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Xerox Corp. has this message for you: For the last time, we're not just about making copies.

To hammer that home, the company is launching its biggest media blitz in decades, starting next week.

While the Xerox name is still synonymous with copy machines, the company has been branching beyond that line of work for years. Selling toner and paper remains a huge portion of its revenue, but it also makes money helping other companies manage how documents get around on their computer networks, among other services.

And with the $6.4 billion acquisition this year of a company called Affiliated Computer Services, it has tripled the size of its services business, essentially transforming the company more than half a century after putting out its first copy machine. Where less than a quarter of its revenue came from services before the deal, they now account for roughly half of the $22 billion annual total.

Coming out of a recession that put a big dent in corporate technology spending, Xerox is counting on the deal to get revenue growing again.

Xerox, which is headquartered in Norwalk, Conn., expects ACS to help it sell back-office services to its existing clients, which won't require much advertising. But according to Xerox President Jim Firestone, the bigger opportunity is winning new customers, especially abroad, where ACS hasn't had as much of a presence.

Hence the new ads.

"We know that Xerox has moved far from its historic roots," says Firestone. "But the rest of the world doesn't pay quite as close attention as we would like."

It isn't the first time Xerox has tweaked its brand in an effort to shake the copier company label. It redesigned its logo in 2008 with the same goal in mind, dropping the uppercase lettering that was so familiar from its copiers and printers and adding a stylish...

When Microsoft launched its Bing decision engine in 2009, it may have held out hope for an alliance with AOL. In fact, there were even rumors that Microsoft would buy out the struggling Internet service provider. But AOL has shunned Bing in favor of Microsoft's online nemesis, Google.

On Thursday, Google announced a five-year renewal and expansion with AOL. Google will continue providing search services to AOL's global content network, including all its properties. In return, AOL will get an undisclosed share of the search advertising revenue. In the new deal, Google will also include mobile search and YouTube.

"This agreement combines Google's expertise in search and advertising with AOL's strength in online content," said Eric Schmidt, chairman and CEO of Google. "It's particularly exciting to see our relationship expand into video and mobile. These areas are now at the heart of users' online experiences and at the core of both of our businesses."

New Search Trends

The renewed partnership includes new features that aim to improve and expand the Google products and services AOL users can tap into. Of course, it all starts with search products. Google is enhancing its search to improve the consumer experience across AOL's network of sites. On the advertising-products front, Google will provide AOL with ad formats that promise AOL consumers a better, more relevant ad experience.

Over the past 10 years of the Google-AOL relationship, search and video have become hot trends in the search market. The new five-year deal takes those trends into account. As AOL renews its focus on mobile apps and content, the companies said they will work together to expand the alliance to cover mobile search. And AOL and YouTube have agreed to a content partnership that will bring AOL's video content to YouTube.

"Today is another important step in the turnaround of AOL,"...

Dell declined Thursday to continue its pursuit of 3PAR after Hewlett-Packard increased its bid to $33 per share, or about $2.4 billion. Though Dell had submitted a revised offer of $32 per share just hours earlier, 3PAR's board of directors said it considers HP's final bid the "superior proposal."

Dell's initial cash offer for the storage technology provider, submitted Aug. 16, was $1.15 billion, or $18 per share. However, HP submitted a $1.6 billion counter offer on Aug. 23, which Dell then matched. Though Dell bumped its 3PAR bid to $1.8 million on Aug. 27, HP immediately responded by boosting its offer to $2 billion.

"We took a measured approach throughout the process and have decided to end these discussions," said Dell Senior Vice President Dave Johnson. "We believe our strategy of creating open, affordable and capable solutions resonates well with customers and will enable us to continue to outgrow the industry."

A High-end Scale-Out Architecture

HP said last month that the acquisition of 3PAR's next-generation storage architecture would help the computer giant accelerate its converged-infrastructure strategy, which provides clients with access to a sizable portfolio of intellectual property across storage, server and networking solutions. IDC Vice President Benjamin Woo noted that HP is due for a full refresh for its mid- to high-end storage portfolio.

"3PAR will ultimately have some overlap between the HP EVA and XP product lines," Woo said Thursday. "However, it brings to HP an opportunity to deliver to its clients a high-end scale-out architecture that neither the EVA or XP offers."

The 3PAR acquisition also helps HP with its positioning toward a converged data center, Woo observed. "3PAR's client list is a valuable one for HP," Woo said. "It offers a route for service providers."

Several analysts had expressed concern that Dell's acquisition of 3PAR would...

Samsung on Thursday introduced the Galaxy Tab, a tablet PC aimed at the heart of Apple's iPad, at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin, Germany. Samsung presented the tablet with a pun that cites a "new galaxy of possibilities."

The Galaxy Tab has a seven-inch display and weighs .84 pounds. It comes with 16GB or 32GB of internal storage and a 32GB microSD expansion slot. The iPad competitor also features a touchscreen, Wi-Fi, GPS, 802.11 and Bluetooth.

What the Galaxy Tab has that the first iPad doesn't is back- and front-facing cameras. The front-facing camera allows face-to-face video telephony over 3G. The rear-facing camera captures still images and video that consumers can edit, upload and share.

The Galaxy Tab also acts as a mobile phone. Samsung is billing the device as fit to use as a speakerphone on the desk, or as a mobile phone on the move via a Bluetooth headset.

"The fact that the device makes calls is a definite differentiator, and it also has a front-facing camera, which means you can do video conferencing," said Michael Disabato, managing vice president of network and telecom at Gartner. "I'm expecting to see that in iPad version two next year because Apple was roundly struck in the butt about not having that capability."

Samsung Bets on Growth

The tablet uses Samsung's popular Swype software that promises faster text input. The Tab offers HD movie playback, navigation, augmented reality, e-reading capabilities, and a PC-like browsing experience. The device also runs Adobe Flash, unlike Apple's iPad.

Samsung developed the Reader's Hub, an e-reading application that gives consumers access to a digital library of books. Meanwhile, the Media Hub offers a gateway to films and videos, and the Music Hub gives access to music. The company is using the DivX format, which means no file conversions are...

The rapidly growing category of tablets has a new family member. On Thursday, Toshiba announced that its Folio 100, a 10.1-inch, Android 2.2-based tablet computer, will be on sale in Europe by the end of October.

The tablet could capture as much as 15 to 20 percent of that market in Europe by the end of next year, according to Gianluca Dianese, Toshiba's head of marketing for digital products in that region. He made the prediction at the IFA 2010 consumer electronics show now taking place in Berlin, Germany.

Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth

The Folio, expected to sell for about $500, will come with Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity, Bluetooth and 16GB of storage. Toshiba told news media that it will also release a model that plays 3-D video, which is beginning to emerge on portable computing devices. On Wednesday, Sony showed prototypes of VAIO laptops with 3-D.

The Folio can boot up in 30 seconds, runs on a Nvidia Tegra 2 CPU, and features a 1.3-megapixel camera, a display resolution of 1024x600, and battery life up to seven hours. Ports include mini-HDMI, USB and a SD/MMC card reader. As with other new Android devices, it will support Flash 10.1, a competitive advantage against Apple's iPad. Apple is not allowing Flash to run on the iPad, preferring instead the emerging, standards-based HTML5.

The iPad, whose popularity has jump-started the tablet category, is beginning to acquire rivals, although no major competitor has yet emerged. A variety of companies, including Hewlett-Packard, Research In Motion and Google, are expected to release tablets in the next few months. Dell, ASUS and Samsung have already done so.

Apple's iPad success has been largely driven by its ecosystem of a large library of third-party applications that run on the tablet, in addition to the vast number of music and other entertainment offerings in...

A laptop computer with 3-D video and games. Sony, hoping that could be the Next Big Thing, showed prototypes Wednesday of an upcoming VAIO 3-D laptop at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin, Germany, and announced plans to launch a 3-D TV channel.

The laptop, with a 3-D button and active-shutter glasses, will formally debut in the spring, according to Sony CEO Howard Stinger. The prototypes use a frame-sequential technology that alternates between left- and right-eye views, with blank screens between them to keep them separate enough for the mind to create good-quality three dimensions. The video is displayed at 240 frames per second to create 60 fps video.

A 'Long Ways to Go'

Sony is moving forward quickly on 3-D across its product line, in addition to TVs. It also announced at IFA that existing Blu-ray HD DVD players and the PlayStation 3 game console will be updated with firmware so they can play 3-D. Stringer demonstrated a variety of 3-D titles, including Major League Baseball, Mortal Kombat, Virtual Tennis 4, Killzone 3, and others.

The company also announced a 3-D video projector and said its 3-D TV channel will focus on natural history, children's programs, science and movies. New 3-D feature films in the works from Sony include The Green Hornet, Resident Evil Afterlife, and new sequels in the Spider-Man and Men in Black franchises.

Richard Shim, an analyst with industry research firm IDC, said the market for 3-D laptops at the moment is restricted to aficionados, and this kind of product -- and 3-D in general -- "has a long ways to go before it will be mainstream."

The presence of 3-D display technology on a laptop raises the possibility of third-party development of 3-D applications. Shim noted that this "chicken and egg problem," where developers will be reluctant to develop for...

Finishing touches complete, Microsoft sent its latest Windows Phone 7 operating system to equipment manufacturers Wednesday, paving the way for a round of Windows-based mobile devices to debut in time for the holiday season.

"While the final integration of Windows Phone 7 with our partners' hardware, software and networks is under way, the work of our internal engineering team is largely complete," wrote Microsoft's Terry Myerson on the company's Windows 7 blog.

Bold Promise

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled Windows Phone 7 Series in February at the Mobile World Congress 2010 in Barcelona, Spain, promising a fresh approach to phone software and design. The new OS brings together Xbox LIVE games and the Zune music and video experience on a mobile phone. "In a crowded market filled with phones that look the same and do the same things, I challenged the team to deliver a different kind of mobile experience," Ballmer said.

He demonstrated the new system's "live tiles" that show real-time content directly, rather than static icons, and a dedicated hardware button for Bing that allows searches while using applications. Windows Phone 7 devices also feature six hubs for people, pictures, games, music and video, marketplace and the Office suite of productivity software.

"It's a big step forward even from versions as recent as [Windows Mobile] 6.5," said Strategy Analytics wireless-device analyst Alexander Spektor. "Microsoft has revamped the user experience and refocused the way they present information and the types of information they present. They made it more about the social space, the gaming aspect, and the web [browsing] aspect."

Microsoft said in February that the company has Windows Phone 7 commitments from worldwide partners, including AT&T, Deutsche Telekom AG, Orange, Sprint Nextel, Telecom Itali, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Vodafone, Dell, HTC, Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba and others. But which company will be the first to debut...

China began requiring identification on Wednesday from anyone purchasing a new mobile phone number in what it says is a bid to stamp out rampant junk messages but that some say gives the government a new tool for monitoring its citizens.

The rules apply to everyone, including foreigners visiting China for a short stay, the China Daily newspaper reported.

The paper said the regulation was "the latest campaign by the government to curb the global scourge of spam, pornographic messages and fraud on cellular phones."

But some say China is looking for a way to track people who might spontaneously join protests. Users could previously buy low-cost mobile phone SIM cards anonymously with cash at convenience stores and newspaper stands and use them right away.

"I think the government has an eye on Iran where protests were fueled by text messages and Twitter and they are doing this for social stability reasons," said Wang Songlian, research coordinator with the Hong Kong-based Chinese Human Rights Defenders.

She added that the new requirement fits a pattern of tightening government control over new communication technologies.

China censors Internet content it deems politically sensitive and blocks many Web sites, including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Following ethnic riots in far western China's Xinjiang, international phone service and the Internet in the region were suspended for months.

The new regulation probably won't impact Chinese dissidents, many of whom already have their phones closely monitored, but it could help police track down ordinary people who take part in protests, Wang said. China has seen a growing number of protests sparked by labor disagreements, anger over pollution or other issues.

The ID requirement is also raising new privacy concerns and will likely upset some customers unwilling to give personal information to vendors and telecom companies for fear it will be resold, said Duncan Clark, managing director...

Most of the articles that show up in your newspaper or magazine are chosen by professional editors. What if they are picked out by a friend from college instead? Or a colleague from work? Or your mom? Anyone you know, really?

That's the concept behind Flipboard, a new application for Apple Inc.'s mega-selling iPad.

It's a marriage of the new media ethos that we've all become news editors for our online contacts and the traditional media's talent for packaging the news in a way that's inviting and cohesive.

Flipboard takes the random links that accumulate on your Facebook or Twitter account -- plus your friends' personal status updates and tweets -- and makes something like a digital magazine out of them.

Blurbs of text and photos recommended by friends become fodder for a continuously updated collage of content. You can also add sections to your magazine compiled from the tweets of just one contact or a specific publication -- Spin magazine, say, or The Huffington Post.

The pages are laid out much like a newspaper or magazine. A swipe of the finger flips open the next page on the iPad's dazzlingly vivid screen.

And you can use the app to post comments to an item on Facebook or e-mail articles to friends.

For a week or so, I've made this hodge-podge my daily reading.

Flipboard comes with enough flaws that I won't be canceling my newspaper or magazine subscriptions just yet.

But I think the app has promise.

As much as the blizzard of Web links that confront me every day have begun to dictate my reading habits, I still want a comprehensive take on the day's events -- something more than a link on a Facebook page. And there's an obvious appeal in keeping tabs on what the people I actually know and care about are interested in reading.

Flipboard...

There are a lot of uses for online geoservices. One of the most common is holiday planning.

The first step is scoping out the planned vacation spot to check details, like whether the hotel is as close to the beach as promised in the catalog; or how far away the next town is; or whether a six-lane highway happens to lead right past the hotel.

Even a simple camping trip can be planned via computer. Use Google Maps or Microsoft Bing to input a destination. Seconds later, a map, including surrounding areas, will pop up. A zoom function allows you to get as close or far away as you desire.

Google Maps' satellite views can provide a first feel of the area surrounding a hotel or vacation house. Panorama shots in Google Street View can show more details of the surrounding area, though that's only possible in cities like Paris, where the service is used. Bing also offers a bird's eye view of sites, with plenty of detail.

And then there's Google Earth, which can be used to plan trips away from cities. Its satellite photos show meadows, forests, rivers and lakes. It also displays geographical data for a location. Once that data is put into a navigation device, it can quickly lead a person there.