insiders

When it comes to the mobile world, it's all about apps.

More than ever, people are using apps to augment the capabilities of their smartphones. They can remind you of your next meeting, play the latest Lady Gaga song, and make catapulting virtual birds into evil pigs a family pastime.

Likewise, they're increasingly important to the technology world. The apps market is expected to generate $9 billion in revenue this year and nearly double that next year, according to Gartner. The lack of apps, meanwhile, has crippled some smartphone platforms. Just ask Research In Motion and its BlackBerry … Read more

Google is helping people get to their desired search results pages much sooner than they have in the past.

The company unveiled today a new feature called Instant Pages. After inputting a search query, users will be able to open results almost instantly. Previously, the company said, page loads from Google Search would take about 5 seconds to complete. The company pointed to the homepage for The Washington Post, which takes 3.2 seconds to load in average circumstances, but pops up instantly with the help of Instant Pages.

Google announced Instant Pages at its Inside Search event in San … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--As it does every year, Apple started setting up for its Worldwide Developers Conference days in advance of its kickoff, offering a glimpse at what will greet attendees next week.

Signage put up by the company today inside the lobby of San Francisco's Moscone Center doesn't unveil anything we didn't already know from a press release issued earlier this week, but offers the first look at the logos for iCloud and iOS 5.

iCloud was first mentioned and named by the company on Tuesday, along with word that Apple CEO Steve Jobs would be doing the … Read more

External attacks from cybercriminals will soon pose a greater risk to the corporate world than insider threats, according to the results of a Cyber-Ark survey (PDF) released yesterday.

Polling more than 1,400 IT staffers and top-level executives around the world, Cyber-Ark Software's fifth annual "Trust, Security and Passwords" report tried to get a sense of the security dangers that concern the corporate world for now and in the near future. The survey found that 57 percent of the executives believe that over the next one to three years, cybercriminals will present more of a security risk … Read more

Microsoft plans to demonstrate tablets running Windows 8 by the end of June, a company source has told Business Insider.

The source told Business Insider that Microsoft is taking a more "Apple-like" approach in designing the new operating system for tablets and plans to adopt certain ideas from the Metro interface created for Windows Phone 7. If true, the June date for demonstrating the new OS on a tablet is significant as that month marks the end of Microsoft's fiscal year.

Yesterday's report follows a story by ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley, who was sent a … Read more

The FBI has arrested another person in the ongoing investigation into the sharing of insider information with investors by consultants working for so-called expert firms.

The latest to be arrested is Winifred Jiau, 43, of Fremont, Calif. Like others charged or arrested on December 16, she has ties to Primary Global Research. She's accused of providing inside information to Primary Global clients who were portfolio managers at hedge funds of Nvidia and Marvell Technology during a period from 2006 to 2008. Prosecutors say she collected $200,000 during that time. She's facing charges of conspiracy and securities fraud. … Read more

CNET has obtained a copy of the FBI's complaint against four men who had access to vital trade secrets belonging to such tech companies as Apple, Dell, and AMD, and are accused of repeatedly violating securities laws by selling this information to hedge funds, according to the FBI.

As a result of a sophisticated sting operation that involved wiretaps and recorded phone conversations, FBI agents have arrested the four men on a score of charges that include securities fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy.

The government's complaint, filed this week with U.S. District Court for the Southern District … Read more

A massive insider trading probe focused on expert networks illustrates just how valuable Apple's secrets--product road maps, new features, and forecasts--have become.

Yesterday, the feds arrested four people in an insider trading probe. According to the Associated Press, the U.S. government alleges that James Fleishman, an executive at Primary Global Research, used four consultants employed by public companies to deliver confidential information. The companies were AMD, Flextronics, Dell, and TSMC. The Holy Grail for traders looking to game the system, however, were details about Apple's plans via Flextronics, a contract equipment manufacturer.

The AP says a government complaint details … Read more

Quite a lot more details just came out about the insider-information probe that hit the tech world last month, and they're juicy.

The Wall Street Journal has a full report on the whole scheme. Turns out one of the men indicted today, Walter Shimoon, worked for Flextronics, a supplier to Apple. In the papers unsealed today, the FBI caught Shimoon on tape allegedly relaying super-secret details about the yet-to-be-released iPhone last year as well as the internal code name for the project that turned into the iPad. Fortune found the details in the 39-page indictment, and called them out … Read more