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January 23, 2013

News for software and services professionals

Today's Software Buzz

IBM cites higher profit, software sales in Q4
The fourth quarter brought mixed results, IBM says, with profit up 6.3% but revenue down by about 1%. The company says its services business declined but software and emerging markets were up, and security is expected to be a growth area. The Wall Street Journal (1/22)

Cloud Computing

What would a Microsoft investment in Dell mean for the cloud?
Microsoft could commit up to $3 billion to help finance the private-equity purchase of Dell, sources say. Such a deal to take Dell private could have implications for the cloud, Forrester Research analyst David Johnson says. "In the face of VMware and others surrounding software-defined datacenters, converged infrastructures ... will be critical. A Microsoft investment in Dell could really shake this up in short order," Johnson wrote in an e-mail. Network World (1/22) , The Wall Street Journal/CIO Journal (tiered subscription model) (1/23) , CNBC (1/22)

Mobile & Wireless

Google sees stronger mobile-ad results for Q4
Google's strong fourth-quarter results included a better cost-to-click ratio among mobile ads, the company reported Tuesday, as well as a decline in how much the company pays to distribute its search results on competing platforms, including iOS-based devices. Mobile-ad rates improved compared with revenues derived from desktop sales, although CEO Larry Page declined to say when they would reach parity. Higher rates for tablets appeared to spearhead the advance. Advertising Age (tiered subscription model) (1/22) , The Wall Street Journal (1/22) , The Wall Street Journal (1/22)

App glut means problems, report says
Application discovery and developer revenue may become more problematic given a glut of apps hitting the market, a report by Research2Guidance says. Rip Emerson writes that the report indicates that "the number of new apps in the world's major app stores has now exceeded the demand ... which has led to diminishing returns in revenue and is now beginning to reflect the role of paid content on the Web." TechCrunch (1/22)

Amazon extends in-app purchasing API to PC, Mac and Web
Amazon says its in-application purchasing API will be expanded to games on PCs, Macs and the Web, letting them sign in to their Amazon account and using that to pay for gaming purchases. PCWorld (1/22)

Security & Privacy

Spam declined last year, Kaspersky says
The amount of spam sent last year declined from previous years, even though it still accounted for nearly three-quarters of all e-mail around the world, Kaspersky Lab says. The security firm says the number of malicious attachments to e-mail declined to 3.4%. "This [overall] drop is the result of a gradual departure of advertisers from spam to other, more convenient and legal means of promoting goods and services," Kaspersky's Darya Gudkova said. Techworld (U.K.) (1/22) , Forbes (1/21)

Researcher: Twitter direct messages were seen by third parties
Third-party applications were able to see direct messages on Twitter through an API flaw, says Cesar Cerrudo of IOActive. Twitter has since patched the vulnerability, but the fix doesn't seem to be retroactive, Cerrudo says. CSO/IDG News Service (1/22)

Government IT

"Civic hacking" is sanctioned for June weekend
A celebration of "civic hacking" has been scheduled for June 1 and 2, with the federal government encouraging hackers to make use of data from various agencies, including the Census Bureau and NASA. Private organizations involved in the effort include Code for America and Random Hacks of Kindness. TechCrunch (1/22) , CNET (1/22)

SIIA News

Register now for the Premier Government IT Conference, CloudGOV 2013
Register now and plan to join us at CloudGOV, Feb. 12 in Washington, D.C. Learn how Cloud First, FedRAMP, data center consolidation and mobile strategies will influence agency procurement going forward, and see the latest innovations from service providers. Register today to join colleagues from federal, state and local government, as well as vendors representing all segments of the public sector as they discuss the latest innovations in government IT.

Webinar: 2013 Federal IT Cloud Predictions
2013 will bring a convergence of issues affecting government agencies, including budget uncertainty, IT mandates and acquisition policies, oversight and human capital issues. With all of those issues at hand, what will be the top federal IT predictions for 2013? Deltek's vice president of information solutions, Kevin Plexico, and Microsoft's federal chief technology officer, Susie Adams, will discuss the state of the federal IT market and what is in store for 2013. Register today for this complimentary webinar.

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