Archive

Dell customers are grieving over the computer maker's decision to shut down its Customer Care message boards. As the Customer Care boards have been an integral part of the company's Community Forum, the service shutdown has some questioning Dell's commitment to its customers. Dell posted a message o...

A report by an Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) panel on domain hijacking that was intended to raise a red flag in the Internet community about the practice has been met with mixed reaction, leaving at least one victim seeing red. The Security and Stability Advisory Commit...

Spam e-mail is likely to remain a scourge for Internet users for one simple reason, says a new report -- it still works. A survey by research firm the Radicati Group and messaging security vendors Mirapoint found that some 11 percent of Web users had purchased a product by clicking through on spam e...

Microsoft came up with a hulking win in the gaming world today, announcing that it had cemented exclusive rights to develop and publish multiplayer, online games using Marvel super heroes. No financial terms were released. Marvel's lineup includes the "Hulk," "Spider-Man," the "Avengers," "Fantastic...

Internet security firm VeriSign today announced it has acquired Reston, Va.-based security intelligence firm iDefense for approximately US$40 million in cash. iDefense provides special intelligence information about network-based security threats and vulnerabilities to financial services firms, gove...

Should bloggers receive federal legal protection so they can shield sources from overzealous prosecutors? Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), believe so. But others in the Congressional leadership with more influence aren't so sure. Two pieces of legislation, S 340 and HR ...

In what could be the clearest sign yet that Web-based television is just around the corner for many consumers with broadband connections to the Internet, Japan-based Nippon TV has said it would launch an online pay-per-view program later this year. The service, to be known as The Second Nippon Telev...

MMO2, a very big telecom name in the UK, was created as a cute play on the then very popular millennium year 2000. It was fashionable to use the Roman numerals at the time, and so MMO2 came into being -- but it soon became outdated. Now they've just dropped the MM to be proudly rebranded again as O2...

The long-discussed consolidation of the wireless communications industry appears poised to pick up speed again, with the Federal Communications Commission said to be on the verge of approving Sprint's US$35 billion acquisition of Nextel Communications. Staff at the FCC have reportedly forwarded reco...

Agents from the European Commission (EC) have conducted surprise inspections of several offices of leading computer chip maker Intel and other high-technology firms, apparently seeking evidence of antitrust behavior. Intel said that in keeping with company policy, it was cooperating with investigato...

My friend Kevin Dart has always had an eye for English antiques. In fact, he regularly makes a pilgrimage to mother England to buy unique or hard-to-find pieces. Aside from working his "day job," his avocation is selling these pieces for a profit back in the U.S. While this task of hauling or shippi...

In a ruling that could have ramifications for the entire Web industry, Google has won an arbitration case that gives it control of several similarly spelled domain names. The National Arbitration Forum found in favor of Google in a case the search engine company brought against a Russian man, Sergey...

College students at one of the universities partnered with Napster for free access to its subscription-style music offering give the service high marks, but more than seven out of every 10 still buy music from Apple's market-leading iTunes Music Store. The University of Rochester released results of...

In the late 1990s, Peter Relan was working as a software executive at Oracle when his neighbor, Louis Borders, the founder of Borders Books and Music, offered him a chance to join his new startup. Relan was intrigued enough to make the leap to the dot-com world, where he helped develop much of the t...

The number of active high-speed Internet connections in the United States grew by 34 percent in 2004 as adoption of broadband continues to grow at a fever pitch, promising to open countless new doors for content distribution and e-commerce. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said in its sem...