Rumour: Facebook gets ready for their IPO.
From the Wall Street Journal: “Facebook Inc. could file papers for an initial public offering as early as next week and is currently looking at a deal that would value the social network between $75 billion to $100 billion.”

Apple boosts employee discounts on Mac, iPad.
From 9 to 5 Mac: “Giving a little more back to the people who worked so hard to make Apple one of the wealthiest corporations in the world, Cook announced that Apple employees will soon be given $500 discounts on purchases of new Macs and $250 discounts on purchases of a new iPad.” The caveat? This discount only works once every three years.

Record profits for Apple’s Q1 2012.
Boom boom boom boom. That’s how TechCrunch’s MG Siegler describes the $13.1 billion in profit that Apple raked in over the last quarter.

Jimmy Wales thinks MPAA’s Christopher Dodd should be fired.
Wikipedia’s founder – familiar to millions for his ominous 1,000 yard fundraising stare – had some tough words for MPAA chairman Christopher Dodd.

RIM names Thorsten Heins as new CEO.
From the Wall Street Journal: “After 20 years together at the helm of Research In Motion Ltd.,Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, the company’s co-chief executives, turned over the top job late Sunday to a little-known insider as part of a board and management shuffle.”

Here’s this week’s roundup of technology news:

SOPA & PIPA anti-piracy bills stopped by Congress
“U.S. lawmakers halted controversial anti-piracy legislation Friday, delivering a stunning victory for websites like Wikipedia that staged an unprecedented online protest this week to try and kill the bills.” - Financial Post

SOPA & PIPA protests: “A political coming-of-age for tech industry”
“With a Web-wide protest on Wednesday that includes a 24-hour shutdown of the English-language Wikipedia, the legislative battle over two Internet piracy bills has reached an extraordinary moment — a political coming of age for a relatively young and disorganized industry that has largely steered clear of lobbying and other political games in Washington.” – New York Times

BlackBerry PlayBook back on sale for consumers + businesses
“Anyone looking to purchase the 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB PlayBook can pick one up for $299 between January 9 and February 4. RIM is offering even steeper discounts to businesses that want to order more than 100 PlayBooks.” – InformationWeek

10 Canadian Tech Stocks to Watch in 2012
“What stocks will you be watching closest in 2012? Cantech Letter polled some of Canada’s best technology analysts to see what’s on their list. We asked for Canadian technology stocks, regardless of size, they felt may have a breakout year ahead.” – Cantech Letter

File Sharing is a religion in Sweden
“Sweden dealt a symbolic blow to the global fight against digital music and film piracy by recognizing a group that promotes file-sharing across the Internet as a religion. One of the most wired nations in the world, Sweden has long been a battleground between those who support file-sharing and the music and film industry. The Nordic state gave birth to the world’s largest filesharing website, Pirate Bay.” – Ottawa Citizen

For more in-depth technology news, check out the Financial Post Tech Desk.

Here are this week’s technology headlines:

HP donates WebOS to Open Source Community
» “By contributing this innovation, HP unleashes the creativity of the open source community to advance a new generation of applications and devices,” said the firm’s president and chief executive, Meg Whitman. - BBC News

Panasonic enters the smartphone market
» Panasonic said Friday it would venture abroad to sell smartphones, beginning with Europe in March and then expanding to the U.S., China, and rest of Asia. – PC World

Facebook begins official rollout of Timeline
» Facebook officially took the “beta” label off its much-publicized Timeline this evening, but it’s rolling out the new feature gradually. New Zealand is currently the only country to get Timeline, the company said in a blog post this evening. Other regions will get it in the “near future.” – Mashable

Acer focusing on Ultrabooks in 2012
» Acer’s financial troubles are mounting, but its CEO insists that he knows what will return the company to profitability: ultrabooks. - CNET News

Department of Justice investigates E-Book Pricing
» The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday confirmed that it is investigating the pricing of electronic books, the latest antitrust watchdog to probe whether there was improper collusion by Apple Inc. and publishers to prevent discounting. – Wall Street Journal

India asks Facebook and Google to screen user content
» The Indian government has asked Internet companies and social media sites like Facebook to prescreen user content from India and to remove disparaging, inflammatory or defamatory content before it goes online, three executives in the information technology industry say. – New York Times

French corporation bans internal email, goes social + IM
» French company Atos has just banned the use of email within the company. Instead, having concluded that the vast majority of email is just time-wasting noise, it is switching all employees to a Facebook-like interface and instant messaging. – Business Insider

Lunch Break Tech is our weekly digest of technology news headlines.
If you’d like to contribute something to Lunch Break Tech, send us a message.

Earlier this week, Channel Buzz writer Robert Dutt sat down with Quartet president Rob Bracey to discuss the acquisition of KLM Solutions. The interview offers a candid look into Quartet’s evolution as a comprehensive IT service provider.

The challenge was that historically, Quartet had essentially put up with doing hardware to facilitate services – and Bracey realized the company would have to change the way it thought about hardware to maximize the opportunity. What better way to do that than to come together with a hardware-focused VAR. The goal, Bracey said, to create a more “balanced service provider” business for the combined entity. - Channel Buzz

You can read the full article on the Channel Buzz website.

More KLM acquisition coverage in the news:

• Winnipeg Free Press
• Canadian Business
• Yahoo! Finance
• Canadian Newswire
• MSP News
• Brandon Sun

At first blush, you may wonder why a services business like Quartet, with so much invested in the Cloud, would be hooking up with an IT hardware products and solutions provider.

But that is the primary reason: the Cloud is actually what got Kent Leckie, KLM’s President and owner, and I initially talking about this merger almost two years ago. We see so many benefits for not only our two companies, but, most importantly, for our clients.

Cloud computing is real and here to stay, but so is hardware, which is not going to all of a sudden disappear. Hardware’s death is greatly exaggerated. Companies are simply not moving their entire infrastructure to the Cloud. On premise equipment plays an important role now and going forward.

The combined strengths of Quartet’s service experience and KLM’s product expertise are a perfect match. You might say this is a marriage made in the Cloud, or, more specifically, the Hybrid Cloud.

We’re developing some creative in-house and hybrid cloud models that accelerate the traditional benefits of cloud computing. We’re happy to discuss these models and how one can be tailored to your needs to save your organization money.

As you’ll see, there are many reasons for the popularity of hybrid cloud computing, including security concerns, disaster recovery needs, capital efficiency, and the need to host some applications in house.

Simply put, hybrid cloud computing provides flexibility. It reduces costs without sacrificing performance and security.

Kent and I met through the VentureTech Network, where we’re both active members, and it was here that we started talking about this new, bold venture for both of our companies.

With KLM’s long-standing partnerships with manufacturers and Quartet’s service-oriented business model and its investment in a sophisticated private cloud, this merger just kept making more and more sense with each discussion.

It really is a case where two plus two equals five. We see our current clients utilizing KLM’s hardware and project expertise, while at the same time KLM’s clients leaning on Quartet’s experience to help them move towards cloud computing.

The Cloud may have sparked our talks initially, but the decision to merge and the ensuing benefits are crystal clear. I look forward to working with Kent and his KLM team in this new and exciting path to growth for Quartet.

Best Regards,

Rob Bracey

News Headlines

Microsoft opens up beta program for Security Essentials
Microsoft is readying a new public beta program for its popular Security Essentials application. They have started to send invites to existing Security Essentials 2 beta testers, inviting them to a future test program on Microsoft Connect. – WinRumors

Rackspace lures San Francisco talent with games and videos.
Rackspace Hosting Inc., the Texas- based operator of data centers, is heading west in a search of dot-com talent. The company has added a San Francisco office replete with a game room, video studio and bike-repair shop. – Bloomberg

The Yahoo! billboard in San Francisco is coming down.
The Yahoo billboard in San Francisco is coming down at the end of November. If you live anywhere in the area, you know the one. It’s been there since the dot-com days of 1999, hovering over Interstate 80 as you leave the city and head east toward Oakland, Reno, and points beyond. – Business Insider

“Occupy Flash” campaign urges users to uninstall Adobe Flash
Last week, Adobe abandoned development of the mobile version of the company’s Flash browser plugin. Now, a group calling itself “Occupy Flash” has launched a campaign to get Adobe to abandon Flash altogether and push Web developers to HTML5. – Ars Technica

Roku expands to Canada, United Kingdom
Roku, the leading streaming platform in the U.S. today announced plans for international expansion. Roku expects that consumers in the United Kingdom and Canada will be able to purchase Roku streaming players beginning in early 2012. – Financial Post

BlackBerry 7 sales on the decline after strong start
After some initial excitement for the new line of BlackBerry 7 smartphones and a strong launch–both unusual for RIM for the past year–sales are starting to sputter. – CNET News

New startup Personal wants to be your private data vault
Say hello to Personal, a startup that wants to be the private data vault for everything in your life, from your insurance to your dining preferences. There are plenty of websites and social networks for sharing information publicly, but these social sites are not suited for the storage and transmission of private information. – Mashable

George Clooney to portray Steve Jobs in upcoming biopic?
Clooney is said to be vying with former ER costar Noah Wyle for the role, according to Now Magazine in the U.K. The article did not cite any sources for the claim. – Mashable

Today in Tech: November 18, 2011
Tech firms making news this morning: StockTwits Inc., Amazon.com Inc., AOL Inc. and Angie’s List Inc. – Financial Post

Productivity through Technology

Consolidate your most important work hours into distinct periods
Success-focused blog Study Hacks notes a study which examined the differences between elite violinists and average players, and found that one of the biggest differences for achievement isn’t the amount of time you practice, but how you delegate your time. – Lifehacker

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Lunch Break Tech is our daily digest of interesting videos, technology news headlines, and useful tech tips. If you’d like to contribute something to Lunch Break Tech, send us a message.

News Headlines

CRTC’s internet ruling may boost prices
As both small Internet service providers (ISPs) and proponents of open, inexpensive broadband availability in Canada continue to sift through the complex decision, a disquieting theme in their reaction is emerging: The CRTC got the pricing model right, but the regulatory body’s accompanying rate structure is going to hurt consumers. – The Chronicle Herald

Ottawa to review CRTC ruling on internet billing
The federal government says it will review this week’s decision by the country’s telecommunications regulator to allow large Internet providers to use new capacity-based billing for independent service providers. – Financial Post

Hackers targeting Canada
The average Canadian public company suffered 18 breaches in 2011, up from less than 12 breaches a year earlier, according to a joint study from Telus and the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.  – The Globe and Mail

Holiday price drop on BlackBerry PlayBook
(Rumor) Canadian retailers will be dropping the price of PlayBooks for November 18th to Decemer 1st: $199 for the 16GB model, $299 for 32GB, and $399 for 64GB. – The Verge

RIM sued over BBX trademark
A US software company is taking BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion to court over its use of the name BBX for its new operating system. – The Register

Microsoft Surface 2 goes on pre-order
Microsoft Surface, the uber-cool, yet incredibly bulky technology that supports touch and device interaction was trimmed down earlier this year at CES 2011 to become the super svelte Microsoft Surface 2.0. Now its Samsung incarnation, the SUR40 is ready for pre-order in 23 countries (including the U.S.) and could arrive in stores, hospitals, restaurants and more by early 2012. – Mashable

Skype desktop app now makes Facebook video calls
With the just announced Skype 5.4 Beta for Mac and Skype 5.7 Beta for Windows, you can initiate a Facebook video call without having to open up your browser and log in to the social networking site. – CNet Downloads

Facebook identifies those responsible for the spam attacks
Facebook says it knows who is behind the coordinated spam attack resulting in a huge flood of links, videos, and images depicting pornography, acts of violence, self-mutilation, and bestiality on the site. – ZDNet

Mac hits 5% worldwide market share
Fueled by strong gains in Asia Pacific during the September quarter, Apple saw its worldwide share of the PC market pass the 5 percent mark for the first time in 15 years, according to a new analysis. – AppleInsider

PayPal launches Facebook app for sending money to friends
The app, simply titled Send Money, is just as straightforward as its name. You have the choice to send either an ecard with money or just money with no card. – Mashable

Financial Post’s Today in Tech: November 17th
Tech firms making news this morning: Research In Motion Ltd., Apple Inc., Dell Inc., Sina Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. – Financial Post

Productivity through Technology

The Best Productivity Podcasts of 2011
Remember self-help tapes? You used to throw them into your car or Walkman when you were going on a lengthy trip so that you could “grow on the go” and hope to return home all the better for it. Or you’d put them on rather than read at night so you could improve various aspects of your life. Well, podcasts that discuss various aspects of productivity very well could be the evolution of those self-help tapes. – Stepcase Lifehack

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Lunch Break Tech is our daily digest of interesting videos, technology news headlines, and useful tech tips. If you’d like to contribute something to Lunch Break Tech, send us a message.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=430ykbW1zqA

News Headlines

BlackBerry London – The first RIM phone with BBX?
The Verge gets their hands on a photo of what is supposedly the first BBX-powered BlackBerry phone, and it looks good. – The Verge

CRTC issues ruling on Usage-Based Billing
The CRTC’s decision, announced Tuesday, gives established providers two options for charging independent internet service providers — a flat rate or a rate based on capacity and the number of users. Bell had asked to be able to charge based on the total volume of internet data used by its wholesale customers. The CRTC rejected that model. – CBC News

Nokia says their Windows 8 tablet is due in June
Nokia will add a Windows 8 tablet to its product line in June 2012, a French newspaper reported in an interview with the head of Nokia in France. “In June 2012, we will have a tablet running Windows 8,” Paul Amsellem told Les Echos in a story published yesterday. – CNET News

RIM announces BlackBerry Bold 9790, Curve 9380
On Tuesday, RIM confirmed the existence of a pair of BlackBerry smartphones, rumours of which had been spreading online for several weeks. Both will run on RIM’s cur-rent BlackBerry 7 OS software, which powers the seven new devices RIM announced this year, rather than the BBX software platform due to launch next year. – Montreal Gazette

Windows Update on Windows 8 won’t touch non-Microsoft software
Microsoft on Tuesday slammed the door on updating third-party software via Windows Update in the upcoming Windows 8. The new operating system will not update non-Microsoft software, said Farzana Rahman, the group program manager for Windows Update, in a blog post. – Computerworld

Microsoft Socl: inside the secret social network
An exclusive look at Microsoft’s not-yet-public entry into the social network wars. – The Verge

Visa to launch V.me, a digital wallet service similar to PayPal
Consumers will be able to fund the digital wallet using a variety of sources — a Visa, MasterCard or bank account. It will be used to check out online using a user name and password, rather than having to key in the 12-digit number each time. – AllThingsD

Steve Jobs wanted to create an Apple-only mobile phone network
Steve Jobs, wireless network operator? Apple’s co-founder talked to industry legend John Stanton from 2005 through 2007 about the possibility of setting up a wireless network that would use unlicensed spectrum, according to remarks Stanton made at a conference Monday. – Mashable

Productivity through Technology

Using Microsoft Outlook 2010 as your personal assistant
Are you using Outlook 2010 the way it should be used, with all your email accounts in one place? Are you making use of integrated work, personal, and shared calendars? How about tracking of your associates, family, friends (and friends of friends of friends) with the Outlook Social Connector? And are you doing all of this on your desktop, your tablet, AND your phone? Or are you curled up in Child’s Pose with your head down and your body curled up like a baby? – Outlook Blog

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Lunch Break Tech is our daily digest of interesting videos, technology news headlines, and useful tech tips. If you’d like to contribute something to Lunch Break Tech, send us a message.

Stuart Robertson was a trusted member of our management team. He was determined and practical, bringing an unalienable level of professionalism to his work at Quartet.

For some of us, Stuart’s passing is the loss of a close friend – for many of us, it’s the loss of an experienced mentor. But for all of us, no matter the position, Stuart’s passing is the loss of a much-respected colleague and an important part of our team.

Our thoughts, and our hearts, go out to Stuart’s friends and family, as well as to the friends and family of everyone that lost their lives in the crash.

Stuart & Birgitta, New Years 2005

AIST has succeeded in making HRP-4C Miim walk like a human being. Her knees are stretched by up/down motion of the waist, the single-toe supporting realizes longer strides, and she mimics the swing motion of human legs.

News Headlines

CRTC to issue ruling on how independent ISPs pay for network usage.
The CRTC will issue a new ruling on how much large network providers, such as Bell, can charge for the use of their networks after a consumer backlash and concern from federal government last winter. – Canadian Business

Leaked screenshots of new Google Music service.
Google is expected to unveil a licensed music store at a Wednesday event in Los Angeles, but Spanish-language blog TecnoDroidVe has published what it says are leaked screen shots from the service. – PCMag.com

Diaspora co-founder Ilya Zhitomirskiy passes away at 22.
Ilya Zhitomirskiy, the co-founder of the open-source Facebook alternative Diaspora, has died at the age of 22. The cause of death is not yet publicly known. – Mashable

13 Tech Tools for a Paper-Free Life
Using paper is inefficient, it’s bad for the environment and it locks us down, preventing mobility. Let’s get rid of it, shall we? These services, apps and gadgets aim to completely eliminate the need for paper in your life. – Mashable

Interview with Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon
“What I’m about to show you,” Jeff Bezos says, “is the culmination of the many things we’ve been doing for 15 years.” – Wired

Developers’ interest in Windows Phone growing, waning in BlackBerry
Mobile developers are very interested in Amazon’s new Kindle Fire, intrigued by Windows Phone and disenchanted with the BlackBerry. Those are some of the takeaways from the latest in a series of surveys from Appcelerator and IDC. – AllThingsD

Download of the Day

Evernote
From creating text and ink notes, to snapshots of whiteboards and wine labels, to clips of webpages, Evernote users can capture anything from their real and digital lives and find it all anytime.

Lunch Break Tech is our daily digest of interesting videos, technology news headlines, and useful downloads. If you’d like to contribute something to Lunch Break Tech, send us a message.