AFP - When Merlin Mann is on the go and needs to access his computer information he steps into the cloud. Mann, a 41-year-old technology blogger, is one of thousands of Americans who are shunning packaged software in favor of programs served up as services available on the Internet.

AFP - Long-time business software giant Oracle has announced it is diving headlong into the computer hardware business with a brainier, brawnier machine crafted to manage the explosion of digital data.

AP - In a nod to how finicky people have become about the gadgets they use, software company Citrix Systems Inc. is rolling out a new program for its workers: BYOC — Bring Your Own Computer.

AFP - Google has released a kit for software developers to create fun, hip or functional programs for the "G-phone" due out next month in a direct challenge to Apple's hot-selling iPhone.