Elizabeth Heichler

Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman's bruising run for governor of California left her with a quality that she needs as she seeks to turn around the computer giant: very "thick skin," she told the Simmons Leadership Conference in Boston on Thursday.

Whitman's expensive effort to gain the governor's office was "the most difficult thing I have ever done. It was tremendously humbling," she said. But after the rough-and-tumble of politics, the mixed public reaction to her appointment as HP chief executive last September was easy to take, she told the audience at her keynote address. Thanks to her experience, "tough questions don't throw me off my game," she said.

Two high-level executives of Swedish e-commerce startup Klarna are on their way home after the New York County district attorney agreed to dismiss charges of felony sexual assault that they had faced since early this month.

Niklas Adalberth and Jens Saltin were arrested on charges that they attacked a 19-year-old woman. Adalberth is co-founder and COO, while Saltin is Netherlands country manager of the Swedish electronic payments company.

Two Swedish nationals with the same names as top executives of e-commerce startup Klarna were arrested on Saturday in New York and charged with criminal sexual abuse.

Niklas Adalberth and Jens Saltin were arrested on charges that they attacked a 19-year old woman at the W Hotel, the New York Post reported. Techcrunch.com linked the names to, respectively, the co-founder/COO and Netherlands country manager of the Swedish electronic payments company.

SAP America said Saturday that it is paying US$3.4 billion in cash to acquire SuccessFactors, a provider of cloud-based human capital management tools.

SAP executives said the move would greatly accelerate the company's push into the cloud application business. The deal, subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2012, and values SuccessFactors at $40 per share, a 52 percent premium over the company's December 2 closing share price.

SAP America is paying US$3.4 billion for SuccessFactors, a provider of cloud-based human capital management. Lars Dalgaard, founder and CEO of SuccessFactors, will join SAP to lead its cloud business, while continuing to head SuccessFactors, which will be run as an independent company.

(See "SAP Pays $34 Billion for Cloud Vendor SuccessFactors" for update.)

CFOs who gathered outside Boston on Thursday to discuss how they can be agents for change within their enterprises were treated to a close-up view of how Oracle not only transformed its own business but made its Sun Microsystems acquisition a success.

"The CFO role is more far-ranging than finance," Oracle Chairman Jeff Henley told the audience at the MIT Sloan CFO Summit. He spent 13 years as Oracle's CFO before taking his seat as head of the board of directors seven years ago, and he singled out IT as a key area for CFOs to partner with, whether it reports to them or not.

Hewlett-Packard said Thursday that it is shuttering its webOS device business, specifically the TouchPad tablets it announced earlier this year and its webOS smartphones. It also confirmed reports that it will seek "strategic alternatives for its Personal Systems Group," which may include "a full or partial separation of PSG from HP through a spin-off or other transaction." Finally, it also confirmed reports that it is in discussions with Autonomy regarding a possible deal to buy the company.

(more to come)

In the new book, "The Compassionate Geek: Mastering Customer Service for I.T. Professionals," veteran IT trainer Don R. Crawley lifts a veil on a corner of the enterprise that has some of the most dysfunctional interactions between users and IT: the support desk. Along with co-author Paul R. Senness, Crawley wants to help IT departments raise their stature and reputation within the organization by giving techies some basic training in emotional intelligence and listening skills.

The book provides plenty of practical advice on delivering better help-desk service. But the reader will also find guidance on developing interpersonal skills that can help move a technology professional up in the ranks of the company. IDG News Service talked to Crawley about his experience working with IT staff on so-called "soft" skills, and what they should take away from the book.

Chip maker Broadcom said Sunday that it will pay US$41.9 million for SC Square, a move that will bring expertise in smart-card security to the Irvine, California, architect of silicon for communications equipment.

Broadcom's cash purchase of the Israeli security software firm, which is subject to unspecified closing conditions, is expected to close by June 30, Broadcom said.

Skype's CIO Lars Rabbe on Wednesday offered a frank assessment of the recent 24-hour lapse in its Internet telephony service, in a blog post that also laid out what the company is now doing to make its network more robust.

Rabbe's post also served as a corporate mea culpa, saying "we know that we fell short in both fulfilling your expectations and communicating with you during this incident."

Internet telephony giant Skype blamed its peer-to-peer interconnection system for a problem that some reports said resulted in millions of users being unable to make calls using the service on Wednesday.

According to an official blog post the Skype network uses what it calls "supernodes" which act as directories for finding users online. On Wednesday many of these supernodes were taken offline by a problem affecting some versions of Skype, the company said.

Apple filed two lawsuits against Motorola and Motorola Mobility late Friday in a US federal court, claiming violations of its patents in multiple Motorola cell phones, including the Droid line.

According to the October 29 filings in the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin -- first reported by the blog PatentlyApple -- Apple is accusing Motorola of infringing on six patents, three of them focused on touchscreens. The products that it claims include the infringing technology are Motorola's Droid, Droid 2, Droid X, Cliq, Cliq XT, BackFlip, Devour A555, Devour i1, and Charm.