HP announced it will no longer produce hardware running its webOS mobile operating system, discontinuing operations on future TouchPad tablets and the Pre smartphone devices.

“HP plans to announce that it will discontinue operations for webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad and webOS phones,” the company said in a statement. “HP will continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward.”

“Our WebOS devices have not gained enough traction in the marketplace with consumers,” said HP CEO Leo Apotheker in a conference call on Thursday. “Continuing to execute our curre...

IBM has unveiled an experimental chip that borrows tricks from brains to power a cognitive computer, a machine able to learn from and adapt to its environment.

Reactions to the computer giant’s press release about SyNAPSE, short for Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronic, have ranged from conservative to zany. Some even claim it’s IBM’s attempt to recreate a cat brain from silicon.

“Each neuron in the brain is a processor and memory, and part of a social network, but that’s where the brain analogy ends. We’re not trying to simulate a brain,” said IBM spokeswoman Kelly Sims....