Archive

Most great, successful corporations do not own a single global iconic name brand identity, clear and free of conflict or confusion. Finding a name to be yours as a solid intellectual property asset is vital to coping with all the confusion surrounding new positioning and new borderless marketing. As...

Microsoft's MSN has launched its own version of local search, joining both Yahoo and Google in seeking to make search more useful while opening marketing opportunities for smaller businesses, just the latest in a series of moves that suggest no let up in the rollout of new services and features from...

A new call center just opened in Navi Mumbai, India. It won't be making the headlines for being a new monster facility with impressive clients and well-known managers. But this modest business, Purple Support Services, has more to teach us about call center operations and IT outsourcing than any oth...

Seeing potential to merge entertainment with e-commerce, MTV Networks today said it would buy the parent company of the wildly popular youth Web site Neopets.com. Financial terms were not disclosed, but published reports suggested the purchase price was around US$160 million. MTV Networks is a unit ...

In a move already sending shockwaves through the e-commerce industry even though it is still unconfirmed, Google is said to be considering an online payment service that would go head-to-head with eBay's PayPal. EBay shares were down nearly 4 percent on published reports that Google was preparing a ...

Chief risk officers aren't just for banks anymore, but analysts say the position still is only necessary for certain companies. A position that first appeared in the financial services industry to deal with a bundle of compliance and security issues, chief risk officers, or CROs, are now spreading t...

Sony Online Entertainment has purchased the rights to the video game "The Matrix Online," the company announced today. Players pay $15 per month to interact with each other on the Internet, reliving the dystopian world of Neo, Trinity and the Matrix. The deal also includes an exclusive long-term lic...

Millions of former newspaper readers now get their news from the Web, but the majority remain loyal to their favorite print news outlets. A study by Nielsen//NetRatings said that 21 percent of online users who read newspapers now rely primarily on Web editions, while 7 percent say they split their n...

Bidding to secure a strong foothold in the rapidly emerging mobile-search marketplace, Google has begun testing of a wireless search service that returns results based in part on how well-suited content is to be viewed on hand-held devices. Google Mobile Web Search focuses on sites that employ XHTML...

In a bid to strengthen its data protection portfolio, network storage solutions provider Network Appliance announced yesterday that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a private storage security firm. Network Appliance will purchase Redwood City, Calif.-based Decru for approximatel...

Yahoo has lifted the veil on the "deep Web" with the beta version of Yahoo Subscription Search. The "deep Web" includes information on the Web that is not available for free. This information is not listed within general search results. Yahoo will now offer results for sites such as The Wall Street ...

Long after they became fixtures in the hands of businesspeople and teenagers alike, mobile phones still hold a unique and unenviable position in the world of technology, a device that's loved and hated as intensely as any. Anyone who's ever been forced to listen to half a conversation held on a phon...

Intermix Media said it has struck a tentative agreement with New York state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer to settle charges that the company used its network of Web sites and freeware downloads to distribute adware and spyware programs to unknowing consumers. Intermix said it agreed to pay US$7.5 m...

Ericsson and Napster said yesterday they will step into the emerging service of offering music over mobile phones. The announcement follows a deal made public yesterday between Sirius radio and Sprint, in which music-enabled Sprint phones will offer streaming content from Sirius. Ericsson, the world...

Microsoft yesterday said it has filed four lawsuits against companies in Virginia and California for allegedly distributing counterfeit or illicit software. The software giant filed suits in U.S. District Court against CEO Microsystems of Irvine, Calif., Wiston Group of Walnut, Calif., #9 Software o...