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Bing wins search share from Yahoo
U.S. residents continue to shift their search engine use from Yahoo to Microsoft, a trend that started in mid-2009 after Microsoft introduced its new Bing engine and the companies signed a deal to partner in search. Yahoo’s share of U.S. search queries dropped to 17 percent in January, from 17.3 percent in December, while Microsoft’s share jumped from 10.7 percent to 11.3 percent, comScore said Thursday. Back in April, before the launch of Bing and the signing of the search deal, Yahoo had a 20.4 percent share of queries, while Microsoft’s was 8.2 percent. Google remains the dominant player with 65.4 percent of January queries, down 0.3 of a percentage point from December but up from a share of 64.2 percent in April.
Adobe Reader receives critical patch
Just weeks after patching a critical flaw, Adobe Systems is rushing out another patch for its Reader and Acrobat software. The company also patched a critical issue in Flash Player Thursday. The Flash Player flaw could be used by an attacker to trick a Web browser into doing things that it shouldn’t, what’s known as a remote-code execution flaw, meaning it can’t be used to directly install unauthorized software on a victim’s computer. If the bug is exploited the attacker would be able to execute a general class of cross-site request forgery type of attacks. Adobe rates the issue as “critical.”
Motorola to divide in half
Motorola will be split into two publicly traded companies in the first quarter of next year, with one focusing on handsets and home entertainment devices and the other on making enterprise communications gear. The company’s two co-CEOs, Sanjay Jha and Greg Brown, will lead the two new entities. Jha was named CEO of Motorola’s Mobile Devices and Home businesses, effective immediately. Brown was immediately named CEO of the Enterprise Mobility Solutions and Networks businesses. The Mobile Devices and Home entity will own the Motorola brand and license it royalty free to the enterprise business.
Dell acquires system management appliance firm
Dell acquired security vendor Kace Networks, a systems management appliance company, for an undisclosed amount on Thursday. The company hopes to expand its system management offering for small- and-medium businesses with the acquisition, Dell said in a statement. Kace offers appliances designed to help accomplish tasks like inventory management, asset management or configuration management. Kace’s Kbox appliances are also able to improve end-point security through patch management, security-policy enforcement and vulnerability scanning