4. "IBM Will Stack Chips for More Efficient Processing,"
CIO.com, April 12
IBM will stack a processor on top of memory or power components, drilling holes through chips to connect them in the stacks to build smaller, more efficient chips. It's the hole "drilling" (via a chemical process) that makes the plan different from the way other chip makers connect processors; those rivals use wires wrapped around the chip edges. IBM will use wires one-thousandth the size of wires in current use by drilling the holes in the chips instead. That process will also use 40 percent less power. Samples of the chips made with the new process will be delivered to customers in the second half of this year, with full production next year. Wireless LAN and cellular communications products are expected to be the first to use the chips. 

5. "How to Calculate the Cost of a Data Breach,”
CIO.com, April 12
If you're curious how much a data breach will cost your company, check out the online calculator offered by Darwin Professional Underwriters. The company's Data Loss Cost Calculator relies on proprietary algorithms using security breach data gleaned from news reports and industry resources. It returns cost estimates for conducting an internal investigation, for customer notification and crisis management, and for regulatory and other compliance expenses.

6. "Linux Foundation Updates Linux Standard Base,"
InfoWorld, April 9
The Linux Foundation updated the Linux Standard Base server specification so it now includes automated testing toolkits meant to help develop applications for different OS distributions. LSB is a set of interface standards from nonprofit Linux consortium the Free Standards Group. The aim of LSB is to improve compatibility between Linux distributions so that applications will run on any LSB-compliant distribution. The Linux Foundation also released a new testing toolkit, the LSB Distribution.

7. "Salesforce.com Wants to Be a Content Management Player,"
Network World, April 10
Salesforce.com plans to get into content management and is doing that by buying startup Koral, a Web 2.0 content collaboration company. The hosted-CRM vendor has a new initiative, Salesforce Content, through which it will eventually manage all of its customers' data, no matter what it is or where it's stored—documents, e-mail, audio, video. The company's Apex Content will be an extension to its existing CRM platform as the basis for content-based applications and so that developers can include those capabilities in software developed on Salesforce.com's.

8. "Major Search Engines Improve Sitemaps Protocol,"
PC World, April 11
Google, Yahoo and Microsoft announced an enhanced Sitemap protocol as the first fruit of their collaboration over site maps. The protocol simplifies how webmasters and online publishers submit site content for search-engine indexing. The vendors also announced that IAC/InterActiveCorp's Ask.com will support the protocol.