You would probably assume that volume purchasers get discounts from Apple, as they do from any other company. But how much? We have the numbers. And you don't have to be a real business to take advantage of the discounts — just use the products for business. Read More >>

Armed robbers took advantage of New Years celebrations to attack a Paris Apple store, stealing up to $1.3 million (€1 million) in goods. Read More >>

Microsoft Windows tablets, in spite of a superior Intel processor, suffer from hardware and software problems — and are overpriced. The PC industry seems to have a misguided notion that it doesn't need to compete on specs and price with the iPad 4 and Nexus 10. It's shocking that Microsoft spent three years producing an antiquated overpriced product such as the Surface while Apple and Google, including their partners, are producing superior products in 6-month cycles. Read More >>

Dell announced today its acquisition of data security company Credant Technologies to beef up its BYOD security toolset. Read More >>

Enterprises never adopt new Windows versions right after they ship, right? Times may have changed. IT may now have good reasons to move quickly with Windows 8, at least for some deployments. Read More >>

Here is how WiFi on major airlines works and what it would cost you. Probably. Airplane Wi-Fi pricing is such a mess that you often can't even know what the cost will be until you're on the plane. Gogo is the major provider, and we identified service offerings from Air Canada, Airtran, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta, Frontier, Jet Blue, SouthWest Virgin America, United and US Air. Read More >>

Alternative keyboards are voodoo ergonomics. If the keyboard is going to be killed by anything, it'll be by the one holy grail of user interfaces: A direct neural connection between the user and the computer, with all of the fascinating and scary possibilities offered through such a system. The things I'm confident it's not going to be killed by are touchscreens — or, for that matter, other kinds of keyboards. Read More >>

It's been another big year for BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and the consumerization of IT. Apple moved boldly forward and yet lost a step in both market share and esteem. Microsoft staked a claim in the tablet and phone markets. Android came to dominate the smartphone market and make tablet inroads. 4G and the cloud have become more common and big companies stepped in to take control of mobile security. Read More >>

Windows 8 Desktop Mode is not usable on conventional desktops and notebooks, but the problem is clearly fixable and Microsoft will see the wisdom of this before too long. Close your eyes and imagine that it's well into 2013 and Microsoft is preparing their first update to Windows 8, in which they address widespread complaints about it. Read More >>

Office 2013, especially the preview version of Office Home & Student 2013 RT that comes with the Microsoft Surface tablet, changes the model for writing add-on programs. There are now Office apps and an Office app section in the Windows Store. Many of these apps are free, but it's easy to see enterprise-oriented apps being developed and charged for. Microsoft's implementation of the apps in Office 2013 is clumsy in some ways, but promising. Read More >>

Rumors have been spreading that Apple will shift their Macs to ARM processors and that Intel will make them. It's more likely that Apple and Intel will compromise and move higher-end systems, including the iPad, to Intel architectures. Moving the iPhone won't make as much sense. Read More >>

The Surface tablet with Windows 8 Pro from Microsoft will look like the ARM-based Surface RT, only slightly thicker and heavier. On the other hand, unlike the RT, it will be able to run existing Windows apps. It will start at $899 and be available in January. These tablets are based on Intel Ivy Bridge chips, and so do not have the superior battery life of ARM or Intel Clover Trail systems. Read More >>

Microsoft's official support lifecycle for Surface with Windows RT hardware ends 4/11/2017. They have not yet announced the end of support for the Windows RT operating system on Surface and devices from Lenovo, Dell, Toshiba and other OEMs, nor for Office Home and Student 2013 RT, which is bundled with Surface RT. The support lifecycle for Intel-based Windows 8 is longer and more complicated. Read More >>

Online backup services such as Carbonite, Acronis, IDrive and Mozy might be a bad deal for some users when compared to cloud storage services Box, Dropbox, Google Drive and Microsoft Skydrive. The former usually just backs up files; the latter does backs up files and also gives you working access to them. Read More >>

Looking for the perfect gift for your beloved this year? Something tells us a tablet might be just the ticket. BYTE looks at five: The Apple iPad 4, the iPad Mini, the Samsung Galaxy 10.1, the Microsoft Surface, and the Kindle Fire HD. Read More >>