Archive

It's not often that in this gee-whiz age any technology can be accused of being under-hyped, but that's the case with mobile marketing, according to a report released this week by IDC, a research firm based in Framingham, Mass. "IDC believes that mobile marketing is one of the instances in which the...

EMI on Friday formally rejected a $4.1 billion takeover bid from Warner Music Group, in the latest music industry attempt to consolidate the few remaining major labels. The world's third- and fourth-largest record labels, EMI and Warner have been flirting with a possible merger for some time. EMI sa...

Beleaguered PC maker Dell posted a 33 percent drop in net profit for its fourth quarter, falling short of even lowered Wall Street forecasts. Dell said it earned $673 million, or 30 cents a share, down from $1.01 billion or 43 cents a share in the same period a year ago. Revenue dropped about 5 perc...

Traditionally, preparation for board meetings has involved an enormous amount of time, expense, and stress. There are always last-minute items that have to be incorporated into the board book -- that heavy package that goes to board members and their support staff before a meeting. A great deal of e...

Remember when outsourcing was thought of in terms of call center operations and IT coding? Not anymore. Now, companies are leveraging offshore partnerships and highly-skilled global talent as a means to deliver innovative products and to stay ahead of emerging customer needs. Traditional Western cen...

Google plans to provide Web advertisers with more data and tools to combat click fraud, a damaging practice that costs advertisers an estimated $16 billion a year. The new tools are part of an effort to crack down on click fraud and dull its impact on the otherwise highly profitable pay per click on...

The European Commission on Thursday stepped up the antitrust penalties Microsoft could have to pay to a whopping $4 million a day for what the Commission says are unreasonable pricing practices. In a statement of objections sent to Microsoft, the commission said the company had failed to comply with...

Wall Street's Wednesday rebound helped repair some of the psychological damage caused by Tuesday's 416-point loss in the Dow, but questions remain about computer malfunctions that may have contributed to the Dow's plunge. Dow Jones, which collects and reports market data, and the New York Stock Exch...

Unfortunately, it is now easier and cheaper than ever for those bent on illicit gain to use the Internet to obtain the private, personal information necessary to impersonate you online -- the first step for cybercriminals to gain access to your financial information. "Online identity theft is going ...

Information technology service management -- how IT is delivered inside an enterprise as a service -- and a related area, the quickly evolving Information Technology Infrastructure Library, form complementary trends that are helping to mature IT as a customer-focused, quality-of-service activity. IT...

Sprint Nextel on Wednesday reported higher profits in Q4, crediting the gains in part to recent acquisitions of former affiliates, including Nextel Partners. The Reston, Va.-based company earned $261 million, or 9 cents per share, up from $197 million, or 7 cents per share, a year earlier. Sales wer...

There's no doubt that online banking is widely popular in this country -- just ask the millions of customers who've signed on for the convenience it provides. As fraudsters create new scams to bilk financial services customers or to simply hijack their accounts, however, banking customer trust is on...

Google's YouTube said Monday it had struck a deal to license video from the National Basketball Association for use on the video-sharing site, which is also intended to encourage user development of basketball-flavored content. The deal is a small but symbolic victory for Google, which has struggled...

A consortium of private equity firms agreed Monday to purchase Dallas-based utility TXU for a record $45 billion, in a deal sealed with the help of environmental groups. As part of the buyout plan, TXU will shelve plans to build eight coal-fired power plants and also invest in "green" energy technol...

As the Microsoft v. AT&T case wound its way through the U.S. court system, warnings abounded that an adverse ruling could seriously complicate software companies' global manufacturing and sales strategies. This theory was reinforced by a federal court jury decision, which ordered Microsoft to pa...