cloud computing

What terrifies a man as smart and successful as Bill Gates? What's the real reason for his early retirement? These two words.

On Monday, Apple unveiled iCloud, which will allow users to store digital files on remote servers, and access them through smartphones, PCs or tablets. This should give a boost to iTunes, but that accounts for only about 2% of Apple's value. The real gain will be in how iCloud adds to the appeal of Apple's more lucrative devices.

Steve Jobs received a standing ovation at Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference Monday as the company unveiled its iCloud hosted computing service. But despite Jobs' anticipated participation, investors should not expect a huge upswing in the company's stock, one expert says.

Microsoft used to be the most valuable tech company in the U.S. based on market capitalization. Apple took that crown away last year. Now, IBM has dropped the Redmond, Wash., giant into third place. So what's IBM doing right, and what's Microsoft doing wrong?

A broad array of technology news helped define 2010, from the launch of Apple's iPad to the arrival of the app to a supernova of Internet stock gains. Here's a look back at those major stories -- and a glimpse of some highlights you can expect next year.

Motorola snapped up virtual media storage maker Zecter, moving to bolster its Motoblur service and drive growth ahead of its split next month into Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions.

Under the agreement, Dell will pay Compellent investors $27.75 a share in cash. Problem is those investors had bid up the stock to above $34 in anticipation of a much a better offer. If they ultimately reject Dell's deal, it'll be another black eye for the computing giant.

On-demand-software giant Salesforce.com just acquired a cloud software startup called Heroku for $212 million in cash. That's par for the course these days as cloud computing goes from buzzword to reality. And venture capitalists are flocking to put money into the next Heroku.

As it looks for ways to grow, Salesforce.com is targeting another big market: databases. Its new offering, Database.com, looks to be a direct threat to Oracle. Maybe its time for Oracle to finally get serious about cloud computing.

Cloud computing is the new hot trend, but anyone business that has tried to move itself into the cloud has generally been in for a shock. Yes, the cloud may be cheaper than owning servers, but it has its own painful issues. Enter startup Standing Cloud, which wants to make the jump to the cloud into a cake walk.