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Microsoft's Steve Ballmer and Skype's Tony Bates discuss Microsoft's $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype at a San Francisco press conference.

(Credit: Jay Greene/CNET)

Here's why Microsoft's $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype makes sense: Microsoft, still a laggard on the Internet, has landed one of the most popular brands on the Web with a deeply engaged base of users. And it can bake Skype's widely used technology into its communications products, making them better.

At least, that's the bet. Microsoft says Skype has more than 170 million connected users. According to a regulatory filing, Skype claims its users made 207 billion minutes of voice and video calls last year. Microsoft wants to capitalize on that loyalty, putting Skype technology into various products, hoping that it can spin Skype's users into other Microsoft products.

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Did anyone really expect the Apple CEO was all sweetness and light?

(Credit: CC Whatcounts/Flickr)

Sometimes, when things go wrong, some people can say things they might regret.

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Read more: When Steve Jobs isn't happy, he really isn't happy

Apple, along with Pandora Media and The Weather Channel, have been named in a lawsuit alleging that the companies did not disclose the fact that personal data--specifically location--was being shared with third-party advertising networks.

The suit, filed yesterday in the U.S. District Court in Puerto Rico by Lymaris Rivera Diaz and picked up by The Loop, closely resembles an existing suit from December. That one targeted the same companies as well as other app makers for being able to trace an iPhone or iPad using the unique device identifier, or UDID, which is akin to a serial number in that it cannot be changed.

"Because the UDID is unique to each iPhone and iPad, it is an attractive feature for third-party advertisers looking for a means of reliably tracking a mobile device users' online activities," the new suit says. "Because the UDID is not alterable or deletable by a iPhone or iPad user, some have referred to the UDID as a 'supercookie.' This description aptly summarizes the desirability of access to the UDID from an advertising perspective."

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Read more: Apple, others sued over privacy (again)

Intel is working on a new Atom chip architecture that goes beyond the 3D transistors announced last week as the chip giant accelerates development of its most power-efficient chip design.

Google Chromebooks, due to be available in June, use Atom processors. The Silvermont architecture will be two generations beyond the current Atom chips.

(Credit: Samsung)

The new Atom-based "micro-architecture," codenamed "Silvermont," will ship in 2013, adding a spanking new architecture on top of the new transistor structures, industry sources familiar with Intel's plans told CNET.

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Read more: Intel working on new Atom chip architecture

When graduating senior Michelle Jiang visited a job fair in Florida last year, recruiters were chasing her down. Literally.

After dropping off a resume at the booth for Johnson Controls, a maker of heating, air-conditioning and power solutions, the next day the company's recruiter ran up to her. "'You're from Caltech, come with me. My boss just told me we want you to interview with us right now.'" As in, skip the line of other recruits hoping to land an offer in what's a rather nerve-wracking job environment for soon-to-be grads.

Though Jiang was admittedly caught off guard by the recruiter's exuberance, it's the kind of thing to which students at the California Institute of Technology, one of the most revered institutions for graduating engineers, physicists, and actual rocket scientists, eventually get accustomed.

Michelle Jiang

(Credit: Bob Paz)

Jiang, 22, a warm, chatty native of Vancouver, Wash., by way of Canada and China, didn't end up with an offer from Johnson Controls though. In fact, she didn't even interview. She chose instead to pursue a not-so-traditional path for a double major in mechanical engineering and business at Caltech.

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Read more: A Caltech whiz kid finds her way to Intel