Archive

The impact of the U.S. government budget impasse on federal information technology operations is likely to be minimal if the duration of the shutdown is relatively short. However, as the suspension of federal agency operations enters its third week, federal IT vendors are finding themselves in an in...

Facebook on Monday announced it was acquiring Onavo, a 3-year-old company that has developed a data compression technology for smartphones, among other things. Based in Israel, Onavo will give Facebook a foothold in a market known for its advanced tech talent base. Onavo's Tel-Aviv office will becom...

Netflix may be angling to provide streaming content to cable subscribers. It apparently is exploring deals with Comcast and Suddenlink Communications to launch an app for set-top boxes. Netflix streams its content through Web-connected TVs; media players such as Apple TV and Roku; video game consol...

In retail, the holidays are the best of times and the worst of times. The trick to troubleshooting shipping issues is to manage for the best scenario but expect the worst, especially during peak intervals. Prime shopping season demands that deadlines and customer expectations are managed accordingly...

Google has announced changes to its Terms of Service that will take effect Nov. 13. In short, users' profile names and photos will be served up together with content such as reviews they share, ads they +1, comments they post, or who and what they follow. Only people users choose to share content w...

BlackBerry cofounders Mike Lazaridis and Douglas Fregin are considering buying the beleaguered company themselves, according to a filing made this week with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It is one of the many pending possibilities for the company, which has decided to go private in order t...

Facebook announced Thursday that it will finish killing off the privacy setting that previously let users opt out of searches. Members of the social network used to have a privacy setting called "Who can look up your Timeline by name?" that allowed their profile to be hidden from searches within the...

Aereo, the upstart TV streaming company that's giving the broadcasting industry dyspepsia, has won yet another court case against broadcasters. Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton of the U.S. District Court for the district of Massachusetts ruled this week denying the motion of Hearst Stations, doing business...

Much the way PayPal is working to extend its reach into the bricks-and-mortar world, so Amazon.com is looking farther afield across the rest of the Web. The online purveyor this week launched Login and Pay with Amazon, a new program that allows online businesses to set up login and payment credentia...

Although the cloud marketplace is growing rapidly, the current rate of growth will continue only if a broader set of strong channel companies emerge to extend the reach of today's cloud leaders into new industries and geographies. I've been suggesting for years that building more channels to market...

Comcast is teaming up with Twitter to launch a new feature that will allow Twitter users to tune into live TV shows via the social network, making the site a go-to spot for television conversations and viewing. Dubbed "See It," the feature unveiled Wednesday allows Twitter users to control their set...

Sprint has been holding its breath while under water for a painfully long time. Several months ago, it surfaced for a gulp of air on news it would be acquired by Softbank. Since then, I've been listening for the buzz about the new Sprint -- but so far, I'm just hearing crickets. This is a mistake. I...

Amazon this week unveiled a new program designed to draw third-party developers to the company's platform. Known as "Appstore Developer Select," the program offers incentives such as promotional boosts to developers that optimize their apps or games for the Amazon Appstore and the Fire OS. "Mobile a...

Microsoft on Tuesday forked out what might be the biggest payment to a bug hunter yet: $100,000. The money went to James Forshaw, head of vulnerability research at Context Information Security, for coming up with a new exploitation technique that affects Windows 8.1 Preview. "James' Mitigation Bypas...

PayPal on Tuesday announced Payment Code, a new tool that allows customers to pay for in-store purchases by simply presenting a QR code or four-digit number at the cash register. Similar in some ways to PayPal Beacon, which the company rolled out last month, Payment Code is intended both to simplify...