Stories by Marc Ferranti

In the latest move in a complex series of patent-related cases, Apple filed a motion in a U.S. district court late Friday to ban Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the U.S.

A range of tech vendors including Cisco Systems, Silicon Graphics International, BMC Software and CA Technologies this week reported quarterly earnings that had some solid numbers, but a cautious outlook for the rest of the year is spooking market watchers.

Crediting a strategy that exploits users' move to Cloud computing, Cisco Systems has reported record net sales of $US11.6 billion for the quarter ending April 28, up 6.6 per cent from the year-earlier period.

Responding to a U.S. district court judge's order, Apple and Samsung Electronics have trimmed the number of claims they will assert in a broad intellectual-property lawsuit regarding smartphone and tablet products.

As the earnings season wanes, quarterly financial reports from the tech sector continue to be mixed, though shares in IT companies are still up for the year.

Facebook on Tuesday announced an initiative to inspire members of the social network to post their organ donor status, offering a new Health and Wellness section.

With Apple leading the revenue charge midweek and Amazon providing a kick to trading in tech shares Friday morning, bright spots appeared in what has otherwise been a mixed earnings season.

Despite concerns about increasing competition from Android devices, Apple managed to exceed expectations for iPhone sales for its second fiscal quarter, on Tuesday reporting a healthy year-over-year jump in both revenue and profit.

Some of the biggest names in IT reported mixed results this week for the first quarter, leading to a dip in tech stocks Friday even as some major indexes showed gains for other sectors.

Concerns about the economy appeared to outweigh promising sales news from major IT players including SAP and Google, as computer stocks, along with other sectors, ended a losing week Friday.

Thanks to optimism about the U.S. economy and some good signs from tech vendor financial reports, IT companies Friday ended their best quarter on the markets since the end of 2000, when the dot-com bubble burst and shares plunged.

Hewlett-Packard, Oracle and Apple sparked some of the biggest corporate financial news of the week, highlighting sector trends as IT edges toward what could be its best first quarter on the markets since the dot-com bust in 2000, despite some turbulence during the past few days.

Shares of technology companies continue to ride high as confidence in the U.S. economy grows, boosting markets and stock indexes to levels not seen in years.

So far this year, the technology sector is off to its best start in the stock market since 2000, right before the dot-com bubble burst, and even though analysts have been forecasting just modest growth in IT spending, there appear to be reasons for continued optimism.

Earnings season has essentially ended, but Yelp's initial public offering Friday, Apple's record high share price and a strong market for IT stocks are giving tech investors plenty to get excited about.