TerraEchos fights security threats with data, attracts $1.55M seed funding

Hacking into government systems just got a bit harder. TerraEchos, a security company using big data to identify and thwart security threats, announced today that it’s raised $1.55 million in seed funding to be an internet security vigilante.

“For the past three years we’ve been working on problems funded by the US Navy and the Department of Energy, on how to process and analyze huge amounts of information and find the most meaningful security alerts,” … Continue Reading

IBM buys Worklight, launches its own BYOD manager

IBM announced its own “bring your own device” manager today, as well as its most recent acquisition, Worklight, which helps companies focus on developing applications for multiple operating systems.

BYOB, or bring your own beer, used to be the simple way to get a party going. You’re at a party, you’re thirsty, but oh wait, you brought that six pack. Now you don’t have to awkwardly ask the hostess where the fridge is, wonder if … Continue Reading

IBM Q4 software revenue up, profit exceeds expectations

Business services and software provider (and cloud-computing hopeful) IBM finished 2011 on a mostly positive note.

The company reported revenue of $29.5 billion, up 2 percent year-over-year, and net income of $5.5 billion, up 4 percent year-over-year, during the fourth quarter of 2011.

The steadfast technology company beat Wall Street’s profit expectations, but slightly missed revenue projections of $29.7 billion.

The corporate IT supplier saw gains in its core areas. IBM’s services and software categories … Continue Reading

Why it’s China’s turn to worry about manufacturing

America has been extremely worried about the loss of manufacturing to China. Seduced by subsidies, cheap labor, lax regulations, and a rigged currency, American industry has made a beeline to China.

But the tide may soon turn.

New technologies will likely cause the same hollowing out of China’s manufacturing industry over the next two decades that the U.S experienced over the past twenty years. That’s right. America is destined to once again gain its supremacy … Continue Reading

IBM Science redefines magnetic memory in 12 atoms

IBM Research is focusing on innovation not for tomorrow, but for the much broader future. Today, it was able to shrink down the amount of atoms we use in memory drives from millions to 12.

“We’re trying to answer a simple question,” said IBM Research physicist Andreas Heinrich in an interview with VentureBeat. “How small can you make a magnetic structure and still make it useful for data storage?”

The answer the IBM scientists came … Continue Reading

IBM security software knows your job and what you’re allowed to do

Your job comes with a web of security permissions that an IT department has to regulate. IBM‘s newest security software, however, knows what role you have and can assign access before the IT guys ever have to lift a finger.

A lot of companies use software that limits what an individual employee can do on the computer. Some classes of employees, such as sales people, are allowed access to different applications, software, and social media … Continue Reading

Kinetic energy may power our home and gadgets starting in 5 years

In the next five years your shoe may be what powers the battery in your cell phone. Engineers are harnessing the power of kinetic energy and one IBM employee thinks widespread usage of the technology isn’t far off.

Harry Kolar, an engineer with IBM, described harvesting energy from human movements as bodies becoming “an energy-generating machine,” in a blog post about what energy changes may occur in the next five years. In essence, we create … Continue Reading

Breakthrough: Chip startup can cut CPU power use by 50 percent

Fujitsu revealed today that it has confirmed that startup SuVolta’s PowerShrink technology can cut power consumption in a chip by 50 percent without hurting performance.

Fujitsu Semiconductor, a division of the big Japanese electronics giant, is making the announcement today at the International Electron Devices Meeting for chip designers in Washington D.C.

When coupled with other techniques for lowering voltage, the technology can reduce power consumption by 80 percent or more. That’s a fundamental breakthrough, … Continue Reading

PayPal sees 514 percent increase of mobile payments on Cyber Monday

Maybe “cha-ching” should be “ra-ring,” as PayPal had a 514 percent increase in mobile payments this Cyber Monday from last year.

Just as people adapted to purchasing online, now they are becoming more accustomed to buying through their smartphones. PayPal is seeing a six-fold increase in mobile payments, as smartphones move toward owning half of 2011′s mobile marketshare. A recent Nielsen study states 43 percent of mobile phone owners are smartphone users, 62 percent being … Continue Reading

Charlie Walton, inventor of RFID, passes away at 89

Charlie Walton, the inventor of an ubiquitous wireless technology known as RFID, has passed away at 89.

Walton, who lived in Los Gatos, died on Nov. 6, according to his wife Ann Walton. I once wrote an article about Walton while at the San Jose Mercury News and his efforts to proselytize RFID, known in long form as radio frequency identification.

These are the chips that go into the access control devices, so you can … Continue Reading

Warren Buffett has taken an $11 billion stake in IBM

Billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway now has a stake in IBM worth $11 billion, making it the largest single stakeholder in the company.  With fully 5.5 percent of the all common shares, Buffett, who is the president, chairman and chief executive officer of conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, has been snapping up as much IBM as he can over the past eight months.

“I don’t know of any large company that really has been as specific on … Continue Reading

The female tech CEO: rising trend or exception to the rule? (video)

This week, IBM named its first-ever female CEO, Virginia Rometty.

In an industry that historically lacks gender balance, this move struck the VentureBeat staffers, including publisher Alicia Saribalis, as momentous.

But in reflecting on the events of the day, we also pondered whether the female tech CEO presiding over an established company (examples also include Meg Whitman and the gone-but-not-forgotten Carol Bartz) was an anomaly attributable to the extraordinary moxie and hard work of a … Continue Reading

IBM names Virginia Rometty as first female chief executive

IBM named its new president and chief executive today, Virginia Rometty, who will also serve on the company’s board of directors.

Sam Palmisano (pictured right with Rometty), the current chief executive, will be stepping down as Virginia, who goes by Ginni, takes the position on Jan. 1, 2012. Rometty currently serves as senior vice president and group executive for sales, marketing and strategy and joined IBM as a systems engineer in 1981.

“But she is … Continue Reading

Samsung: We want enterprises to think of us like they do IBM

Samsung is best known for its consumer-focused products, but the company is beginning to take enterprise more seriously and wants to gain recognition from the business community.

“We want businesses to think about us like they think about IBM,” Ken Daniels, Samsung senior director for strategic alliances in enterprise mobility, said Wednesday at the CTIA Enterprise conference in San Diego. “Wherever you have an office in the world, you can buy a Samsung phone, so … Continue Reading

IBM tops Microsoft as the second-most valuable tech company in the world

Today, for the first time since 1996, IBM is worth more than Microsoft.

International Business Machines, which has been around since 1911, saw its market value reach $214 billion yesterday, while Microsoft’s fell to $213.2 billion.

Both companies still fall behind Apple, which had a market value of $362.1 billion as markets closed yesterday.

Over the course of the year, IBM has grown in market value by a total of 22 percent. Microsoft has, for … Continue Reading

The year of the mobile security breach is here: Attacks skyrocketed in 2011

The number of mobile security exploits is on track to double year over year between 2010 and 2011.

“For years, observers have been wondering when malware would become a real problem for the latest generation of mobile devices,” said Tom Cross, a manager at IBM’s X-Force security research arm. “It appears that the wait is over.”

X-Force security experts research and evaluate vulnerabilities and security issues, develop assessment and countermeasure technology and educate the public … Continue Reading

How IBM’s chip technology might lead to better water filtration (video)

Bob Allen spent much of his career as an IBM researcher exploring semiconductor manufacturing processes. But at the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif., Allen is now trying to use his understanding of nanotechnology and membranes to come up with better methods for water filtration. It’s funny to think that technology that was used to make the fastest chips is now being studied for use in water desalination plants, which take the salt … Continue Reading