Business Center Blogs

It has been over a year since Google released the initial beta version of its Chrome Web browser software. The Chrome browser was taken out of beta, then put back into beta, and finally taken back out of beta a few months ago. Until now, though, there has not been a version of Chrome for Mac OS X users.

That is about to change...mostly. Google has set a deadline to release a Mac OS X-compatible version of the Chrome Web browser by the end of 2009. However, in order to meet that deadline it is eliminating features that are found in the current Windows version.

Today is Cyber Monday--the online equivalent of the brick and mortar retail Black Friday holiday shopping launch. There are a lot of great deals out there for things like iPods, but there are also a number of deals out there .

Here are five of the hottest items for budget-savvy business professionals:

Rumors are circulating that the next generation iPhone may actually already exist. Log data captured by analytics firm PinchMedia related to the iBart app have identified the existence of an iPhone 3.1. That is literally the only fact backing this rumor, but it hasn't slowed down speculation of what the next iPhone might entail.

Let's start with what's known. Analytic data collected for Pandav's iBart app captured information about an iPhone 3.1 device. The current iPhone 3GS is the iPhone 2.1. Apple typically only changes the first number of the device identified when there is a significant hardware change. So, the existence of an iPhone 3.1 suggests more than a minor incremental update to the current iPhone 3GS.

Don't expect the "glowing red eye" of Motorola's Droid smartphone to show up on your iPhone anytime soon. Apple has rejected an application called "iDroid," that would have save displayed the Droid's red eye on an iPhone and linked to information about the flagship Android phone.

You can imagine that Apple's app censors didn't speed too much time deliberating the fate of an iPhone app whose only purpose was to advertise its arch enemy. It is also hard to blame them, even though Apple really needs to find a sense of humor about these things.

TRACY, CA -- Black Friday customers who arrived at the Wal-Mart store here, expecting to purchase an e-Machines laptop for the $198 Black Friday price, were surprised to find the entire shipment of 37 units had been assigned to other customers the day before.

A store manager admitted that the only way for a customer to know that tickets allowing later purchase of the machines were being distributed early would have been to call the store and ask.

Holiday electronics sales can be as good for scoring new business gear as for loading up the kids' stockings. But smart buyers should be wary of doorbuster tactics.

It's generally regarded as fact that Black Friday is the hottest shopping day of the year, with deal seekers lining up as early as 3:00 AM outside tech superstores nationwide. But pre-dawn sales aren't all they're cracked up to be. In reality, doorbuster deals are laden with fine-print gotchas that can turn holiday zeal into buyer's remorse. Whether you're shopping for business or pleasure, here's why you'd do well to sleep in on Friday morning.

This Friday is Black Friday--officially kicking off the 2009 holiday shopping season. Online attackers and malware developers know how to capitalize on current events, and the rush to find great holiday bargains offers a prime opportunity to exploit eager shoppers. Here are five tips to help you shop online securely.

1. Start with the Basics. I realize that it seems redundant and cliché, but the first step in protecting yourself and your computer this holiday season is to make sure your computer is patched and secure .

Is four years and a $250,000 fine really the best punishment for the self-proclaimed "Godfather of Spam?" Put another way: Do we take the criminal aspects of spam seriously enough?

I don't think so. But, we're also not ready to hunt down spammers or create effective measures to stop spam at the source.

Apple has established the concept of the app store and continues to define the business model for competitors to follow. Mobile operating system platforms, at least those intended for smartphones, are more or less required to have some form of app store now, but enough is enough with 'there's an app for that'. How many apps do we need, exactly?

App Store boasts over 100,000 apps. Contrast that with the roughly 10,000 apps in the Android Market, or the approximately 1,000 apps available from Microsoft's Windows Marketplace for Mobile, and you can easily see that Apple is by far the leader in the app store arena.

Amazon has led the way in driving acceptance of ebook reader devices with its Kindle, but now the market has gotten crowded. This is just the beginning though as ebook readers start to transition from purely consumer gadgets to accepted business tools.

Apparently Barnes and Noble and Sony failed to read the Forrester Research report when planning production of their ebook readers. Forrester predicted that as many as 1 million electronic book reading gadgets will be sold this holiday season, but the Barnes and Noble Nook and the Sony Reader couldn't keep up with demand and will miss out on the party.