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A new teleommunications reform bill which would create a market-oriented regulatory system -- treating Internet telephony the same as conventional phone service -- is moving through Congress, experts tell the E-Commerce Times. The bill is sponsored by Senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.). According to a stat...

Communications gear maker Nortel plans to buy Tasman Networks, a maker of high-performance enterprise routers, in a bid to beef up its product offerings in the area of multimedia data delivery. Ontario, Canada-based Nortel said it would pay US$99.5 million in cash for San Jose, California-based Tasm...

Online and in stores, retailers sought an extra boost in the days after Christmas to help galvanize what's being described as a mixed holiday shopping season so far. They trotted out their usual array of gimmicks designed to get customers back into the buying mood on Monday, hoping that gift returns...

Web surfers are annoyed as hell and they're doing something about it. That's the thrust of the findings in a survey to be released next week by Hostway, a Chicago-based Web site hosting service with more than 400,000 global clients. According to preliminary information from the survey, obtained by t...

One of the long-feared results of Internet security problems -- its potential effect on consumer behavior and eventually, spending -- might be starting to materialize, according to a new report. The Pew Internet & American Life project says that a survey that it conducted found that 91 percent o...

Microsoft and Google have agreed to end a bitter five-month legal feud over Google's hiring of a former Microsoft executive. The two companies did not detail the terms of the settlement, which ends two separate suits. However, it is widely believed that Kai-Fu Lee, who had overseen Microsoft sales e...

Comcast, the nation's largest cable television company with 21.5 million subscribers, announced it would follow in the footsteps of No. 2 Time Warner Cable and offer a "family friendly" package of TV channels. Comcast's G-rated offering bundles 16 stations, including Disney Channel, Discovery Kids, ...

Citing free speech issues, a federal judge has blocked a California law outlawing sales of violent video games to minors that was scheduled to go into effect next week. The ruling hands the gaming industry a victory that may be short-lived, however, as similar legislation looms. The court order, wh...

Since the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley act in 2002, there has been a great deal of confusion and fear in corporate boardrooms. Many of my peers are now reluctant to serve on boards, and some have actually resigned. In my opinion, much of this fear and confusion is unfounded. The fact of the matte...

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott yesterday bolstered his pending November lawsuit against Sony BMG Music Entertainment, adding a number of new allegations that reflect harm to consumers who purchased certain CDs. The original suit alleged the company surreptitiously installed spyware using so-call...

In a move that solidifies its market position and also eliminates a significant competitor in the hard disc drive space, Seagate Technology said it would buy Maxtor for US$1.9 billion. The all-stock deal brings together the number one and number four makers of hard disc drives in the world and will ...

Setting a firm deadline behind its oft-repeated threats to issue stiff fines against Microsoft, the European Commission has given the software giant just five weeks to bring itself into compliance with an order that found it engaged in anti-competitive behavior. Microsoft could face fines of up to U...

Nielsen Media Research yesterday announced that it would provide national TV audience estimates that include viewing from Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) beginning with the week of Dec. 26, 2005. "Nielsen is keeping pace with the evolving ways that people watch television, thereby ensuring that our r...

Before the advent of the Internet, telecommuting was considered an abnormality, something done in rare circumstances by select individuals. However, when broadband connectivity became widely available, telecommuting opportunities became more common. Surprisingly, after a few years of healthy growth,...

In a bold move to strengthen its grip on the money-making side of the Web search business, Google has finalized a deal to pay US$1 billion for a 5 percent stake in America Online and to deliver advertising to AOL sites. The deal, which came about after months of back-and-forth negotiations among AOL...