Apple has just hit the 10 billion mark with its iTunes App Store service. A counter on the iTunes site hit the 10 billion mark around 10.30am GMT on Saturday 22 January. The identity of the winner was not made immediately available, but will be revealed on the site later. For now, Apple has posted [...]

Novell has released new collaboration software called Vibe that can be used on-premise or via the cloud. Vibe uses technologies from Novell’s Pulse and Teaming platforms, and provides tools to help staff communicate and share more effectively across the network, the firm said. The Vibe Cloud platform includes enterprise social networking tools for messaging, blogs [...]

Smartphone shipments have increased by almost 100 per cent over the past year to account for 20 per cent of all mobile handset sales, according to new figures from Gartner. The analyst firm’s latest Competitive Landscape report said that worldwide mobile phone sales reached 417 million in the third quarter of 2010, up 35 per [...]

The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) has threatened to leave the Java community if Oracle does not stop placing restrictions on the technology. Other Java Community Process (JCB) members have been urged by the ASF to vote against the upcoming Java 7 portfolio, unless Oracle’s restrictions are removed. Since 2007, the ASF has been fighting the [...]

A security flaw has been uncovered in Apple’s FaceTime for Mac video chat tool just one day after its introduction. The application reportedly fails properly to conceal account information relating to the Apple ID service, putting users at risk of account theft in certain situations. Apple news site Macnotes.de said that, when the FaceTime application [...]

A Scottish man arrested as part of an investigation into the m00p botnet and hacking group has pleaded guilty to offences under the Computer Misuse Act. Matthew Anderson used his computer security business Optom Security as a front for the m00p group, which wrote large amounts of malware and spammed it out to set up [...]

Shipments of netbooks dropped by 25 per cent in the past quarter, and the trend is expected to increase with the arrival of more tablet PCs, according to new figures from research firm IDC. PC shipments in western Europe rose by just 0.5 per cent following the decline in netbook sales over the quarter. The [...]

Apple has sent a clear message with the unveiling of its newest Mac operating system, which will make extensive use of the iOS system used in the iPhone and iPod Touch platforms. The integration of iOS into Mac OS X Lion could open up entirely new interfaces for Apple, but could also lead the company [...]

Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) has launched a Virtual Storage Platform that introduces page-level dynamic tiering. The facility to automate the page-based movement of data to the most appropriate storage media is designed to simplify and optimise tier costs and performance, the firm said. The Virtual Storage Platform capabilities, along with new 2.5in SAS disk drives, [...]

IBM has revealed plans to acquire Blade Network Technologies, a provider of server software and switches. Financial details were not disclosed, but the transaction is expected to close by the end of this year. Blade makes blade server, rack switch and virtualisation management software, and numbers about half the Fortune 500 list as clients. IBM [...]