Hamburg-Cloud and TeamDrive scoop coveted IT security awards and offer template for how cloud service providers can deliver value added synchronization services

If you had a MobileMe account for online storage, Apple has good news for you: The complimentary extension of storage services that was supposed to end on September 30, 2012 has been extended by one year.

However, general-availability dates for the new offerings were scarce.

Panasonic is showing its latest home appliances at the Ceatec electronics exhibition, and everything - washing machines, refrigerators, rice cookers - connects to the internet.

If you visit the popular tech-focused job site Dice.com and search for cloud computing related jobs, you'll get more than 3,800 hits. According to Alice Hill, managing director of Dice.com, that's up 72% over last year.

With 2012 revenues of $4.1 billion, Electronic Arts (EA) is the third-largest video game company in the world by revenue behind only Nintendo and Activision Blizzard. It boasts landmark franchises such as Madden NFL, FIFA, The Sims and Mass Effect. Through its PopCap Games subsidiary it is the publisher of hits like Bejeweled and Plants vs. Zombies. And yet, in June of 2012, EA's chief operating officer compared the company to a burning oil platform.

Toyota will deploy Microsoft's communications and collaboration products for 200,000 plus employees worldwide in the next two years to better support mobile devices, reduce costs, and improve collaboration between employees with enterprise social networking, conferencing, messaging and info-sharing tools.

Government regulations, exit strategies and international data privacy are currently the top three barriers of cloud services adoption, according to the latest joint research by Cloud Security Alliance and ISACA.