During the past year’s last couple of weeks, while everybody was busy preparing for the holidays, Acer did something that, at least for this stingy, penny-pinching tech lover, made Christmas a lot brighter and shinier than the usual.

Taiwan’s most popular tech company, and currently the world’s fourth-largest PC maker, announced the Iconia B1 tablet. More than its “Bananas in Pajamas”-sounding name, the Iconia B1’s stab at world fame, or notoriety depending on your point of view, rests on its sub-$100 price.

Of course, it is not the first tablet, Android-flavored or otherwise, to come cheaper than a hundred bucks. Few, however, would disagree that this budget-friendly tablet from Acer would be the first of its kind to come with a Big Guy guarantee of quality.

After all, Acer is not one of those fly-by-night purveyors of re-branded, repurposed cheapo tablets.

Acer Iconia B1

Information we have culled from online sources revealed that Acer’s forthcoming tablet comes with a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and a 7-inch, 1024 x 600-pixel screen. Also, its features list is supposed to be somewhat similar to those of Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble’s Nook Color.

The Iconia B1, which is supposed to be destined for the emerging markets, undercuts the two bestselling tablets. Final retail price, however, is likely to vary by country.

This corner hopes Acer would bring the B1 to these local shores as soon as possible.

Microsoft Fixes Older Browsers

Microsoft has released a quick fix for a vulnerability affecting versions 6, 7, and 8 of its market-leading browser, the Internet Explorer. The vulnerability does not affect IE 9 and 10.

The vulnerability, which affects how IE acquires “an object in memory that has been deleted or has not been properly allocated,” wreaks havoc on the browser’s memory, which in turn allows hackers to execute their own code.

IT Sith Lords can then exploit the vulnerability by taking control of a Web site in order to attack vulnerable browsers, otherwise known as a drive-by download.

Oracle’s Forecasts for RP IT Market

The local branch of Oracle, one of the world’s largest enterprise software vendors, recently released its forecasts for the Philippine IT market in 2013. Included in the company’s predictions are “broad-based adoption of cloud solutions across all local industries” and increased interest in Big Data and Analytics technologies.

With many local corporations creating or expanding their social media presence, it is expected that they would soon implement solutions that can make the most of Big Data to optimize this online and mobile presence.

Along with these growth forecasts, however, are concerns about the ongoing lack of skilled IT workers. Apparently, taking up IT-related courses in college still remains a good idea.

Emphasis, however, should be on the “skilled” part.

That’s all for the meantime, folks. Join me again next time as we keep on watching IT.