Robert Dutt

Apple and small businesses have an interesting relationship. While Apple has seemingly gone out of its way to avoid catering to the business market, it certainly has its adherents.

And that's not just in traditionally Mac-friendly lines of business like graphic design either--for every design house that’s all Mac, there are a bunch of dentists' offices that choose Macs for reception desks and other public-facing locations.

The cloud, it seems, might be a little bit like Palmolive’s tagline from its old TV commercials--people just don't know they’re soaking in it.

Despite huge investments in advertising on TV and on billboards-- particularly in airports-- survey after survey shows that when it comes right down to it, people just aren’t sure what this whole “cloud” thing is about.

Microsoft's strategy for Windows Intune seems to be to get it ready for enterprise customers. If done right, that's good news for small businesses as well.

Microsoft recently announced a beta release of the second version of Intune, its cloud-based remote PC management tool for Windows PCs. The first major upgrade to the service since Intune went live this past spring, the public beta of version two adds new capabilities including third-party software distribution and remote virus scan.

The cat-and-mouse game between Apple and those who would "liberate" its iOS devices is back on after Wednesday's launch of JailbreakMe 3.0, a website that hacks iPhones, iPod Touches, and iPads to allow software unapproved and undistributed by Apple onto the devices.

The site is the first "jailbreak" that includes support for the iPad 2, and offers an "untethered" jailbreak, meaning that devices hacked via the site don't have to be connected to a computer to boot up, unlike other "tethered" jailbreak options.

If HP wants to succeed in making the TouchPad the go-to tablet for business, it needs more developers, and not necessarily a sales pitch from celebrity Russell Brand.

The English actor is serving as the spokesperson for HP's webOS tablet, starring in a series of commercials (cobbled together into this YouTube video) that offer a humorous look at some of the major features of the tablet. Brand walks users through summaries of the major functionality of the tablet with a balance of glowing marketing-speak and humor.

With the launch of Office 365, Microsoft has taken another big step towards making sure one of its two superpower products remains relevant in the cloud world. But it begs the question: what is the software giant going to do with its other franchise player in the cloud?

In many ways, the introduction of Office 365 leaves the venerable Windows operating system alone in Microsoft's stable of heavy hitters stuck in the old desktop and client-server world. Thus far, Redmond hasn't been talking too much about what the cloud means to Windows. But that doesn't mean there isn't an opportunity to update how businesses procure and manage Windows in a world where companies are more receptive to paying ongoing subscription fees as opposed to upfront capital costs.

After more than eight months of hype from Microsoft and analysis from PCWorld and our peers, Microsoft's cloud-based productivity suite, Office 365, formally went live Tuesday with Microsoft launch events from New York and around the world.

As usual, opinions are varied on whether Microsoft's second take at a cloud-based productivity suite meets the mark or is doomed to failure. Some have lambasted it as too expensive when compared to competitor Google Docs, while others have proclaimed it virtually cost-free.

Online storage service Dropbox made an embarrassing error Monday, turning off password authentication for millions of users.

The company updated some code on the service just before 2:00 pm Monday, yet the new code included a bug that switched off the need to authenticate to access files on a Dropbox. This means that every file on every Dropbox could have been accessed without requiring any credentials to do so. The company figured out what it had done just before 6:00 pm and quickly closed the hole, but for four hours, users' documents were readily accessible to anyone who was looking.

AMD's has revamped its attempt to simplify the computer-buying experience because the previous program was, well, not simple enough.

Since 2009, the chip maker has offered up systems based on its chips under its Vision marketing program, which attempts to create a "good, better, best" distinction. Along with a "Vision Basic" distinction, there was a "Premium" brand for systems designed for HD video consumption, an "Ultimate" brand for digital media creation, and a "Black" brand for high-end gamers.

For those who identify a bit too much with George Clooney's character from the frequent-flyer flick "Up in the Air," here's some good news. If your loyalties, like Ryan Bingham's, are with American Airlines, there's another perk coming your way.

Along with the lounge access, extra legroom and free drinks, American Airlines and Samsung Mobile have partnered to offer 6000 Galaxy Tab Android tablets for in-flight use in its first class and business cabins.

When Intel showed off the specifications for and a prototype of its new "Ultrabook" mobile platform in late May, the thin and light laptop design looked awfully familiar to a lot of Mac owners.

Let's see: Razor-thin design, "instant on" waking from sleep, and long battery life. All hallmarks of the new-design MacBook Air, introduced last fall and currently finding its way into more and more executives' hands every day.

Longtime technology professionals may be excused from exclaiming, "Aw man, now this again!" when it comes to the ongoing debate about IPv6. That's because it really does look a lot like what many went through throughout the late 1990s in the lead-up to Y2K.

Go back to the months and years before January 1, 2000, and it seemed two equally strong, equally dogmatic and dramatically opposed viewpoints were trumpeted everywhere as loyalists vied for the time, attention and dollars of IT managers.