I've been having an interesting week -- first, with AMD, which has returned to profitability and stopped chasing Intel's butt to do some rather interesting different things, like merging x86 and ARM technologies. Then, with IBM, which also realized that chasing Intel wasn't doing it any good. It chose an even more unusual path for its processors, making them "open."

Google has launched a referral program for its office apps. It will hand out $15 bonuses to Google Apps customers who convince new users to sign up for the service, which includes Gmail for businesses, Google Calendar, Docs, Slides, Hangouts and Google Drive. Google will award the $15 bonus for up to 100 new user referrals, with each user in a domain counting as a referral.

The raft of problems connected to the launch of HealthCare.gov appears to have sunk the fortunes of the private contractor paid for running the site. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, charged with overseeing the health insurance marketplace, has awarded Accenture Federal Services a one-year contract for $45 million to implement technical improvements to the site.

CEO Brian Krzanich laid out the road map for Intel's future in his first Consumer Electronics Show keynote as CEO. Krzanich, who took over the top job last May, focused on wearable technology -- including some products designed internally -- as well as dual operating system tech and Intel's McAfee security software. Among the products Krzanich displayed was a Bluetooth headset codenamed "Jarvis."

In his first meeting with investors since taking the helm, CEO Brian Krzanich presented a road map for the company's future. Intel will make a stronger push into mobile devices, expand its foundry business to build processors for other chip makers, and move into additional new markets. Intel has lagged behind competitors such as Qualcomm in the smartphone and tablet spaces.

There's a lot going on right now that bodes well for next year. It's amazing to even say this in October, but the evidence I've seen points to a busy new year. Companies are spending money on marketing and sales like they have not in several years. Venture capitalists are putting their capital to work, and some emerging companies are telling me they didn't actually need the cash they've taken.

I never would have imagined that I would jump on the bandwagon for the CEO of a British luxury fashion company, but here I am preparing to gush over Angela Ahrendts, who will take over Apple's retail store operations in early 2014. Apple CEO Tim Cook made the announcement Monday, and the first thing that came to mind was that the massively male executive team at Apple was finally choosing a woman.

Microsoft has topped the Reputation Institute's Global CSR RepTrak 100 Study for the second year in a row. The institute surveyed 55,000 consumers worldwide about their attitudes toward the reputations of companies in terms of corporate social responsibility. Google, which was No. 2 last year, fell to third place. Four of the top 10 companies in the study are tech firms.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg did not pull any punches Wednesday in describing the U.S. government's communications approach to revelations that the National Security Agency has been accessing digital conversations around the world -- and using tech companies such as Facebook in the process. "Frankly, I think the government blew it," Zuckerberg told the audience at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference.

Activist investor Carl Icahn has given up his fierce struggle to prevent Michael Dell from buying his namesake company and taking it private. In a letter to shareholders, filed with the SEC on Monday morning, Icahn said Dell would be paying a price approximately 70 percent below its 10-year high of $42.38, and accepting the bid would undermine "Dell's great potential."

By now the shock is wearing off and the steely-eyed calculations have begun following Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's announcement on Friday that he will step down from his post some time within the next 12 months. "This is a time of important transformation for Microsoft," Ballmer said in an internal email. "Microsoft has all its best days ahead."

Yahoo plans to breathe some new life into its research and development lab by hiring 50 new PhDs by the end of the year. Spearheaded by CEO Marissa Mayer, the initiative already has resulted in 30 researchers joining the lab, with an additional 20 anticipated by the end of 2013. Yahoo is looking for new hires in mobile, Big Data and other specialties.

What you are going to see in a few days, when Dell stockholders get to vote on Michael Dell's plan to buy back his company, is a war of perceptions -- and perhaps a revelation on the state of the U.S. investor. Both ISS and the Chancery Court have clearly come down on Michael Dell's side, arguing that what Dell is offering is a sure thing, while what Carl Icahn is promising is a long shot.

This past week, a lesson about enterprise information security found its way to me via a somewhat unorthodox channel: specifically, an episode of Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. In this particular episode, the upshot was that Ramsay wasn't able to help. Why not? The owners weren't able to take criticism. There's a lesson in this for those of us in the network and security space.

I've been focused on and off on turnarounds since I covered IBM's from the inside out in the 1990s, so I don't know how I missed this, but EMC²'s turnaround was clearly a success, and its unique resulting organizational structure is incredibly subtle. The company is actually far more similar in breadth to HP than most folks realize, largely because they mix up EMC and EMC².

The Obama administration appears to be sending a message to privacy advocates that it's taking their issue seriously by creating a new position devoted to it -- and choosing a high-profile tech lawyer to occupy it. The White House reportedly is tagging Nicole Wong, Twitter's legal director for products, for a top privacy post.

Intel announced Thursday that COO Brian Krzanich will take the helm on May 16, replacing current CEO Paul Otellini, who will retire this month after 38 years with the company, eight of them as its chief. Krzanich has his own long history at Intel. The 52-year-old joined the company 31 years ago as a newly minted college graduate.

Protecting Internet information has become a costly enterprise, with worldwide spending on security estimated at $60 billion in 2012. That figure will grow to $86 billion by 2016, according to a Gartner study. To help ensure that those investments are being spent wisely -- and to keep technology a step ahead of threats -- 11 major companies have joined a program designed to research data security.

Steve Jobs left big shoes to fill, and rumors circulated this week that Apple CEO Tim Cook may not be living up to expectations. This comes as Apple's stock closed at a 52-week low last Friday. Adding to the company's misery, Apple reportedly has earned the nickname "Poison Apple" with some Asian suppliers who are finding its high standards and low price expectations somewhat hard to meet.

The mushrooming growth of data generated by government agencies will drive federal IT investment in the necessary tools for managing colossal amounts of bits and bytes. As a result of the explosion in information, the government will be spending increasing amounts of its funds on Big Data capabilities.

Apple CEO Tim Cook issued a public apology to customers in China this week following nationwide criticism over the way the company handles warranty and return policies in the country. For the past two weeks, several media outlets in China have run stories claiming that Apple's customer service policies, particularly in regards to the iPhone, leave much to be desired.

It's one thing to employ enterprise resource planning to streamline an entire organization's business processes -- to use software and data to create a more efficient flow of information between different departments. However, what about applying ERP to an individual information technology department within that organization? What benefits could be achieved?

Social media and its close relative, social CRM, allow you to connect with customers in new and meaningful ways, on a greater scale and at a greater velocity than ever before. When it's done right, that is. When it's done wrong, like anything in this era of increasingly automated communication, your mistakes are amplified and intensified by customers.

Andy Rubin, the man who helped maneuver Android into the No. 1 mobile OS position, is stepping down as head of Android at Google. Taking Rubin's place will be browser and applications chief Sundar Pichai. The reshuffling effectively folds Google's mobile OS, applications and Chrome browser into one operation.

Australian prime minister Julia Gillard is taking flak from the nation's tech industry for accusing IT firms of abusing the nation's skilled migration program. The "457 visas" program is designed to facilitate the immigration of skilled overseas workers to fill voids in the labor force.

It is very difficult to pull off a turnaround. This is because you typically start with a company that is unprofitable and lacking the resources to compete. You have employees who are still on the job only because they haven't been able to find another one, and you're selling products that few want to buy. To successfully execute a turnaround, you need heroic employees who are willing to step up despite the problems.

A pair of new reports suggest that despite repeated attempts by the Obama administration to beef up U.S. cybersecurity, the nation is not ready to handle a major attack, and government agencies lag far behind deadlines for showing security improvements. Those conclusions are reached by the Office of Management and Budget and the Defense Science Board Task Force.

Oracle's proprietary posture may have soiled the welcome mat and vilified its good standing in the FOSS community as CEO Larry Ellison has pushed the balance point between servicing his customers and nickel-and-diming them to turn a higher profit. Clearly, since Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems -- and with it OpenOffice and Java -- the company has not acted very neighborly with open source developers.

As IT innovation comes in rapidly evolving cycles, continuity and consistency remain important factors in managing change. The adoption of innovative IT calls for a certain amount of management stability to transition from old to new methods in productive ways. In turn, that stability depends on an organization's ability to provide orderly management succession planning and execution.

Chief executive transitions in the IT industry often tend toward melodrama or at least bald quirkiness: The number of ignominious CEO departures at HP and Yahoo could qualify both companies for their own telenovelas. After successfully acquiring Sun Microsystems, Oracle unceremoniously booted CEO Jonathan Swartz, an event he noted by tweeting a Zen-like haiku.