Archive

Canadian call centers were recently estimated by U.S. law enforcement authorities to be doing US$100 million in illegal business annually in the U.S. In comparison, InternationalStaff.net estimates that South Asian call centers operating illegally are currently generating four to five times that amo...

A leading wireless networking industry group is warning vendors not to push ahead too fast on the next generation of WiFi technology, a faster version that will enable a host of new features. The WiFi Alliance said it would not certify features based on the 802.11n standards being developed by the I...

Governments at both the state and federal level in the U.S. are getting serious about addressing the void in the legal framework for fighting "spyware." To begin with, we need to define the term "spyware," due to the fact that this term has been used to describe everything from keystroke loggers, to...

Google took its first bite out of the European commercial market in Great Britain yesterday, launching a beta version of Froogle, an Internet price-comparison service for British shoppers which closely resembles Google's home page. Online shopping is already popular in the country; the BBC estimates...

In an effort to avoid consumer confusion and information overload, and at the same time to mirror the success of companies like Amazon and Dell, Microsoft has unveiled a new shopping site for Windows hardware and software. The software behemoth said the main reason for the Windows Marketplace site w...

Taking advantage perhaps of lowered expectations, two bellwether technology companies posted strong quarterly results that boosted optimism for the rest of the earnings season and helped lift the tech sector on the stock markets. Intel and Yahoo both managed to post earnings that exceeded expectatio...

The European Union today expanded its investigation into Intel's alleged anticompetitive practices, filing formal charges that demand explanations from four countries that require purchased computers to contain chips that only Intel can offer. The European Commission said such requirements might vio...

Now that the titans of e-commerce have been identified, search engines are leading the way for consumers online. At the same time, serious questions are emerging related to the efficacy of these search engines. If search engines are the principal devices for business access, then today's search resu...

Security companies have identified a new worm spreading through Microsoft's instant messaging platform. The worm, known as the Funner worm, originated in Asia but is quickly spreading to the U.S., according to instant messaging security firm IMLogic. The worm has only been spotted to date on the Mic...

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates introduced Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 today at a gala media event at Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium with high hopes of bringing his market-dominant operating system out of the office and into the living room. "Today, the dream of digital entertainment becomes ...

A new federal tax bill passed by the Senate Monday and sent on to President George W. Bush for signature will have a spotty effect on technology budgeting, according to one prominent analyst. The tax bill, titled "American Jobs Creation Act of 2004," was designed partly to meet European Union object...

EBay's PayPal online payment service has been hit by a week-long series of technical glitches that have left some small merchants unable to receive payments. The problems have left some PayPal users unable to access the service or their accounts. PayPal is the most popular online payment service and...

Moving to shut down alleged purveyors of spyware before a slew of legislation aimed at curbing the practice can become law, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has targeted a New Hampshire man it says ran a spyware and pop-up advertising ring. The FTC filed a complaint in federal court in New Hampshi...

Microsoft's chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates tomorrow will officially launch the latest version of Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 operating system, complete with extensions that play or record video, music and other media. The update to Windows XP Professional will offer users ...

Bidding to advance an emerging technology by putting widely supported standards into place, a coalition led by Microsoft, Intel and Sun Microsystems released specifications for using Web services to remotely manage far-flung data networks, handheld devices, PCs and servers. Known as WS-Management, t...