Today's consumer is smarter than yesterday's consumer, and with the technology available to make educated purchasing decisions efficiently and quickly, Web-savvy buyers are making the most of the tools they have at their disposal. Online reviews are permeating the Web in all shapes and sizes, from reviews of a local pizza shop to posted commentary on a new piece of software.

On Aug. 13, 2008, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a decision in the much-watched case Jacobsen v. Katzer, No. 2008-1001, which turned on whether violating an open source licensing agreement should be considered copyright infringement. It is important for companies to be aware of the implications of this decision.

Last week, SugarCRM made version 5.1 generally available. With its beta release earlier this year, the open source CRM provider broke new ground, providing innovations in business intelligence and an intriguing mobile app for the BlackBerry and the iPhone. Developers are particularly excited about the release's module builder enhancer and customization capabilities.

By allowing a computer to run approved applications only, Faronics' Anti-Executable 3.0 is one of the most comprehensive ways available to improve worker and student productivity. Anti-Executable disables all unwanted, unlicensed or unnecessary applications; it simply blocks them from executing.

HP announced a series of wide-ranging virtualization products, services and initiatives on Sept. 2. The drive indicates a global and long-term surge by HP on managing solutions for virtualization, but in the context of business outcomes and in a management framework that includes larger IT transformation strategies.

HP announced a slew of new products on Wednesday designed to make the deployment of a virtualized solution a greater value for businesses. HP's virtualization push focuses on getting rid of the impediments that reduce a virtual deployment's positive effect on a business.

The modules of the suite collect and analyze customers' actions and determine the information and products that should be the most relevant at each phase of the selling cycle.

CNBC and the LinkedIn social network for professionals signed a content sharing agreement that includes running user-generated content on the business network.

Google's newly released Chrome browser is facing a backlash over its data collection and privacy practices. The company has already revised its end user license agreement following widespread concerns. Now, new worries are being raised about the browser's all-purpose Omnibox and how closely Google may be monitoring what is typed into it.

EBay Inc. said Thursday it has hired technology executive Mark Carges for the newly created post of senior vice president, platform. (EBAY)