab that is home to the Large Hadron Collider, because they need little instruction when it comes to new technology.

• MAKE IT STOP! 'Facebook - The Musical' and more

  A cheery new YouTube video called "Facebook - The Musical" is on its way to going viral at more than 500,000 views during its first few days on the Web, thanks to a campy crew of crooners singing the praises of the social network.

• Reddit AMA: Skype founder finds it hard to say who to believe in PRISM scandal

  The finger-pointing about who is to blame in the unfolding PRISM Internet-spying scandal makes it hard to tell who to believe, says Jaan Tallinn, a founder of both Skype and Kazaa.

• Zynga fires 18 per cent of workforce, vows refocus on mobility

  Social gaming publisher Zynga announced Monday that it will lay off 18% of its total workforce -- more than 500 employees -- in an effort to reduce staff costs and focus on the mobile sector.

• Cisco not looking to kill Microsoft/Skype deal, says Chambers

  Cisco doesn't want to kill Microsoft's marriage to Skype -- it just wants a dowry.

• How to integrate Skype with Microsoft Lync

  Businesses hoping to connect Skype users with Lync users via their corporate Lync Server but haven't started the process yet are in for a wait.

• Cisco appealing EU approval of Microsoft/Skype union, again

  Cisco is reportedly attempting to persuade Europe's second-highest court that it should overturn the European Union's approval of the Microsoft/Skype union, an $8.5 billion blockbuster originally announced by the companies two years ago.

• Is your social network built enterprise tough?

  You don't have to look further than the uprisings across the Arab world to recognize the power of social tools, and this transformative power applies to business as well. But for an enterprise social network (ESN) to be genuinely useful, it needs to go beyond the "Facebook for enterprise" model.

• How Facebook aims to reinvent hardware

  Facebook used to be a company just like many others: It would buy servers, racks and other hardware from vendors like HP and Dell and rent out co-location space from vendors like DuPont Fabros and others.

• Facebook 'Trusted Contacts' lets you pester friends to recover account access

  Facebook Thursday said it’s making available globally a feature called "Trusted Contacts" that lets users select three to five friends who can help users recover account access such as if they forget their password.

• Is Twitter broken?

  Twitter, the increasingly popular micro-blogging service, has come under quite a bit of criticism in the past few weeks. Users of the platform, which describes itself as an "information-sharing network" are struggling with what to do about false information being spread around.

• EFF: Trust Twitter -- but not Apple or Verizon -- to protect your privacy

  Verizon and MySpace scored a zero out of a possible six stars in a test of how far 18 technology service providers will go to protect user data from government data demands.

• Enterasys boosts productivity with Microsoft SharePoint alternative

  Enterasys Networks, the Salem, N.H., maker of networking and security products, found coordinating collaboration among staff, suppliers and partners was cumbersome using Microsoft's SharePoint so went looking for a simpler way that wound up saving money by boosting efficiency.

• Microsoft links Skype voice, video calling to Outlook.com

  Microsoft is rolling Skype in with its free Outlook.com email service, giving customers the ability to fire up VoIP calls directly from their mail inbox.

• 25 must-have technologies for SMBs

  Running a small business isn't easy. I know. I run one. As a freelance writer, I’ve learned that you need to run your writing career as if you were running a business.