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The characters in the wildly popular, extremely violent and graphically explicit video game "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" face crackdowns from police and other authorities responding to their evil doings. Now the real life backers of the game are facing a crackdown of their own. The City of Los An...

When the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was originally passed in 2002, many companies were less than enthusiastic about it. Concerns about the additional accountability and the internal changes that would need to take place weighed heavily on the minds of many company executives. These concerns turned out to b...

Microsoft's offer on Wednesday to make its Windows Server source code available under license in order to comply with EU antitrust laws may not be enough to satisfy officials. Neelie Kroes, the European Union competition commissioner, issued statements the day after Microsoft's announcement that app...

In a move that could lead to a dramatic drop in online cigarette sales, Philip Morris said it reached an agreement with 37 state attorneys general to limit the availability of online tobacco products by shutting off distributors believed to have illegally sold the products in the past. The agreement...

Sales of server products powered Microsoft to a more profitable second quarter as the software giant beat Wall Street expectations for earnings, while supply restrictions on the Xbox 360 were seen contributing to a near-miss on the revenue side. Microsoft said income rose to US$3.65 billion, up from...

Consider these two observations: First, every half century or so, advertisers accidentally tumble onto a new idea that makes the entire industry go bonkers for a decade or so -- like neon lights, gigantic high-resolution billboards or Web sites. Second, every half century or so, consumers get a brea...

Since the revelation last week that the Justice Department has subpoenaed Google for search term data, Internet users have been awakened to its profound ramifications. At some date in the future, many fear, they may be confronted with questions by the government or from law enforcement agencies abo...

As the dust settles on this latest season's holiday shopping data, there is yet one more issue to consider before this time next year: conversions. The recent release of the Top 40 Online Retail Satisfaction Index, a study produced by ForeSee Results and FGI Research, revealed that consumer satisfac...

The Walt Disney Co. will pay US$7.4 billion to buy Pixar, the groundbreaking animation studio co-founded by Apple CEO Steve Jobs. The deal is noteworthy not only for the potential future benefits entailed in an Apple-Hollywood link, but also because it immediately vaults Disney back to the top of th...

Recent research suggests that satisfaction among customers of 40 top retail Web sites dropped over the holiday season. So says the Top 40 Online Retail Satisfaction Index, a study produced by ForeSee Results and FGI Research. The Index measures the top 40 retailers by revenue and provides a comparis...

Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page and CEO Eric Schmidt aren't getting a raise this year. Each is slated to make in 2006 exactly what they took home last year: US$1. Google said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that the three top executives would again forgo all but...

Microsoft received both good and bad news on the antitrust front. The European Commission has agreed to give the software maker extra time to answer criticisms that it has not opened up its Windows source code as required before facing stiff daily fines. On the other hand, the Department of Justice ...

For the second time in less than a year, the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal by Research In Motion, which was hoping to overturn a lower court ruling that could lead to the shutdown of its BlackBerry mobile e-mail service in the U.S. The failure to win a reprieve from the high court...

The accounting scandal that rocked the Japanese stock market last week escalated Monday with the arrests of the high-profile CEO and other executives of Internet company Livedoor. Prosecutors charged Takafumi Horie, the 33-year-old founder of the company, and his colleagues with violating securities...

Imation on Thursday agreed to acquire Memorex International in an all cash transaction for US$330 million. Contigent on financial performance of the purchased business, Imation could pay an additional sum ranging between $5 million and $45 million over a period of up to three years after close. The ...