NetApp (NTAP), the fourth-largest player in the external disk storage market, creates innovative storage and data management solutions for small and medium-sized companies around the world. It competes mainly with other storage majors like EMC (EMC), IBM (IBM), HP (HPQ) and Dell (DELL).

There are a lot of upset people today following Google's announcement that Kansas City was the company's choice for its blistering fast 1 Gbps broadband Internet.

When Google (GOOG) announced its desire to find a place to test the development of a 1 gigabit fiber to the home network last February, cities and towns all across the nation started working on their presentations to get Google to come to their area. Google received 1,100 applications, but in the end, it is Kansas City that got the nod.

ARM Holdings (ARMH) is far away from Silicon Valley. Its headquarters are on the campus of Cambridge University in England. ARM holdings has carved out a unique niche in the computer chip market.

It is a different kind of chip maker. Its core business is licensing chip designs to larger companies like Apple (AAPL), Samsung (SSNLF) and Qualcomm (QCOM.), as reported in the New York Times.

When it comes to picking trends, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) has nailed the latest market to experience explosive growth. It is the fast-growing tablet market, as reported in Reuters.

Morgan's analyst, Mark Moskowitz, has upped his forecasts for tablet sales in 2011 and 2012. For 2011 he raised his numbers from $24.9 to $26.1 billion. For 2012 his numbers are increased from $34.1 billion to $35.2 billion. Unit sales were upped by over 1 million to 48.1 in 2011 and 79.6 in 2012.

We are being bombarded with data from a host of sources, including mobile devices, broadband and cloud computing. Bringing all of this data together will create a new business opportunity.

Ericsson (ERIC), the Swedish network equipment maker, has already foreseen the potential for bringing data together on its fourth generation Long Term Evolution Network (LTE).

Shares of online retailer eBay Corp. (EBAY) traded sharply higher in after-hours trading following a stronger-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter earnings report this afternoon.

The company reported earnings of 52 cents per share, beating the 47 cents that analysts had been expecting to see. During the same period last year the company had earnings of 44 cents.

Sina (SINA), China's largest Internet portal, reported a jump of 87% in third-quarter profits from a year earlier, as stated in the Wall Street Journal.

Net profit was $31.3 million, or 49 cents share, up from $16.7 million or 29 cents a share, a year earlier. Earnings per share rose to 50 cents from 34 cents. Thomson Reuters' analysts had predicted 44 cents a share. Advertising revenue jumped 27% to $81 million from $63.8 million a year earlier.

Many investors seem to be taking lightly the recent acquisition of McAfee by Intel Corp. (INTC). In fact, they seem bewildered by the move. Why in the world would a maker of chip sets want to own a data security software provider? Let me tell you why.

The days when we subscribed to a third-party service to download those clunky security patches will soon be gone -- and not missed. Those annoying downloads and incessant updates will go the way of the dinosaurs. Intel is preparing for the next generation of data security. Soon your data security will be provided as an integral part of your data handling and communication devices. It will finally be manufactured right into your chip sets. That's the way it should have been long ago.

Bit of a surprise in the tech sector Thursday morning, as Intel (INTC) announced that it will purchase Internet-security firm McAfee (MFE) for the tidy sum of $7.68 billion.

This move comes as a bit of a surprise, as some analysts and investors believe the acquisition shows the importance that computing firms are applying to security. Intel noted that more "elements of our lives have moved online," meaning that security will become a "third pillar of what people demand from all computing experiences." Intel said that the deal "elevates focus on security on par with energy-efficient performance and connectivity." Bottom line: Intel wants to protect customers who are taking advantage of our new online lifestyle.