Archive

Convergence is again a hot topic. In the past, it described how voice and data traffic would eventually coexist on IP networks. Now it frequently refers to the trend of integrating information security functions into traditional corporate risk management organizations. There are good reasons for doi...

The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council launched in September as a joint venture between Visa International, MasterCard Worldwide, Discover Financial Services, JCB and American Express to continuously improve the data security standard. The group couldn't have appeared at a better time....

The wheels are in motion to create an economy free of paper money and coins. The first steps of that quiet revolution have long been in place for years and touch tens of millions of consumers every day. This includes consumers rolling through tollbooths without stopping, their in-car transponders be...

A 1998 law designed to block children from viewing pornography on the Web was overturned this week by a federal court, setting up a possible showdown between free speech advocates and the U.S government. Judge Lowell Reed of the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia sided with the American Civil Liber...

In a widely expected but potentially devastating development, a federal judge Friday issued a permanent injunction barring VoIP firm Vonage from using technology that a jury last week found was first developed and patented by Verizon Communications. Judge Claude Hilton said he issued the injunction ...

Borders Group is severing its alignment with Amazon.com and will be unveiling its own book-selling Web site as part of a major company restructuring designed to "revitalize, refocus, and ultimately reinvent the company." Borders' arrangement with Amazon, initiated seven years ago as a seemingly good...

The Federal Communications Commission appears poised to halt a lengthy review that could have ended the ban on mobile phone use during airline flights. FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin has begun circulating a motion to full commission that calls for the idea of expanding use of cell phones on planes to ...

Imagine a scene from a never-ending story, where stern men in heavy cloaks glide down endless halls and gather in huge dark chambers, where false grins mask unspoken hostilities. The wizard of the century enters, pauses, strikes a pose, and then sharply raises his voice and addresses the chamber: "S...

A federal judge has overturned the Child Online Protection Act, or COPA, a 1998 law that was designed to keep children from viewing pornographic materials on the Internet. Although it was signed by President Bill Clinton, it never took effect. In 2004, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a temporary injun...

NBC and News Corp. plan to take on Google's YouTube by forming their own Web-based video outlet to gain exposure for their deep wells of content and partnering with a host of Google competitors to make it happen. The two media giants say their site will instantly be the largest Internet video distri...

Microsoft continues to abuse its market position to gain market share, particularly in the business server software space where earlier antitrust penalties were aimed at boosting competition, the European Union's top regulator told the European Parliament Thursday. The market situation is "not accep...

Motorola on Thursday said it would miss its current quarterly sales growth targets by $1 billion or more and replaced its chief financial officer as part of a restructuring aimed at righting what appears to be a badly listing corporate ship. The company, the largest U.S.-based mobile handset maker a...

It's no secret that e-commerce search and online merchandising have a magnetic attraction. These applications morphed into the e-commerce lexicon as "searchandising," enabling merchants who integrate search and merchandising to realize higher levels of customer satisfaction and returns. Seventy perc...

Google announced Tuesday that it plans to enhance its successful online advertising service by offering clients an alternate business model -- if an ad does not get results, advertisers do not have to pay for it. Now, instead of paying per click, advertisers will be able to experiment with paying ea...

Adobe Systems posted better-than-expected guidance for the second quarter, causing its shares to rise by some 5.5 percent. Adobe expects to realize revenue of some $700 million to $740 million in Q2. Non-GAAP earnings, it said, should come in at 34 cents to 36 cents per share. For the fiscal first q...