“Are we really protecting users and companies?” That’s the question McAfee recently asked the security industry in its second-quarter threat report—and it’s a fair and relevant question given the flood of malware, hacking incidents, and spam that has hit everyone from major corporations to small developer shops to individuals. READ MORE
Keen business owners know that monitoring social media for mentions of their brand is a great way to not only find out what people are saying about their products or services but also a means to engage with customers and prospects. While you can use one of the many social CRM platforms available, I recently stumbled upon a simple tool for answering questions that people are asking on Twitter about your brand or about other topics you care about. READ MORE
Skype will acquire New York-based GroupMe (and Inc. 30 Under 30 honoree), a group messaging service for mobile phones, in a move to strengthen the Internet phone company’s text and photo messaging services. READ MORE
For those of you returning this week from vacation, you are walking in mid-drama to a lot of $h*# that hit the fan last week in the tech world. The big news this week will surely be follow up stories to the two big stories that broke last week: first, Google announced it’s buying Motorola Mobility and second, Hewlett Packard appears to be repositioning itself to be a software company instead of a hardware company. READ MORE
What started out as a way to protect inventors before they took their inventions public has turned into what bNet’s Erik Sherman is calling a second tech bubble: a tech patent bubble. READ MORE
It takes a lot of patience to read a giant corporation’s financial filings, let alone compare this year’s version to last year’s. But ZDNet’s Ed Bott has done just that to Microsoft’s 10-K second quarter report, and discovered something most interesting: The company no longer views Linux as a threat. READ MORE
Microsoft launched a new blog and Twitter account to chronicle and crowdsource the development of its next operating system, Windows 8,” reports Erica Swallow for Mashable. READ MORE
Google announced it plans to acquire Motorola Mobility, one of 39 manufacturers that uses the company’s Android operating system, for $12.5 billion. Google said in a Monday announcement that the acquisition will “enable Google to supercharge the Android ecosystem.” READ MORE
According to Skype’s vice president, the company will be doing more to integrate their video chat services with Microsoft’s products, including smart phones and the Xbox. Microsoft announced in May that it would acquire Skype, a deal that is still awaiting approval from European regulators. READ MORE
You would think that after a summer of will-they-wont-they rumors, confirmation of an impending Hulu sale would have quieted speculation. But in fact, it has only increased it. According to Venture Beat’s Tom Cheredar, sources are reporting that Hulu’s owners—Disney, News Corp., Comcast, and Providence Equity—expect bidding to start at $1.5 billion for the video-streaming company. READ MORE
