person

Typically I write about storage. Now, as part of my research, I'm writing about data--data about you. The hottest commodity on the Web right now is data that describes who you are, what you like, what you do, who you know, where you've gone, where you might be, and what you are likely to do.

There are potentially tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of buyers, sellers, and collectors of data about you. For example, retailers of all stripes--from online to bricks and mortar--believe that they can sell more to you when they know more about … Read more

Hewlett-Packard approached LG, Samsung and others about the sale of its PC business last year, a source told CNET.

The PC maker sounded out the Korean electronics giants late last year long before its announcement last month, according to a source familiar with the overtures by HP. Last month, HP announced its intention to "evaluate strategic alternatives" for its PC business when it released earnings.

The source said HP approached Korean electronics conglomerates as part of a strategy--at that time--to try to sell the business to large companies that had much broader interests than just PCs. PCs would, … Read more

Hewlett-Packard will break up its WebOS business, sending the software component to a different part of the company, according to a report Saturday at PreCentral.net.

The company that was formerly Palm will split, reporting to separate divisions of HP, according to the report. This comes after HP announced during its August 18 earnings call that it was shuttering its WebOS hardware business, which includes its TouchPad tablet and Palm Pre phone.

WebOS, which HP has not terminated, will be pushed over to HP's Office of Strategy and Technology (OS&T) and report to Executive Vice President Shane Robinson, … Read more

Let's all be thankful that the pictured woman enjoying her Shoulderflex isn't wearing a necklace or much in the way of clothing, and also that her hair is tied neatly atop her head. It turns out that necklaces, clothing, and hair have the potential to turn that peaceful look on her face into something else entirely.

No, seriously. One person was strangled to death after her necklace became caught in the personal massager's rotating component, while another was almost killed when a piece of clothing was caught. Still more have been injured when their hair became entangled in the device.

In light of the death and injuries, the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning last week that the device posed serious health risks, and yesterday the manufacturer, King International, voluntarily recalled nearly all of its 12,000 Shoulderflex massagers in the U.S. sold between 2003 and 2011.

To be fair, the promotional demonstration of the massager advises users to keep hair and jewelry away from the rotating bar--an obvious caution reminiscent of the floor being slippery when wet.

The video did not, however, warn that failure to do so could result in death by strangulation. (The video appears to have been deleted from a variety of sources as the Beaverton, Ore.-based firm tries to extricate itself from the unraveling imbroglio. Calls to the company for comment, meanwhile, went straight to voice mail.)

If you've got a Shoulderflex on hand, the FDA implores you to throw it away.… Read more

The head of Hewlett-Packard's Personal Systems Group believes that his division will lead the PC market even after it might be spun off from its parent company.

Speaking to Reuters in an interview published today, PSG chief Todd Bradley told the news outlet that he expects his division to continue to reign supreme in the PC business in the coming months and years, adding that the firm will also be "one of, if not the largest customers of all of our major suppliers, be it Samsung to LG to Microsoft to Intel."

HP earlier this month made the surprising announcement … Read more

Do you ever wish you had a way to hide certain contacts in your address book? Maybe you want the ability to completely hide entire SMS or e-mail conversations from prying eyes? BlackBook, a popular BlackBerry application, allows you to do just that. This simple-to-use app keeps your most valued information hidden and secure.

… Read more

Many people want to keep their PC safe but don't want to know any more about how it's done than they do about how their microwave oven works, so long as it works. TrueSafe has responded with a backup option intended to reduce the hassle of backups. It's a "set-and-forget" program that runs in the background, but TrueSafe Personal Edition also offers secure online storage and other extras, such as the ability to back up PCs remotely over the Internet.

When we first opened TrueSafe, we were prompted to create a username and password and … Read more

The bottom line:

The new Kaspersky Internet Security for 2012 introduces a dual cloud-and-local security system bundled under an interface overhaul that's both easy to use and familiar. The suite's scans aren't the fastest, but it definitely will protect you.

Review: Kaspersky Internet Security continues to provide users with a high level of protection that includes security tools not offered by many competitors. The 2012 version won't change the face of personal computer security, although this particular package of security options and top-shelf performance has attracted enough devotees to make it a best-selling program, both in … Read more

Most people in the Western world walk around with a powerful computer in their pocket or purse, otherwise known as a smartphone. It's not unusual to see someone clutching a legal pad-size gadget on airplane flights, such as an iPad, to read books. It's nearly impossible to walk into a coffee shop without finding someone pecking away at a trim notebook computer, checking e-mail and surfing the Web.

The lineage of all those devices, in one way or another, flows directly back to a press conference some 30 years ago tomorrow. On August 12, 1981, IBM rented out … Read more