Gartner analyst Jim Tully claims that cloud computing will soon emerge as a highly disruptive force in the technology sector. "Enterprises are switching from company-owned hardware and software assets to per-use, service-based models," or cloud computing, which he says will spark "dramatic growth in IT products in some areas" and "significant reductions in other areas." In an interview with The New York Times, Tully elaborated on the points he made in a report on the subject. "On one level, this whole cloud thing is about shifting assets away from enterprises and to service providers," he said. This means strong growth …

In the wake of Live Search Cashback and the latest news from Nielson Online that Google's search share grew another 16% in the last twelve months, BusinessWeek's Rob Hof declares that Microsoft's inadequate vision of search simply won't be enough to catch Google -- "not for a long time, anyway." Not that Microsoft isn't trying. At the Search Engine Strategies show in San Jose, Satya Nardella, Microsoft's senior VP of search, portal, and advertising platform group, said that it's early yet in the search game, and that he sees the sector moving from searchers typing in keywords to actually executing …

Handset makers are battling each other for developers as well as consumers, Fortune reports. Mobile applications like mapping services and games are seen as the key to transforming mobile devices into pocket computers. The likes of Google, Apple and BlackBerry are actively trying to woo developers into their camp, which is precisely why earlier this year, Google kicked off a competition awarding cash prizes to developers who create innovative apps for its Android mobile operating system. Apple, meanwhile, has launched the $100 million iFund in conjunction with the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers to invest in promising …

Cute Overload "is like taking a happy pill," says the tech blog BoingBoing. The Web site featuring snapshots of cute, cuddly little animals has become a surprising success, generating over 800,000 page views per day, according to The New York Times. And why shouldn't it be a success? Cuteness, after all, is the perfect antidote to the pervasive nastiness of bitter bloggers, gossip rags, pornography and spam on the Web. But Cute Overload is also making real money. While founder Meg Frost won't talk about exactly how much she's made or how many calendars she's sold using content from the …

Google on Monday unveiled Power Reader in Politics, a suite of applications that aren't really new, but are now being tied together in order to highlight their utility for politicos. The company is unveiling the tools just a week ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Denver, in the hope that political enthusiasts become accustomed to sharing, remixing and broadcasting their opinions online. The search giant is also offering a new political video search tool and a feature that lets users look up their voting registration status. "We're giving people an education on the ground since this isn't a community …