Robert J. Mullins

About

Robert Mullins is a freelance writer for eWEEK who has covered the technology industry in Silicon Valley for more than a decade. He has written for several tech publications including Network Computing, Information Week, Network World and various TechTarget titles. Mullins also served as a correspondent in the San Francisco Bureau of IDG News Service and, before that, covered technology news for the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal. Back in his home state of Wisconsin, Robert worked as the news director for NPR stations in Milwaukee and LaCrosse in the 1980s.

Microsoft, Google, Apple Strive to Define Market for Wearable Computers

They’re each taking slightly different approaches to the technology, but Microsoft, Google and Apple are among the latest technology companies developing what are called “wearable computers” that display digital images on eyeglass lenses. The concept behind the glasses is to enable people to view data and images displayed on the special lenses and also look […]

Microsoft Raises Some Enterprise App License Prices by 15 Percent

Microsoft says it is raising the price of Client Access Licenses (CALs) for certain server-based products such as Lync, SharePoint, Exchange and others because workers are accessing those programs from a growing number of end-point devices. The price increases taking effect Dec. 1 apply to licenses granted for on-premise deployment on a per-user basis, but […]

Surface Tablet With Windows 8 Pro to Hit Market Priced at $899

Microsoft disclosed that the Surface Tablet running Windows 8 Pro will hit the market in January with a list price of $899 for 64GB of internal memory and a 128GB version for $999. In a blog post Nov. 29, Panos Panay, general manager of the Microsoft Surface division, said Surface with Windows 8 Pro, powered […]

Microsoft Sells 40 Million Windows 8 Licenses in a Month: Ballmer

In a move likely aimed at quieting skeptics who say the market response to Windows 8 has been weak compared to Windows 7, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said on Nov. 28, that the company has sold 40 million licenses for the new operating system in its first month of availability. However, Ballmer, speaking at Microsoft’s […]

Foxconn to Make Smartphones for Microsoft, Amazon: DigiTimes Report

Taiwanese tech news site DigiTimes reports that contract manufacturer Foxconn has received orders to manufacture a limited number of smartphones for Microsoft and Amazon that would go on sale sometime in mid-2013. News media reports and analyst predictions that Microsoft might introduce it’s own brand of smartphones have repeatedly circulated since the introduction of the […]

Startup Messagemind Complements Enterprise Social Media Platforms

Messagemind is the latest entrant in an expanding market for services that build on the enterprise social media platforms of Microsoft’s Yammer, Salesforce’s Chatter, Jive and other services to deliver added value. Messagemind emerged from stealth mode Nov. 27 calling itself an “enterprise social network intelligence company,” according to co-founder and CEO Manish Sood. Messagemind […]

Windows 8 Uptake Lagging Earlier Versions Market Watchers Say

Cyber Monday is shaping up to be another D-Day for Microsoft as market watchers try to track how many shoppers clicked on “Buy Now” for a new tablet, laptop or PC running Windows 8, especially amid seemingly weak sales of devices running the new OS so far. Without hard unit sales reports to go on […]

Microsoft Windows 8: Five Reasons It Isn’t a Failure Yet

Windows 8, after barely a month on the market, is being viewed by many industry observers almost as a big failure, but there is still reason to believe the new operating system will gain traction soon. One Website, The Next Web, cites NetApplications stats that show desktop computers running Windows 8 captured just 1 percent […]

Salesforce on Track to be a $3 Billion Company This Year

Salesforce.com, which generated $788 million in revenues during its fiscal year 2013 third quarter, up 35 percent over the same period last year, expects to break the $3 billion revenue mark by the time the fiscal year ends in January. Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of Salesforce, used words like “awesome” and “fantastic” in an […]

Samsung’s Request for New Trial in Apple Case Rests on Dec. 6 Hearing

A hearing is scheduled for Dec. 6 in a California courthouse to hear Samsung’s argument that juror misconduct should prompt a judge to order a new trial in the case brought against Samsung by Apple over patent infringement. The jury handed down a series of verdicts Aug. 24 that resulted in Samsung being ordered to […]