IBM

When it became clear that Steve Jobs was very ill, everybody was wondering who will take the lead, and whether the successor would ever fill Jobs' huge shoes. Steve Jobs was, after all, an incredible visionary, a creative genius, and many believed that Apple would dramatically fail without him.

Amid the hoopla surrounding new product introductions by Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), the initial public offering of Facebook (NYSE: FB) and what’s new with “Angry Birds,” people forget to acknowledge the true “brains” of the whole business: the chip.

When Anton Marinovich turned 18, his grandmother gave him $1,000 with strict instructions to invest in the stock market. He chose Apple Inc

IBM (NYSE: IBM), the No. 2 computer services company, said it will deploy its powerful Watson supercomputer at New York’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center to fight lung, prostate and breast cancer.

IBM senior manager for global security operations Nick Bradley said threats from cyberattacks increased last year despite more awareness by computer center managers. New threats come from iPhones and BlackBerrys.

Large enterprises that see the perils of “Big Data” are planning ahead by upgrading their computer centers now, a senior VP of IBM (NYSE: IBM) said.

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), the No. 1 computer company, said it will merge its PC with its printers unit, amid other internal changes ordered by new CEO Meg Whitman.

International Business Machines launched on Tuesday three services to help companies sift and understand so-called big data, hoping to get some of the $120 billion or more that businesses are expected to invest in data analytics by 2015.

Rumors are rife that Microsoft is hard at work on the highly anticipated next-generation Xbox 720. Reports flooding the internet have suggested that the new Xbox 720, which reared its head back in 2005, will arrive later this year.

Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook, moving swiftly after taking over from late Silicon Valley icon Steve Jobs, fulfilled a longstanding desire of investors by initiating a quarterly dividend and share buyback that will pay out $45 billion over three years.

QuestBack, a fast-growing Norwegian developer of feedback software, is making a play for the U.S. market by opening an office and beefing up local personnel.

Apple (AAPL) shares soared on Monday, breaching the 600 mark a few times before finally settling on 601, after the Cupertino, Calif.-based tech company decided to share some of its $100 billion in cash with its investors. Apple announced it would reward shareholders by launching a quarterly dividend and a stock buyback program that will pay out about $45 billion over three years, set to go into effect later this year.

Apple (AAPL) is feeling generous. After a record-breaking quarter announced in January and a record-breaking launch weekend for the new iPad, Tim Cook decided to share some of Apple's $100 billion in cash on Monday to fulfill a deep-seated desire of investors, announcing a quarterly dividend and a three-year shares buyback program to go in effect later this year.

Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL), the No. 3 software developer and No. 1 in databases, is scheduled to report third-quarter results Tuesday. Last quarter, it missed estimates and the shares plunged 15 percent, shaving as much as $5.3 billion from the net worth of CEO Larry Ellison.

CEO Tim Cook decided on a new course for the Cupertino, Calif., company regarding shareholders. We have plenty of cash to run our business, he said.

Apple announced it will repurchase as many as $10 billion worth of shares now. Later this year, it plans to pay an initial dividend of $2.65 a share.

Shares of Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) kept surging Wednesday even after the company was subpoenaed by Washington after two more analysts raised price targets.

Top-tier technology companies including Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), IBM (NYSE: IBM), Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) and Applied Materials (Nasdaq: AMAT), among others, all buy back shares. Qualcomm and Applied Materials have just refreshed their buyback programs and hiked their dividends, too.

Shares of IBM set a new high of $201.57 after new CEO Virginia Rometty said the No. 2 computer services company was “uniquely positioned” to deliver benefits of “a gusher of data” flowing into the global economy.

Mark Twain would have been amused by the remarks of new Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) CEO Tim Cook last week when he announced the post-PC era. As Twain observed after reading his obituary, The report of my death was an exaggeration.

Shares of IBM (NYSE: IBM) are above $200 for only the second time in the No. 2 computer company’s 101-year history, valuing it at $232.4 billion.