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The war between Microsoft and AOL for Internet users is extending to a new battleground today: New York's Central Park. That is where Microsoft is scheduled to hold a star-studded launch event for MSN 8, the latest version of its Internet browser and online services. Microsoft has long run a distant...

Microsoft has announced it will pay $96 million in cash to acquire Vicinity, a firm that helps customers find information about a company's nearest outlet and its hours via the Web, telephone or wireless devices. The software giant will merge Vicinity with its own MapPoint unit and will customize Vi...

Once upon a time, the performance of bellwethers like Cisco told the economic fortunes of the technology sector as a whole. But Cisco's dismal financial showings over the last two years have left some industry observers wondering whether the company still wields much influence, even though it is sti...

Few companies would be likely to admit it, and even fewer would be willing to talk about it publicly, but layoffs can have business benefits that go well beyond short-term cost savings. When done right, they can even help improve morale by reassuring employees that their employer can make tough deci...

After beating analysts' expectations with a surprise profit of $2.71 billion in its first fiscal quarter, software giant Microsoft acknowledged over the weekend that a repeat performance in the coming year is not likely. "The first-quarter results were a blip," Morningstar.com stock analyst Joe Beau...

When Apple and Microsoft signed a pact five years ago formalizing their relationship, the two companies laid out a detailed road map for the future. Fast forward to the summer of 2002. The agreement expired, no extended proposal has been put in place, and published reports have questioned the state ...

Microsoft reported a strong first quarter, with profit nearly doubling and revenues rising as the software giant began to convert customers to a new yearly payment plan. But news of a $2.71 billion profit from the Redmond, Washington, software giant was not enough to power the stock market forward....

Just three years ago, those interested in an e-commerce career simply had to stand around and jobs would drop into their hands like fruit falling from an overburdened apple tree. But the economy's long decline has forced many companies out of business, and many of the remaining players have slashed ...

Affluent Americans make up the fastest-growing online segment, with the number of online households earning more than $100,000 annually rising more than 50 percent in the past year, according to a report from Nielsen//NetRatings. "The numbers surprised us a bit at first," NetRatings director and chi...

Microsoft has announced that it plans to spend $300 million to promote its MSN Internet service, casting a shadow over the glittery New York release of AOL version 8.0. The software giant said the investment represents the largest ever marketing outlay for MSN, which has long run a distant second to...

There are now an estimated 220 million active Internet users worldwide, according to Nielsen//NetRatings, but the value of that audience seems to be falling even as it grows in size and scope. Even so, the Internet audience is still a highly valuable commodity -- if it can be harnessed in the right ...

IBM has unveiled a 64-bit chip that can process data at twice the rate of current PC processors. According to published reports, the new chip may be used in Apple desktop computers and servers in the future. The PowerPC 970, which is compatible with 32-bit programs, is expected to allow speedier han...

In a sea of drowning tech companies, Logitech's is an unlikely story -- one of profit, promise and seemingly unlimited potential. The peripherals maker has homed in on a market where the sky is the limit at a price point that defies recessionary pressures. How has the company been so successful in a...

A federal judge has ruled that Intel's Itanium chip line infringes a smaller company's patented technology and has ordered the chipmaker to pay $150 million in damages. Under terms of the ruling and an earlier agreement between the two companies, Intel can appeal the ruling, drop the technology in q...

As it battles a sagging U.S. consumer electronics market, Royal Philips Electronics has announced it will close its Philips Components division in the United States. Some sections of the division -- which handles optical storage, mobile display systems, emerging electronic solutions and connectivity...