As of trading near the end of the day on Wednesday, Apple has passed Microsoft in terms of market capitalization, with a value of roughly $222 billion–about $3 billion ahead of Microsoft. Apple had been flirting with the milestone for days and had already passed Microsoft by another measure–a valuation known as enterprise value, which adds in debt and other factors.

The fact that Apple, not Microsoft, is the more valuable franchise represents a remarkable turn of events in the history of computing.

Consider this: In 1997, Michael Dell suggested that Apple should just close up shop and return the money to shareholders. Today, Dell is worth barely a tenth as much as the Mac maker.

That same year, Apple had to accept a $150 million investment from Microsoft. Bill Gates famously appeared at Macworld via satellite, dwarfing the on-stage Steve Jobs as he announced the company’s commitment to the Mac.

Of course, all that was before Mac OS X, the iPod, the iPhone and now the iPad. The Cube and Apple TV aside, Apple has had an incredible run of products over the last decade.

Macs still account for fewer than one in 10 computers sold, but its market share has increased significantly in recent years and the company has built a consumer juggernaut that extends well beyond the computer.

As for Microsoft, the company remains highly profitable, but investors and analysts alike are concerned that Microsoft remains dependent on its Office and Windows franchises for the lion’s share of its profits. The company has poured billions into its cell phone, online advertising and other new businesses that have yet to really help the company’s balance sheet.

Even its desktop franchises are seen as vulnerable in the longer term, particularly as Google aims to deliver many of the same capabilities through the browser.

So where will things go from here? Will Microsoft be able to transform itself into a company whose cloud computing and search efforts someday produce returns on the scale of Windows and Office? Will Apple’s remarkable run continue? Sound off below.

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Well it’s true, Apple has become more valuable then Microsoft. As considering the near end of Wednesday, May 26/2010. Apple is worth more then microsoft. Apple is about 3 billion dollars more then Microsoft in value. Considering that someone like Michael Dell, in 1997, said that Apple should just close up shop and give up. But it’s good they didn’t. Bill Gates also had helped in this by investing 150 million dollars in the same year. Apple has come very far since they were selling computers and macs. Now they’re selling Ipods, I touches and the new Ipad. Bringing thousands or millions of dollars.

Sometime early next week when you walk into the electronics section of your local Wal-Mart, you’re likely to notice some changes.

More big name brands of TVs, Blu-ray players, smartphones, and other gadgets will begin to populate the store shelves as the retailing giant tries to expand its reach and customer base even further. The new products will include the latest in TV technology, meaning displays with LED backlighting and Internet connections, Web-connected Blu-ray players, and home networking equipment. There’s also going to be more emphasis on getting the trendiest smartphones from carriers on the first day they’re available elsewhere, and more accessible mobile broadband plans.

Wal-Mart isn’t an underdog in many categories, but in electronics, it’s far from being the category leader. Best Buy, whose revenues in 2009 totaled $45 billion, is the largest seller of consumer electronics. Wal-Mart beefing up its gadget offerings is likely part of an effort to play a little catch-up with Best Buy. In 2009, Wal-Mart’s electronics sales were $33 billion, or 13 percent of its $258 billion overall revenue.

Wal-Mart, of course, has plenty of things going for it that Best Buy doesn’t. Its reach is extensive, and when the recession hit, Wal-Mart was able to take advantage of many people’s freshly discovered frugality. Another thing that happened is technology has become essential to a lot of daily activities. As things like computers and TVs become must-haves for all demographics and not just the geeky early-adopter set, Wal-Mart is well-positioned to make even more sales of gadgets.

“As people start to view TVs or phones or computers more as commodities like milk and eggs–they need a phone, they need a computer like they need a gallon of milk–and if people have done the research and know what they’re looking for, they tend to go to the place they’re already going,” said Stephen Baker, retail electronics analyst with The NPD Group. For many people, the place they are already going is Wal-Mart, where they get their groceries, clothing, and kitchenwares.

The other necessary move the retailer had to make to keep up with Best Buy came in February, when Wal-Mart purchased the broadband home video service Vudu. That followed Best Buy’s tie-up with Roxio’s CinemaNow video service last year. In both cases, the video service is planned to be available on every connected device each respective retailer sells.

Part of Wal-Mart’s revamped electronics section next week will include the official rollout of the Vudu service in stores.

“We made the Vudu acquisition earlier this year because customers look to us for entertainment,” Greg Hall, vice president of Wal-Mart media and services. “We see that transitioning to a digital play over the next year.”

The idea is that people are going to be streaming video one way or another on their laptop or through Boxee on their TV, so why not be the destination and provide the service? It’s a problem for both Wal-Mart and Best Buy. Neither wants to lose those kind of sales.

“They’re concerned because the way you got people in the store (previously) had been music and movies,” said Baker. “As those things turn more virtual they need ways to get people to get back into that store and associate their brand with purchasing of movies and music.”

Bringing in the big names
The Internet-connected TV and Blu-ray player brands available at Wal-Mart will include Vizio, Samsung, Sony, and for the first time, LG. Later this year, Sanyo and Emerson, Wal-Mart staple brands, will also be added to the lineup of TVs where Web widgets come standard.

Wal-Mart says its offerings in smartphones will include the latest from HTC, Motorola, and Apple too. There will also be a wider selection of mobile broadband plans, including prepaid and pay-as-you-go wireless service for laptops, though Wal-Mart didn’t say which carriers would provide the service.

Good deals at Wal-Mart don’t constitute breaking news–they’re a discounter after all. But having the major name brands associated with Wal-Mart should definitely pull in some people who wouldn’t necessarily think to shop there for the latest in TV or home theater technology. And it could also appeal to someone who has done research on their own, already figured out what they want, and have no interest in being given the hard sell by a blue-shirted salesperson.

But will any of this mean Wal-Mart can close the gap between itself and Best Buy in the minds of customers and in the financial books soon? Probably not for now.

“I don’t think that’s possible in the near term. I think Best Buy is pretty solidly No. 1,” said Baker. “This isn’t a Toys R Us thing where Wal-Mart is taking over the category.”

The other problem–which could change with bigger name brands–is being able to sell higher-priced items.

“They’re still challenged in terms of bringing in premium early-adopter kind of products in there,” he added. “That’s an essential piece in becoming an electronics destination.”

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Walmart now is setting up a new design of its electronic section. They’re added a lot more smart phones, tvs, and just overall a lot more and more of a variety of electronics. Like now there’ll be some big name products like Apple, Bose, Sony or Microsoft. This is an article about technology because, it’s showing how some companies and stores are improving their technology sections. Technology is just becoming that important  to society now that places that used to have small electronic sections, are now improving them.

1. How would you feel if there was a massive breach in the power grid by a hacker?  Place yourself in New York when that hacker hit the power gird.  What are your emotions?

I’d feel very scared and vulnerable since I now know that hackers in a different country could hack our house system or our cities power and control that technology. I wouldn’t feel safe anymore to go outside and walk around or maybe go swim in a public pool, because in that moment I could find out that somebody in China has hacked into a camera and is watching everybody in the pool, which is very creepy. If I was in New York, I again would be terrified but still later after that, I want to learn more about how hackers do it and help them prevent hackers. But again I’m only 15 and that’s not really where I want to go.

2. Do you feel vulnerable to know that it is easy for a hacker to hack into any system?

Yeah I kind of feel very vulnerable because I’m in a lot of file sharing things like Limewire, Media Fire or free ringtone things, like I upload some songs but mainly just download. So since I’m in that kind of stuff, a lot of hackers I’m guessing will sometimes post corrupt files or files with viruses or things that allow us to access them by just a click, thinking it’s something else. So yes I do feel kind of because of all those secrets files hidden in files. But I feel safe of kind to because of the virus protection programs I use help me out a lot in notifying me of viruses. But I also take some thoughts into what I download and use.

3. What was the documentary’s message?

I think it was mainly to aware us of what hackers can do, what the government is trying to do to prevent hackers and how some people learn or why they start hacking. They also say about how we have to keep or secrets and security information really safe because hackers seem to always find some way to get into those files. Nothing is really safe on the internet with hackers around.

4. What are your thoughts about piracy/hacking after watching this documentary?

I still think the same way about it, which it saves money, because really some prices for certain things are outrages. But still I thing hackings ok, as long as it’s not hurting anyone else. Like jailbreaking an Itouch. It’s ok to jailbreak an Itouch, but it’s not ok to use things like black tunes or Installuos where it is illegal. But now, for sure I’m against hacking others computer or files, but I’ve always been. I’m not all against piracy a lot more than I thought because I know how it affects people. I don’t like piracy videos, but songs fine, as long as people are buying some music.

5. Would you consider hacking as an act of war (cyber warfare)?  Why?

Yes because you have those hackers that want to wreck people or files, and you have those hackers that are trying to prevent them.

6. Is there an ethical issue here?

There is an ethical issue about hacker wars and hackers hacking very important and secrets files. Like security numbers, company financials or military strategies.

7. What type of vision does this documentary portray? Is it optimistic, pessimistic, or cautionary?  Explain.

A lot of government people are thinking its going to get pessimistic by far. A lot of secret information won’t be secret in while. Also lots of hacker know their way around things and can be paid sometimes to hack other military information like the number of soldiers or strategies. Hacker will be able to find out anything or about anyone in the world if they want to. They think that nothing is going to be safe later in the future.

8. If you knew how to hack into any computer system in the world, which systems would you hack, why that system and what would you do?  (Don’t worry, I won’t report you).

I find this a funny but I’d hack a general category of those porn websites or websites that do really stupid this like plant virus. But mainly I’d hack them because people will choose a popular website like Google and just miss spell it like googl, oogle or gogole. Then it just sends you to that sight even though you didn’t want to go there.

Ok, I’ve listened and kind of watching two of the web warriors in class, and I watched the last three tonight or now tomorow, I’m posting this at 12 :16 PM

Rodney Reed Caverly is expected to appear in a court in Charlotte and could face a jail sentence of up to five years for the crime.

The defendant worked for the financial institution on IT and technology systems surrounding the management of the ATMs.

Court documents relating to the case do not specify how much money BoFA lost as a result of the scam but it is more than the $5,000 required for fraud charges of this kind to be filed.

Shirley Norton, a spokeswoman for Bank of America, told SecurityInfoWatch.com that the officials working for the bank detected the crime using internal controls.

“The fraud here was against the bank. The customer accounts were never at risk,” she explained.

Alberto Gonzalez, a 28 year-old hacker, was recently jailed for 20 years for his role in masterminding a hack into the IT systems of a number of organisations including 7-Eleven and Heartland Payment Systems.

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A worker at BoFA, had hacked the ATMs so he could dispense more money then what he has.  He has been sentanced to jail for 5 years. It is guessed that he withdrew more the $5,000 atleast from the banks money.  Alberto Gonzalez was his name, a 28 year-old hacker, who was recently jailed for 20 years for his role in masterminding a hack into the IT systems of a number of organisation.

Source : http://www.bobsguide.com/guide/news/2010/Apr/9/Technology_specialist_at_Bank_of_America_pleads_guilty_to_hacking.html