Archive

Dell has announced a massive recall of notebook computer power adapters, saying the components -- made by a company whose products prompted a similar recall by IBM last month -- could overheat and cause fires or electrical shock. Dell said it arrived at the decision to voluntarily recall some 4.4 mi...

In lieu of facing a court judgment, Sun Microsystems has agreed to pay US$92 million to settle a long-running patent infringement case with Eastman Kodak. Now, observers are perusing the details to get a handle on what it means for the companies and the Internet. Kodak won the jury trial October 1 a...

For the second time this week, U.S. lawmakers have approved a bill aimed at stamping out the spread of spyware, malicious software that is installed onto the computers of unsuspecting users and can track their online activities. However, the flurry of activity might actually have a downside for thos...

One of the greatest challenges facing small businesses today is the acquisition of capital. In a previous article, "Finding Dollars for Small-Cap Companies," I explored the non-underwritten IPO as a source of capital for the small business. This article addresses two other sources of capital for the...

Satellite radio got a bolt of energy with the announcement that shock jock Howard Stern will be delivering his controversy-stirring show over the Sirius satellite radio network starting in 2006. While the company remains number two in satellite radio to XM -- which earlier this year added former NPR...

Following the lead of their American counterparts, the leading music industry groups in the UK and Europe have launched scores of private lawsuits against dozens of individuals they say illegally swapped copyrighted music. The British Phonographic Industry filed 28 lawsuits in Great Britain and the ...

Nowadays, e-mail and intranet are the most common methods of internal group communication for most companies. Specifically, many companies use mass e-mails and/or posting to their intranet to inform employees of a host of things, including changes to their employee benefit plans. An example would be...

In its first major search-related move since its blockbuster IPO, Google has launched a book-search tool designed to help publishers sell books online, a move some see as a challenge to dominant bookseller Amazon.com, which itself has made inroads into the Web-search industry with its A9.com subsidi...

E-commerce is causing a global turmoil in trade and competition. Those on the frontlines know exactly who is winning and who is losing. According to Reuters, Bill Gates said: "We have to go into the risky areas. That's what's going to allow the United States at the forefront." He further added, "We'...

It's still at least a year from being available to consumers, but already questions are being raised about whether some parts of Microsoft's Longhorn might actually make the operating system more vulnerable to some relatively primitive kinds of viruses. A Symantec security researcher first sounded t...

A new tax rule for U.S. businesses that have moved software development, customer service, and research and development work to India was issued by the Finance Ministry of India (GOI) on September 28. The circular, titled "Circular 5/2004," replaces a circular issued by the Finance Ministry's Centra...

Microsoft is positioning itself to extend its reach from the personal computer to the living room by becoming the go-to company for digital movies and music within the next three years, the company's chief executive said. CEO Steve Ballmer said one of his goals for the company is to expand Microsoft...

PeopleSoft was never a truly integrated software firm. PeopleSoft was too enamored by the profit rates it received from selling instant-legacy software. PeopleSoft was too big, too slow, and too inefficient to be able respond quickly to new technologies and new market conditions. Come to Calcutta wi...

Spyware and its intimate partner, adware, are among the fastest growing threats to computer users. Many Internet security experts now view spyware and adware as variations of the same thing -- intrusion. Industry analysts say spyware and adware together infect at least 90 percent of all Internet-con...

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has ruled against Microsoft in its attempts to patent and license a technology that forms the basis of several of its software programs. Though Microsoft was granted a patent for file allocation tables, or FAT, in 1996, that patent was challenged earlier this yea...