What Slump? Big Blue Sees Growth

Tech and telecoms dominate the top brands

(NEWSER) - Apple has taken a bite out of Google. It's now the most valuable brand in the world, finally ending Google's four-year run at the top of Millward Brown's list of global brand value, reports Reuters . The study estimates Apple's brand to be worth $153 billion, almost half of the company's market capitalization. "Apple is breaking the rules in terms of its pricing model," said the global brands director of Millward Brown. "It's doing what luxury brands do, where the higher price the brand is, the more it seems to underpin and reinforce the desire." More»

From the improbable to the top secret, it takes all kinds

(NEWSER) - The Business Insider figures you've also wanted to know how your favorite high tech concern got its name. Well, you're in luck! Here goes:

1. SUN Microsystems: It's actually an acronym for Stanford University Network, the school where the founders met.
2. Cisco: Actually not an acronym, as often assumed. It's just San Francisco without the San Fran, which is why the "c" was not capitalized originally.

(NEWSER) - Oracle Corp. has agreed to buy Sun Microsystems, swooping in after Sun’s talks with IBM fell apart. Oracle will pay $7.4 billion, or $9.50 a share for Sun, the Wall Street Journal reports, a 42% premium on Friday’s close. Though Sun has been losing money, Oracle expects the deal to tack $1.5 billion onto its profits in the first year, and called Sun’s Java platform “the most important software” it’s ever acquired. More»

(AP) - Google Inc. eked out a higher profit in the first quarter, although the Internet search leader's revenue growth decelerated to the slowest pace since the company went public nearly five years ago. The company boosted its profit largely by cutting costs, including reducing the size of its work force for the first time since its August 2004 IPO. More»

It's all the rage, but does the fuzzy term really mean anything?

(NEWSER) - Today's hottest tech term is "cloud computing": Google, Amazon, Yahoo, and Intel have all begun projects with such nebulous names as OpenCirrus and Elastic Compute Cloud. But while the projects behind the names all have something in common—storing data on far-off computers—nobody can agree on what cloud computing really is, writes the Wall Street Journal. "I have no idea what anyone is talking about. When is this idiocy going to stop?" said the CEO of Oracle. More»