Archive

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in Schwarzenegger v. Entertainment Merchants Association -- a case stemming from a 2005 law passed in California that forbids the sale or rental of violent video games to minors. Lower courts subsequently struck down the law, pointing to precedent ...

If you use Gmail, you received an unusual email late last night from Google. The company sent a notice to its millions of U.S.-based Gmail users announcing the settlement of its privacy class-action lawsuit over Buzz. Google launched the social networking service last February. Soon after, a privacy...

Since the early 1990s, companies have moved applications development and maintenance work to lower labor-cost countries, to varying degrees. Often referred to as "offshoring" or "outsourcing," this labor arbitrage has had an important effect on businesses' ability to reduce costs of ADM. Although co...

Google has filed a federal suit against the U.S. Department of the Interior, alleging that the agency inappropriately favored Microsoft as it crafted the requirements for a messaging platform it wanted to procure. The suit, which seeks to have DoI conduct a competitive procurement process for the co...

Last week's announcements centering on Intel's "Cloud 2015" vision represent one of the more intriguing cloud computing efforts to date. How so? First, out of the gate Cloud 2015 is resolutely client-facing. The related Open Data Center Alliance boasts over 70 large enterprise members such as BMW, D...

Apple ousted Research In Motion from its top spot in the U.S. smartphone market in the third quarter, according to a report Canalys released on Monday, which showed no letup in iPhone shipments. In terms of smartphone operating systems, Google's Android OS held a commanding lead, with a 44 percent s...

If you're responsible for supporting product sales through the retail channel for your client, there is no doubt you're experienced in search engine optimization, search engine marketing, keywords, SERPs, ad banners, click-through rates and more. Most search activities involve either driving a cons...

Microsoft reported strong revenue and solid earnings Thursday, with particular strength in Windows sales during its first fiscal quarter ending September 30. Revenue set a Q1 record of $16.20 billion, up 25 percent year-over-year. Net income was a healthy $5.41 billion. Office 2010, Windows 7 and X...

E-commerce continues to experience significant growth. In fact, in 2009, e-commerce sales grew by 5.5 percent to $205 billion. Online retail sales are expected to increase by another 12.7 percent in 2010, according to Javelin Research. While the research proves that e-commerce sales will continue to...

Consumer privacy advocates are outraged that the FTC has decided to stop investigating why Google was collecting personal information transmitted by users over private WiFi networks. Google has admitted to collecting such data -- which in some cases included individual emails and user passwords -- ...

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison insisted on Wednesday that recently appointed HP CEO Leo Apotheker knew of the theft of Oracle's software while he was CEO of SAP. Ellison also dismissed HP chairman Ray Lane's statement that Apotheker didn't know anything about the theft as an "absurd lie." Oracle filed sui...

A vestige of the music wars at the turn of the century was shut down Wednesday by a federal district court judge in Manhattan. File-sharing service LimeWire was ordered by Judge Kimba M. Wood to stop distributing its peer-to-peer software because its overwhelming use was to encourage its users to ma...

Microsoft has been trying to crack open the enormous opportunity in the cellular industry for a decade. CEO Steve Ballmer always says the company's software is terrific, but it has never seemed to move the needle. Could that be about to change? Microsoft is about to release its newest version, Windo...

Dismayed by the prospect of Google acquiring a key service provider in the travel industry, online traveler providers have banded together to formalize their opposition to the deal. In July, Google announced a $700 million agreement to acquire ITA Software, a company that provides airline travel sof...

Over the last couple of years, in presentations around the U.S. about social media, I've asked audience members whether they take the time to read website terms of service, privacy policies or click wrap agreements. Very few have raised their hands. Recently, one CIO summed up the reasons: "Why both...