Aiming at health care as a key vertical market, Oracle has taken a minority stake in medical device maker Proteus Digital Health, which sells ingestible and wearable sensors for tracking health-related information.

In a move that could bring bleeding edge digital camera technology into future Nokia smartphone models, the venture arm of the Finnish company is investing in Pelican Imaging, a Mountain View, Calif., startup.

Intel Capital, Samsung Venture Investment and Telefónica Digital have all invested in Expect Labs, whose technology is used to analyze and understand conversations in real-time and find related information.

Chinese Internet giant Alibaba Group has acquired an 18 percent stake in the Twitter-like Weibo service from Sina, as part of a partnership focused on social commerce and giving merchants on Alibaba the opportunity to connect and build relationships with Weibo users.

Verizon Wireless reportedly has offered US$1 billion to $1.5 billion for some of Clearwire's spectrum leases, possibly complicating Sprint Nextel's attempt to buy out the company in conjunction with its acquisition by Softbank.

Intel is hoping to get more Chinese developers to back its products by forming a new joint innovation lab with the nation's largest search engine Baidu.

Verizon Communications is now accepting submissions for a contest in which the company will award US$10 million in prize money to individuals and organizations worldwide that come up with innovative ideas in education, health care and sustainability.

Reliance Industries and Reliance Communications are sharing infrastructure for the rollout of 4G services in India, apparently ending a dispute between the two Ambani brothers who head the companies.

Taking Dell private is a bold move, but won't ensure success. If you can't recognize opportunities and execute properly as a public company, buying yourself shelter from investors only takes you so far. The bigger challenge will be rejiggering the corporate culture and core processes to make more innovation possible.