The tablet computer market will see 50 million units shipped in 2014, according to a new In-Stat report -- and if Apple plays its cards right, a significant portion of them could be iPads. In-Stat took several factors into account as it made its calculations, said Jim McGregor, analyst and report author. "Right now, Apple can build these devices for $400 and still make a profit off of them. But the cost will eventually come down -- and so will the price for consumers."

Two Monday technology stories, both involving China: Call them the yin and yang of that country's attempts to repair its image following Google's recent hacking allegations and the search giant's subsequent threats to end its business dealings in the country. Chinese police are trumpeting their shutdown of a major hacker training Web site and three related arrests. However, on the same day, Google claimed that the logo of a copycat Web site based in China looks a little too much like its now-familiar brand and wants something done about it.

The commercial airline business -- ever sensitive to booms ands busts -- is struggling to maintain traffic in the short run while also trying to build a customer base for the future. Rather than compete on price and schedule alone, airlines are moving away from a mass marketing and commodity approach to sales promotion. Instead, a greater focus on customer relations is emerging. Airlines appear willing to invest in technologies designed to improve the customer experience.

The commercial airline business -- ever sensitive to booms ands busts -- is struggling to maintain traffic in the short run while also trying to build a customer base for the future. Rather than compete on price and schedule alone, airlines are moving away from a mass marketing and commodity approach to sales promotion. Instead, a greater focus on customer relations is emerging. Airlines appear willing to invest in technologies designed to improve the customer experience.

On January 20, a major speech took place: No, it was not the State of the Union address, but Steve Jobs' announcement of the release of the iPad. The iPad has already started to change the landscape of digital publishing: After a few days of a public battle, Amazon was forced to capitulate to a new deal with Macmillan, one of the six largest publishers; on Friday, Hachette started to make noise too. Previously, Amazon set the prices -- typically a default of $9.99. This scheme lost money for the e-tailer but promoted the sales of the Kindle reader.

On January 27, a major speech took place: No, it was not the State of the Union address, but Steve Jobs' announcement of the release of the iPad. The iPad has already started to change the landscape of digital publishing: After a few days of a public battle, Amazon was forced to capitulate to a new deal with Macmillan, one of the six largest publishers; on Friday, Hachette started to make noise too. Previously, Amazon set the prices -- typically a default of $9.99. This scheme lost money for the e-tailer but promoted the sales of the Kindle reader.

David Foote is CEO and chief research officer, as well as cofounder, at Foote Partners of Vero Beach, Fla. David closely tracks the hiring and human resources trends across the IT landscape. He'll share his findings of where the recession has taken IT hiring and where the recovery will shape up. We'll also look at what skills are going to be in demand and which ones are not. David will help those in IT, or those seeking to enter IT, identify where the new job opportunities lie.

Just over two years ago now, Facebook began deploying a behavioral tracking service it called "Beacon," which automatically enabled the tracking of Facebook users' behavior but shared that data with advertising partners. It wasn't an "opt-in" service by anyone's definition, and after Facebook took down most of the service, customers filed a class-action suit against the social network. In a proposed settlement last September, Facebook is opting to use its own money -- some $9.5 million -- to establish a fund for the creation of a Web safety foundation.

Apple's new iPad may look like a thin, fragile piece of hardware, but it's apparently strong enough for publishing houses to use as a powerful wedge against Amazon in their negotiations over e-book pricing. Hachette Group became the latest publisher to announce it was going to move to the "agency" relationship with retailers, which would result in a higher pricing structure -- possibly in a tiered range of $12.99 to $14.99 for its e-books. The Mediabistro blog GalleyCat published a memo late Thursday from Hachette Books Group CEO David Young in which he detailed the reasons for the move.

The Department of Justice has advised the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that "significant" copyright and antitrust issues remain in the proposed amended settlement agreement between Google and the Authors Guild. "The amended settlement agreement suffers from the same core problem as the original agreement," the agency explains in its filing. "It is an attempt to use the class action mechanism to implement forward-looking business arrangements that go far beyond the dispute before the court in this litigation."