PCs

Gartner: Worldwide IT spending to hit $3.8 trillion in 2013

Worldwide spending on IT is set to grow to new highs this year and next, according to a new study from research firm Gartner.

Total IT spending last year hit $3.6 trillion, Gartner said, representing a 2.1 percent gain over the prior year. In 2013, that spending will go up to $3.8 trillion, a rise of 4.1 percent. Things will get even better for the IT sector in 2014, when spending, according to the research firm, is expected to hit $3.9 trillion.

The big growth this year will come by way of device purchases, driven … Read more

Blackstone, Icahn to make offers to buy Dell -- reports

Asset-management firm Blackstone Group has reportedly submitted a tentative offer to buy Dell, rivaling a $24.4 billion offer from founder Michael Dell and investment firm Silver Lake, which was announced last month.

Both Bloomberg and The New York Times are citing unnamed insiders in reporting the preliminary deal proposal, which, Bloomberg said, will commit Blackstone to hold takeover discussions with Dell. The letter was reportedly sent last night, and, Bloomberg said, Dell has till Tuesday to respond.

Details of the proposal were not available, and it's not known if Dell will go along. Bloomberg said Blackstone wouldn't … Read more

PC market slump to deepen on lull in China

IDC has revised down its monthly worldwide PC shipments data, citing a weakening Chinese market.

The research firm suggested a fall of as much as 2 percent to 7.7 percent year over year, based on the its previous figures. For the first quarter, PC sales worldwide could fall by "double digits" and face another decline in the second quarter, albeit less so.

While March figures will recover somewhat, it will not be enough to offset the losses in February.

China accounted for more than 21 percent of global shipments in 2012, but suffered due to the timing … Read more

Google confirms Chromebooks are for the beautiful people

What do Virgin America and New York's Ace Hotel have in common? They are frequented by the digerati, the beautiful, and the in-the-know.

So it's a shrewd marketing move by Google to announce today that some Virgin America flights this summer and the Ace will be testbeds for the brand new Chromebook.

Chromebooks were a concept initially introduced two years ago, but are just now making their way to retailers.

The laptops are made by Samsung and Acer and boot directly to Google's Chrome browser, which means a Wi-Fi or 3G connection are necessary to get anything done on them. … Read more

HP: WebOS licenses in the works

On the eve of the launch of its TouchPad, Hewlett-Packard is signaling that it's ready to stir things up in the mobile-OS business.

Today, CEO Leo Apotheker told Bloomberg that HP has had discussions about licensing WebOS.

"We are talking to a number of companies," Apotheker said. "I can share with you that a number of companies have expressed interest. We are continuing our conversations."

Bloomberg says it's heard from unidentified sources that Samsung is one of those companies, but a Samsung spokesman denied that. HP did not elaborate on who potential partners could be.

HP has revamped the WebOS operating system it bought with Palm almost exactly a year ago and made it ready for tablets. Apotheker's comments today expand on earlier statements that he would entertain the idea of licensing WebOS to other players in the mobile-devices business. … Read more

HP shuffles top-ranking executives

Hewlett-Packard just announced some big changes to its executive team.

Ann Livermore is stepping down from running HP's Enterprise Business unit, and will join the company's board of directors, the company said in a statement. Her new seat will be added to the board and will not replace any current member's.

Until HP names a replacement, Livermore will serve as interim head of Enterprise Services.

HP also said it is eliminating the position of chief administrative officer. The man who currently holds that position, Pete Bocian, is leaving immediately, reportedly for a job in investment banking.

Chief … Read more

Sinofsky shows off Windows 8 at D9

Microsoft gave an early demonstration of the new look and capability of the next generation of Windows today at the D9 conference.

President of Windows Steven Sinofsky also gave an early preview even before he took the stage in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., to his conference hosts at the All Things D blog. For now it's called Windows 8, but Sinofsky says that's just a code name.

"We tried with Windows 8 to re-imagine how you work with a PC," Sinofsky said on stage during an interview with D9 host Walt Mossberg.

The first noticeable change … Read more

HP CEO: We might license WebOS

During an interview at the D9 conference today, Hewlett-Packard CEO Leo Apotheker dropped a mini-bombshell: HP would consider licensing its mobile operating system, WebOS, to other hardware makers.

In response to a question from the audience at the tech conference about potentially licensing the OS, Apotheker replied:

I happen to believe that WebOS is a uniquely outstanding operating system. It's not correct to believe that it should only be on HP devices. There are all kinds of other people who want to make whatever kind of hardware they make and would like to connect them to the Internet. We'… Read more

More HP notebook batteries recalled

Hewlett-Packard is adding to the list of notebook battery models that pose a safety hazard, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

HP has voluntarily recalled an additional 162,600 lithium ion batteries used in some HP and Compaq notebooks sold between July 2007 and July 2008. The batches of batteries included with 31 models of its notebooks can "overheat and rupture, posing fire and burn hazards," according to the CPSC.

The latest round of batteries being recalled is in addition to the 70,000 recalled in May 2009 and 54,000 in May 2010, all for the … Read more