YEAR END - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• CBA cuts IT spend by nearly a third

  Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s IT services expenses decreased by 32 per cent to $752 million in the half year ended in December, compared with the same period in 2016.

• Experts: FCC will adopt net neutrality rules in early 2015

  The U.S. Federal Communications Commission will adopt net neutrality rules in early 2015, maybe as soon as February, several observers believe, but few people want to predict what those rules will look like.

• Startups: The crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels ... the dumb ones

  Technology can be awesome, when it's put to good use. A map on your phone? A satellite that can help farmers monitor their crops? Great! But not everything is so useful.

• Three ways enterprise software is changing

  Once upon a time, life in the enterprise IT shop was fairly simple, at least conceptually speaking.

• In 2015, EU aims to sweep away old rules on data protection and copyright

  The European Commission is gearing up to solve some longstanding problems with outdated copyright and data protection laws and move ahead on new rules for roaming charges and net neutrality.

• Top five smartphone disappointments of the year

  The poor design of two different smartphones, a low-resolution front camera with the new iPhone, the Moto G's lack of LTE, and the hefty price tag of the Amazon Fire led to disappointment this year when it came to smartphone releases.

• 2014: The year in quotes

  From rattled airline passengers who fear the coming of smartphones to jurors who don't know a smartphone from a tablet, here are some of the colorful quotes from IT news in 2014.

• China was brutal to US tech firms in 2014

  Earlier this month, Amazon, Apple, and Facebook each welcomed China's top Internet regulator to their headquarters, for visits marked by smiles and laughter.

• Six technologies that will change PCs next year

  In an era of slick gadgets, PCs are the dinosaurs, ensnared in wire clutter, sporting tired 2D cameras and stricken with the occasional blue screen of death. Technology coming up in 2015, though, is set to make PCs more interactive, fun and perhaps nosier than you'd like them to be.

• In battle for sub-$200 smartphones, consumers will be the winners

  If you plan to buy a cheap smartphone next year expect to get LTE, an HD screen and a good-looking device, as competing manufacturers and chip vendors lower prices.

• The security industry found its dream enemy in 2013 -- and new technical challenges too

  2013 was the year we learned we must encrypt our data if we don't want the likes of the U.S. National Security Agency or the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters reading it as it crosses the Internet.

• SaaS predictions for 2014

  While the bulk of enterprise software is still deployed on-premises, SaaS (software as a service) continues to undergo rapid growth. Gartner has said the total market will top $22 billion through 2015, up from more than $14 billion in 2012.

• In 2014, more retailers might know how you shop

  You thought you were shopping for family and friends this holiday season, but in doing so you may have also given a nice present to retailers: your data.

• Moving a city to Linux needs political backing, says Munich project leader

  This year saw the completion of the city of Munich's switch to Linux, a move that began about ten years ago. "One of the biggest lessons learned was that you can't do such a project without continued political backing," said Peter Hofmann, the leader of the LiMux project, summing up the experience.

• Bitcoin: the virtual currency built on math, hope and hype

  The ascent this year of Bitcoin, a virtual currency forged through hardcore mathematics and buoyed by promises of financial liberation from banks, has been nothing short of mesmerizing.