Archive

Wall Street gave Dell the smackdown early Friday, a day after the company issued a third-quarter report that showed solid revenue and earnings but acknowledged clouds on the horizon. The company's shares took a nosedive largely because, despite reporting Q3 revenues that were up 9 percent year-over-...

Motorola CEO Ed Zander will step down from his post at the end of the year, a victim of a long and deep post-Razr market share slump at the top U.S.-based maker of mobile handsets. The Schaumburg, Ill., company -- which last week fell from second to third in terms of worldwide market share behind No...

Google is readying its application to participate in the Federal Communications Commission's January auction of 700 MHz wireless spectrum, the company announced Friday, but it is acting alone, without any partners. The company will file its application on Monday, after which FCC rules prevent it fro...

The Software as a Service concept is rapidly spreading to touch almost every functional area in the IT stack. The latest example is security vendor Webroot's acquisition of Email Systems, a SaaS security provider. Primarily focused on consumer and SMB markets prior to this merger, Webroot's newly ac...

You probably realize that startups experience an inordinate amount of failures. Of course, starting any new business is fraught with risks. However, these risks can be minimized with the proper planning. Based upon my experience in owning and advising businesses, I have come up with seven tips for t...

Shopping online has become a favorite activity for consumers. However, retailers still haven't successfully replicated the experience of uncovering the perfect item hidden on the back of a rack, the thrill of unexpectedly wandering into an out-of-the way boutique, or the way friends bond over dressi...

Amazon.com on Thursday launched a site that invites visitors to ask questions and receive answers from fellow users, who will be lured with Amazon currency to share their expertise and opinions. Amazon is aiming to use Askville.com to leverage its own expertise in sharing consumer opinions -- user r...

Adobe and Yahoo jointly launched the beta version of a new advertising service Thursday designed to allow PDF publishers to earn advertising revenue for their content. Dubbed "Ads for Adobe PDF Powered by Yahoo," the opt-in service enables online commercial publishers to include timely contextual ad...

Looking to boost confidence among both investors and customers, online brokerage E*Trade Financial said Wednesday it had received a $2.55 billion investment from a private equity firm. After disclosing it had seen significant erosion of some assets due to the subprime mortgage meltdown and after an ...

As the Web video craze continues to escalate, the market for this content is evolving. Advertisers are trying to cash in on clips by both amateurs and production companies; new Web sites catering to the trend are popping up; and video is gaining in popularity on additional platforms, notably mobile....

The Federal Communications Commission has been arguing amongst itself over whether it has the authority to increase its regulation of the cable industry. At the heart of the fight is a market penetration test called the "70/70" rule and the data that would provide the catalyst for new regulation. Of...

Cyber Monday lived up to and even exceeded its much-hyped advanced billing, with U.S. consumers setting a new spending record on the unofficial kickoff to the online holiday shopping season. ComScore data show U.S. shoppers spent $733 million online on Monday, a 21 percent increase when compared wit...

Companies that fail to prevent data breaches will pay higher costs to repair the damage in 2008, according to a recent report. Data breach incidents will also cost these companies additional revenue from lost business opportunities and reduced customer retention. Data breaches cost companies $197 pe...

What a difference a single dollar makes -- a very big difference indeed. As a matter of fact, the difference can be almost like a mind-altering shock wave, a global hysteria, a cry of the consumer to be heard around every corner of the globe, in addition to being "breaking news" to feed the glitzy T...

There's no denying that seismic changes are afoot in the music industry. As the record labels engage in bitter battles over copyrights, artists are increasingly turning to alternative means of releasing music and reaching their fans. Prince chose to give away his latest album, "Planet Earth," for fr...