Global IT spending is set to grow by 4.1% to reach $3.8 trillion Gartner reports, as fragile business and consumer sentiment persists throughout the world. 

"The global steady growth rates are a calm ocean that hides turbulent currents beneath," the analyst says. "The Nexus of Forces-— social, mobile, cloud and information-— are reshaping spending patterns across all of the IT sectors Gartner forecasts. Consumers and enterprises will continue to purchase a mix of IT products and services; nothing is going away completely. However, the ratio of this mix is changing dramatically and there are clear winners and losers over the next 3 to 5 years, as we see more of a transition from PCs to mobile phones, from servers to storage, from licensed software to cloud, or the shift in voice and data connections from fixed to mobile." 

Devices (PCs, tablets, mobile phones and printers) spending should reach $718 billion in 2013, with a short-term boost on premium mobile phones driving 7.9% growth despite flat PC spending and declines in printers.  Read more...

IT distribution giant Tech Data rips up the financial results for fiscal 2011, 2012 and 2013 following the discovery of errors in the "vendor accounting" of UK subsidiary Computer 2000.

As a result Tech Data will recount the number and publish new results-- with the adjustments wiping out up to $33 million from previously reported net profits and cutting reported consolidated operating income by anything from $30m to $40m.

"Accordingly, investors should no longer rely upon the company's previously released financial statements and other financial Read more...

Thin client shipments in EMEA grow by 9.2% Y-o-Y during 2012 to over 1.7 million units, IDC reports, while 2013 shipments are set to remain stable with 6.2% growth. 

"Although commercial desktop PC shipments are shrinking, the thin client market remains buoyant," the analyst remarks. "Vendors now offer attractive thin client solutions that meet the needs of different vertical markets, such as healthcare, banking, education, or retail. Increased security concerns, easier administration, lower maintenance costs, and lower power consumption are among Read more...

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) believe they have the secret to more robust, "self-healing" processors-- building chips able to keep on working even after laser blasts. 

The failure of a single transistor often renders most chips out of service. Not with the Caltech chips. The prototypes (power amplifiers of the mobile phones kind) carry a number of robust sensors measuring temperature, current, voltage and power while feeding into an application-specific integrated-circuit (ASIC) unit. 

The ASIC unit measures chip performance and adjusts system actuators (the changeable parts of the chip) by drawing conclusions based on aggregate response from the sensors. Read more...