In the third quarter of 2015, worldwide server shipments grew 9.2 percent from the third quarter of 2014, while vendor revenue increased 7.5 percent year over year, Gartner has reported.

From the regional standpoint, Asia/Pacific grew the most in shipments, with a 23.8 percent increase. The region also posted the highest vendor revenue growth at 25.4 percent for the period.

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One by one, companies are starting to embrace open source more and more. Microsoft has been a proponent of Linux and other open source solutions, surprising many in those communities.

Now, it is Apple's turn. Today, the company run by Tim Cook announces that its Swift programming language is now open source. No, this is not Apple's first embrace of open source, but it could be one of its most significant.

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Businesses are increasingly keen to unlock the insights contained within their data. But the tools to do this are often expensive and complex, putting them beyond the reach of smaller organizations.

Analytics specialist BeyondCore has announced a collaboration with Microsoft to make its data discovery solution available to Office users for free.

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Piriform has released Speccy 1.29, a new version of its free Windows system information tool. The headline new feature in version 1.29 -- also available as a standalone portable build -- is improved support for the latest generation of Intel processors.

Speccy 1.29 also strengthens hardware detection, restores compatibility with the latest build of Windows 10 and updates its hardware detection algorithm.

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Enterprise customers are increasingly concerned about the security of their mobile communications, as well as the ability to deliver auditing and compliance information.

Silent Circle, the Swiss company behind the privacy focused Blackphone, is launching its Enterprise Privacy Platform a set of secure software, services and devices designed to deliver privacy to business and government organizations of all sizes.

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Edward Snowden-endorsed developer Open Whisper Systems has announced the first public beta of Signal Desktop, a secure chat app for Chrome.

The new release enables users of its popular mobile app, Signal Private Messenger, to carry on a conversation across even more devices.

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DDoS activity is at its highest for two years according to Verisign's Q3 2015 DDoS Trends Report, and as the number and sophistication of attacks increases, companies are recognizing the need for better security.

Application delivery specialist Instart Logic has announced a partnership with Verisign to offer customers an advanced DDoS scrubbing capability.

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Stock photo vendor Shutterstock has released Shutterstock Tab, a free Chrome extension which displays a gorgeous image as a background for every new Chrome tab.

As a bonus, there’s also a clock, a 5-day weather forecast, and a tiny toolbar with links to recently visited sites.

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This week saw the big climate conference in Paris, bringing together numerous world leaders to discuss the changes occurring in our world. What we hope to get is improvement in the increasing amount of climate change, an effort to protect the environment for us and the wildlife that depend on it.

One answer is now coming from Google, which has long been a proponent of the need for change. The search giant has long backed renewable energy and now it claims to be the largest consumer of it. Well, the largest that isn't classified as a power company.

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Windows screen recorder Screen2SWF, once a $49 commercial product, is now available for free.

With so much freeware competition around already you might be thinking, "so what?", but wait: the program does have some interesting features which help it stand out from the crowd.

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Crypto-ransomware is one of the latest trends in the world of malware. Encrypting and holding files to ransom provides a way to extort money from victims, but a new example takes things one step further.

Chimera not only locks users out of their files until a ransom is paid, but also threatens to release unencrypted copies of the files online if payment is not made. Security company Trend Micro says this is the first instance of this type of threat. Interestingly, Chimera also seems to be part of an affiliate program.

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Children are figuring out how to use the internet at a much younger age than in the past. Kids 1 or 2 years old are exposed to computer devices to help distract them. They quickly learn how to press the right buttons on smartphones, tablets and other devices. It is great that kids are learning to use technology at such a young age, but it also can create nightmares for the adults.

The internet is full of information and entertainment for people of all ages, but not everything found on the internet is appropriate for young children. It is up to the parents to make sure that the kids are not exposed to things they are not prepared to handle or that could put them into a dangerous situation. Parents need to find ways to protect their children when they are not around to monitor it themselves.

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This fall we saw the release of iOS 9 from Apple just before the company launched the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

The success of these new models along with an uptick in the adoption rates of iOS 9 showed how quickly Apple users were to upgrade their devices. So far iOS 9 has an adoption rate of 70 percent which is significantly higher when compared to Marshmallow’s adoption rate.

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If This Then That has been popular for a while, allowing users to create all sorts of new and creative functionality to make their lives simpler. In fact, recently the service became compatible with Amazon Echo and we took a look at how to set up a simple recipe that allows users to locate a lost phone -- providing it isn't muted and is within range to hear it ringing.

We're always looking for new and creative ideas to make this even better and one of those is home automation. With that in mind, IFTTT is unveiling its Honeywell Total Connect Comfort channel. Much like Nest, this is a smart thermostat that can be set from an app and done from anywhere in the world.

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To quote my main homeboy Charlie Brown, "Good grief!" -- 2015 has been a very difficult year. While no year has ever been perfect, this one has felt particularly long and taxing. Sure, there were positives, such as Caitlyn Jenner's courageous gender change, and the royal birth of baby Charlotte. But sadly, there were also horrific moments, such as the terrorist attacks in Paris, the Germanwings 9525 crash, and the heart-breaking EU refugee crisis.

While the importance of each moment varies in importance from person to person, overall, we have a shared societal experience that makes all of these things impact our lives. Whether you like it or not, the Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy break-up -- as silly as it may be -- has changed the world. A great way to see what is on the minds of people is to analyze search data. Today, Microsoft shares the top Bing searches of 2015. And yes, Kim Kardashian is once again making the list.

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