Software

MOTOR VEHICLES Registrar Rachel Kaprielian's remarkable evasion of responsibility for erroneously yanking John H. Gass's driver's license makes her sound like a true bureaucrat ("Caught in a dragnet," Metro, July 17.) She starts out forthrightly enough: "We send out 1,500 suspension letters every day. " Fine. A nice declarative sentence. But then: "There are mistakes that can be made. " Not "we made mistakes. " Not even "mistakes were made. " No, all she's willing to admit is the possibility of mistake-making by persons or software unknown.

WASHINGTON - Those blurry but revealing airport body scanner images that caused a public uproar last year are being replaced by a gray, cookie-cutter image of the human form. After six months of testing at three airports, including Reagan National, the Transportation Security Administration said yesterday that the new software would be installed on 241 units at 41 airports that use millimeter wave technology. Software for an equal number of units that use backscatter technology is still being developed, the TSA said.

Accenture has reached an agreement to acquire Duck Creek Technologies, a private company that makes software for the property and casualty insurance industry. Terms of the deal, which is expected to close within 30 days, were not disclosed. Duck Creek's software is used for product configuration and policy management, including underwriting, billing, rating and claims management.

IBM Corp. spent $1.2 million on government lobbying in the first quarter, seeking to influence issues such as the effect of President Obama’s health care legislation on IBM and its employees, tax loopholes, and the standard mix among technology companies of patent, international trade and defense spending issues. The sum is nearly $600,000 less than IBM, the world’s No. 1 provider of technology services, spent in the year-ago period. The lobbying, disclosed in a filing with Congress, underscores the global reach of IBM’s business.

The fast-growing business software provider was accused of inflating earnings by overstating accounts receivable in a lawsuit filed by an executive after Ebix bought his firm. The overstatement was about $200,000, according to the suit. CEO Robin Raina said it was $150,000, and that it was discovered by Ebix. He said the sum was insignificant for a firm projected to generate $170 million in revenue.

NEW YORK — Research In Motion Ltd., struggling to compete in the smartphone market with Apple and Google, is losing support among some software developers who have been making programs for the company’s BlackBerry phones. Seesmic Inc., a developer of social-media applications, and Mobile Roadie, which makes apps for fans of the Miami Dolphins and country singer Taylor Swift, have decided to stop making products for RIM. Purple Forge Corp., which makes programs for political campaigns and polling, will stop building BlackBerry versions of its apps unless customers request it. “You have to put your resources where the growth is,’’ said Loic Le Meur, Seesmic’s chief executive.

Tibco Software Inc.’s second-quarter earnings rose 64 percent as more businesses snapped up its products to help manage the torrent of information cascading in from smartphones and social networks. The company said Thursday that it made $21 million, or 12 cents per share, in the three months ending in May. That compared to net income of $12.8 million, or 8 cents per share, at the same time last year. If not for employee stock compensation and other items unrelated to its ongoing business, Tibco said it would have earned 21 cents per share.

The state is still doing business with the software company whose salesman allegedly gave kickbacks to then-Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, now on trial for corruption in US District Court in Boston. Since Governor Deval Patrick took office in January 2007, state agencies have spent $2.4 million on 13 contracts with Cognos, a Canadian software company whose American headquarters are in Burlington, according to figures provided by the state. The money spent on those contracts represents a fraction of the two software deals, totaling $17.5 million, that are at the center of the case against DiMasi.

An Orange County computer repair tech was arrested on suspicion of installing spyware on laptops that allowed him to photograph women showering and undressing in their homes. Fullerton police Sgt. Andrew Goodrich said Trevor Harwell, 20, a technician for Rezitech Inc, installed a computer program that took control of the webcam on his clients’ Mac laptops. The software sent fake error messages telling users to “fix their internal sensor soon,’’ and “try putting your laptop near hot steam for several minutes to clean the sensor,’’ Goodrich said.

The state’s former education commissioner told a federal jury yesterday that he began pushing for education data software in early 2005, months before he spoke with then-House speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi about the product. Testifying in DiMasi’s public corruption trial, former education commissioner David P. Driscoll said he only approached DiMasi, who was then -speaker, in October 2005, once proposals for the software had been submitted and when he was seeking funding. Driscoll said DiMasi appeared excited, even animated in support of the technology, called education data warehouse.