Scott Ferguson

If your MacBook shuts down without warning, a new Web site says that you may not be alone. The site, macbookrandomshutdown.com, is dedicated to the random shutdown problems encountered by the owner of a 2GHz MacBook purchased in the summer of 2006. About four weeks after it arrived, the MacBook began randomly shutting down without […]

Verbatim is launching a new line of USB flash drives with built-in security features that the company hopes will appeal to enterprises. The Charlotte, N.C., storage maker said the new drives, called Store n Go Corporate Secure USB Flash Drives, will include “mandatory security features,” such as a hardware-based AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) data encryption […]

By releasing its operating system more often and at a slightly higher cost, Apple Computer is better able to maximize its profitability in the OS field compared with its rival, Microsoft. That conclusion is according to a new analysis released Aug. 28 by Gene Munster, a senior researcher at Minneapolis-based Piper Jaffray & Co. Since […]

A federal judge sentenced the owner of a Web site that peddled more than $4 millions worth of pirated software from such companies as Adobe Systems, Autodesk and Macromedia, to six years in federal prison, the Department of Justice announced Aug. 25. The Web site owner, Danny Ferrer, 37, of Lakeland, Fla., must also pay […]

Lenovo Group has poached its fourth Dell executive and will tap him to lead a new business unit that will address customer service. Christopher J. Askew, 44, was appointed senior vice president of the new Lenovo Services unit on Aug. 24, the company said in a statement. He will be based in Singapore and report […]

Intel has announced plans to issue an update to fix a flaw related to its ProSet software Version 10.5, which accompanies the drivers that run the companys wireless system on PCs. The problem, according to an Intel spokesperson, was that the one of the processes used by the software was not releasing the file handles […]

Apple is recalling 1.8 million notebook battery packs, which contain cells manufactured by Sony. The Cupertino, Calif., computer maker is recalling the packs, shipped with certain of its 12-inch iBook G4, 12-inch and 15-inch PowerBook G4 notebooks and also sold as extras and replacements, citing a fire hazard. The Aug. 24 Apple recall—which affects only […]

IBM announced on Aug. 23 that it is acquiring Internet Security Systems, a maker of network security and appliances, for $1.3 billion, or $28 per share. The purchase of ISS, the fifth largest in IBMs history, is the fourth acquisition for Big Blue since the start of August. In less than four weeks, the Armonk, […]

Salesforce.com, the San Francisco-based CRM software specialist, announced Aug. 22 that it has partnered with Google AdWords to form an on-demand service that will allow companies to measure search engine marketing campaigns. The new service, dubbed Salesforce for Google AdWords, will allow companies to create, manage and measure the value of a search engine marketing […]

In the latest episode of stolen computers and compromised personal records, Hospital Corporation of America reported on Aug. 18 that 10 computers had been stolen from one of the health care providers regional offices. The computers “held thousands of files listing unpaid bills from Medicare and Medicaid patients” who had treatment at hospitals managed by […]

Maureen Govern, chief technology officer at AOL, resigned from the company on Aug. 21, following a disclosure that AOL accidentally released keyword search data for roughly 658,000 anonymous users. Govern, who oversaw the division responsible for the data release, will be replaced by John McKinley, who had previously held the job, according to an internal […]

Apple Computer on Aug. 17 issued a security patch for its Xsan Filesystem 1.4 to patch a serious code execution flaw in the file system software for the companys storage area network product. The Cupertino, Calif.-based computer maker issued the security update for the Mac OS X v10.4.7 and the Mac OS X Server v10.4.7. […]