hardware systems - News, Features, and Slideshows

Features

• Dell buyout would free execs from shareholder pressure, distraction

  With buyout talks gaining steam, analysts say Dell Inc. could be looking to free itself from quarterly distractions and shareholder pressures.

• Chicago CIO's IT revival plan includes the cloud

  Chicago this month disclosed that it plans to use Microsoft's cloud services to deliver email and desktop applications to some 30,000 employees, part of a significant effort to improve the city's IT operations.

• Windows 8, Surface tablets to lead Microsoft's fight for relevance in 2013

  Microsoft made big bets on Windows 8, Windows Phone and Surface tablets in 2012, and now it needs to make those bets to pay off. As more consumers and businesses go mobile, 2013 will be Microsoft's most challenging year yet.

• HP tries to reverse past tablet failures with ElitePad 900

  Hewlett-Packard is rebooting its tablet strategy with the ElitePad 900, but faces challenges as it tries to overcome past tablet failures and deals with the slow adoption of the Windows 8 OS, analysts said.

• 2012: The year Android truly challenged iOS

  Android 'Jelly Bean,' Samsung's Notes, and Google's Nexuses finally delivered compelling capabilities as Apple stalled

• Make the most of your shiny new tech gift

  Is there a new smartphone, tablet or computer in your life? These Computerworld stories can help you get acquainted with new OSes, find great apps and accessories, safely dispose of your old devices and more.

• Tech gift ideas: Sortable wish list

  Not finished with your holiday shopping? This easy-to-scan, sortable chart gives you our best tech gift ideas all in one place.

• Six questions raised by Oracle's Q2 earnings announcement

  Oracle's second-quarter earnings announcement beat expectations in some respects, but also raised a number of interesting and in some cases, unanswered questions. Here's a look.

• Top 12 Microsoft Stories of 2012

  It was a challenging year for Microsoft as it continued to adapt to a mobile world and launched Windows 8. Here's a look back at the most popular CIO.com stories and slideshows about Microsoft from 2012.

• When in China, don't leave your laptop alone

  If you travel to China or Russia, assume government or industry spooks will steal your data and install spyware. Here's how to thwart them

• Hackintosh vs. Macintosh

  If you're thinking of buying a computer from Apple and opt for its cheapest "Mac mini" line, you'll be presented with several upgrade options at checkout.

• Tablet smackdown: iPad vs Surface RT in the enterprise

  IPads are already making their way into businesses via bring-your-own-device efforts with Microsoft Surface RT tablets hoping to follow suit as employees lobby for their favorite devices. But which one makes more sense from an IT perspective?

• 2013: Year of the hybrid cloud

  The time for dabbling in cloud computing is over, say industry analysts. 2013 is the year that companies need to implement a hybrid cloud strategy that puts select workloads in the public cloud and keeps others in-house.

• "The Human Face of Big Data" offers a geek-out-worthy coffee-table book

  "The Human Face of Big Data" is an ambitious and attractive new large-format book that aims to give readers, through photography and short articles, a glimpse of how powerful new data processing capabilities are changing people's lives. Author Rick Smolan is a photographer who gained fame for his "Day in the Life" series, which included an edition focused on the Internet in 1996, "24 Hours in Cyberspace." He says that his latest work is based on the premise that "our planet is beginning to develop a nervous system."

• Bye-bye, mouse. Hello, mind control

  When workplace computers moved beyond command-line interfaces to the mouse-and-windows-based graphical user interface, that was a major advance in usability. And the command line itself was a big improvement over the punch cards and tape that came before.