Midnight release parties have become common for blockbuster movies, video games, young adult/fantasy fiction and anything else likely to command long lines of loyal nerds. As far as I know, no physical bookstores held Harry Potter-style release parties for Walter Isaacson’s new biography. But we nerds stood in a virtual queue for Steve Jobs just the same.

A full hour before the official digital release, blogger/investor Dave Pell captured the mood, tweeting with tongue half in cheek: “Aside from big religious holidays, there have probably never been more people reading the same book at the s...

Oracle ropes RightNow. Photo: phatman/Flickr

Oracle has agreed to acquire RightNow Technologies for roughly $1.5 billion, or $43 per share — which would see the IT giant pay a 20 percent premium over RightNow’s closing price on Friday. The Bozeman, Montana-based RightNow offers an online service for powering instant messaging, social networks, and other communication tools among call centers, sales staff, and consumer-facing websites.

While many analysts have said that the purchase fits into Oracle’s recent shift into online service, not every piece of the puzzle lines up as neatly as some w...