Tech

CIO – I’m still thinking about the fascinating projection that 70 million tablet computers-50 million of them iPads-will be sold in the United States this year and next. The source was eMarketer, the respected digital marketing and media researcher, which also expects the global market for tablet sales to reach more than 80 million units in 2012 alone.

Those astounding numbers should make all CIOs lean forward, take notice and think hard about the support issues coming your way. If you doubted the likelihood of this tablet tsunami, all you had to do was spend an hour at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January to see this

Read more

Sony is neither confirming nor denying rumors that it will soon phase out current models of its PlayStation 3 in favor of a new version that makes it much harder for hackers to crack its firmware and reprogram it for other uses. Sony contends that hacking facilitates piracy, but its attempts to lock down its system may also hamper benign experimentation.

Sony (NYSE: SNE) doesn’t like it when gamers mess with its products. The company’s stance against PS3 hacking — users altering the machine’s programming to make it perform functions other than playing games — continues to grow stronger, as Sony pulls out the legal guns and shows no signs of backing down.

When it comes to consumer electronics, unauthorized hacking and pirating seem like unavoidable hassles. Every product appears to get cracked eventually. According to a new rumor, though, Sony is working on a way to prevent it altogether.

Read more