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A data theft revealed over the weekend of some 1.6 million records from Monster.com does not raise issues of identity theft, the employment Web site asserted. "[T]here have been reports of this as an issue of 'identify theft,'" Monster Vice President of Compliance and Fraud Prevention Patrick W. Man...

Wal-Mart, the world's largest music retailer, has entered the DRM-free music download fray. Its decision to sell unrestricted 256 kpbs MP3 songs from record giants EMI and Universal may well be the tipping point that lets consumers easily buy popular, legitimate online music capable of playing on mo...

MTV and RealNetworks have formed a joint venture that will utilize Verizon Wireless' distribution capabilities in an effort to dislodge Apple's vise-like grip on the online music space. As part of the iTunes-killer venture, MTV is merging its Urge music service with RealNetworks' Rhapsody. One of th...

Cisco and Microsoft may be on a collision course in some areas, including the push to bring a single communications platform to businesses, but their CEOs said Monday the two companies will continue to work together to ensure their products remain compatible. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Cisco ch...

Google continues to win the battle for Internet search dominance, according to the latest findings of Web traffic measurement firm comScore. The Reston, Va.-based Internet metrics company said its July numbers show Google leading the field of what it considers the top five search engines. According ...

Do you remember the "Perfectly Normal Beast" from Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide series? If you haven't read about it, the Perfectly Normal Beast is a fictional creature -- kind of like a buffalo -- that migrates twice a year across the fictional "Anhondo Plain." It's -- ironically -- called "pe...

American Airlines has become the latest and most high-profile corporation to take on Google's AdWords program, claiming the paid search service infringes on the airline's trademarks without compensation. American Airlines said it filed a lawsuit Thursday in Federal District Court for the Northern Di...

In the latest report from the front lines in the high-definition format wars, Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures have both jumped with both feet into the HD DVD camp, the companies announced Monday. The commitment by the companies, both of which are owned by Viacom, will include all movies d...

Beefing up its presence in China as it faces off with Baidu.com in that fast-growing market, Google said Monday it had invested in a Chinese social networking startup. Google did not disclose any details of its investment in Tianya.cn, which has about 20 million registered users who turn to the site...

Brick-and-mortar merchandisers' shift from a product-centric to a customer-centric mentality is examined in a recent report from Gartner. By starting backwards from the known profiles of shoppers in every ZIP code, merchandisers can create extremely granular assortments for each store to increase sa...

HP brought joy to the hearts of many investors Thursday when it reported revenues for the third quarter that blew away analyst expectations by more than $1 billion. Net revenue increased 16 percent over the year-ago period to $25.4 billion, while net earnings reached $1.8 billion, up 29 percent over...

Nokia has thrown another punch in its longstanding patent battle with Qualcomm by asking the government to block imports of some Qualcomm products. In a complaint filed with the United States International Trade Commission, Nokia alleges Qualcomm engaged in unfair trade practices by infringing on fi...

The storm cloud that's been hanging over Dell's headquarters may be finally lifting. After the PC and server manufacturer restated its earnings from 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 Thursday -- and admitted to the widespread practice of inflating its financial results -- investors have responded positively...

A survey done by the U.S. Commerce Department stated that of every 10 small businesses, seven will survive their first year, three will still be going after three years and only two will remain after five years. These are quite startling numbers and really beg the question: "Why do startups fail?" T...

Small to medium-sized e-commerce companies can go a long way toward marketing themselves online by doing some simple search-engine optimization and taking the time to foster some inbound links to their site. Both can be done without an advanced degree in computer science, and both can cost little or...