Articles by Erika

Web entrepreneurs Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning, best known for propelling music into the digital-download age with Napster more than 10 years ago, have launched a new endeavor, Airtime, with much fanfare. It is a browser-based video chat service that connects people via their Facebook login directly from the Airtime website It is aimed not only at...

Facebook is exploring ways to include children younger than 13 years of age as members of its social network, according to The Wall Street Journal. To that end, it is working on developing technology that would allow tweens to be active on the site under parental supervision Facebook's move in this direction -- if it is indeed going down this road ...

Last month, open source CRM provider Zurmo released a beta version of a new app that staked out new ground in this mature software category: The app was built with gamification techniques and a game-oriented user interface in the hope of spurring user adoption "It is a direction that is a bit contrarian to typical CRM product development," admitted...

In 2010, IT security researchers took note of a new virus that was bouncing from country to country via the Internet. They dubbed it "Stuxnet," including it among the countless worms that are released each year In one key respect, however, Stuxnet turned out to be quite different: It was reportedly created by the U.S. and Israeli governments as par...

The way people and companies decide what to buy is changing, becoming intractably intertwined with social recommendations, noted Sanjay Dholakia, SVP of Marketo's product marketing and corporate development ...

Facebook and Google are interested in acquiring a stake in the music video website Vevo, according to the New York Post, which cited unnamed sources Up for grabs is an equity stake in the site, as well as an advertising deal. Vevo has been valued at approximately US$1 billion, according to the Post.

Consumers face a number of hurdles if they want to switch banks -- which they increasingly do, as their banks continue to raise fees, raise minimum balances, and create entirely new charges Some bank policies are, in fact, designed to make it challenging -- and expensive -- for customers to walk away, found a study by Consumers Union, the policy a...

It appears thatPinterest may have a greater propensity to inspire its users to buy products after viewing them on the site than other social networks, based on recent research. For example, Pinterest users are 79 percent more likely to purchase something spotted on Pinterest than Facebook users are to buy something they see on Facebook, according ...

Sprint has put a date on the phase-out of its iDEN Nextel National Network: June 30, 2013. The company first said it would be shutting down the 2G network in 2010, and in the meantime has discontinued selling iDEN devices in certain channels Over the next several months, it will cease selling iDEN devices in all channels, Sprint said....

Most of HP's webOS team, including Matt McNulty, head of the project,is moving to Google according to a report by The Verge citing severalunnamed sources. The departing team is said to be almost whollyresponsible for Enyo's code. Enyo replaced Mojo as webOS's softwaredevelopment kit in 2011 It is unclear what this move will mean to HP. In December ...

Google has updated its Transparency Report to include requests to take down URLs that contain copyrighted material. Such requests, made by content owners or their representatives, are at the heart of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act Until now, Google has only publicized government requests to remove content; the new data provides an interesting...

The French National Commission on Computing and Liberty (CNIL) is running up against what seems to be a chronic problem with Google: difficulty in getting all of the information it requested The CNIL was tapped by Europe's Article 29 Working Party to take the lead in analyzing Google's new privacy policy, which went into affect on March 1. On March...

Tablets are now a solid fixture in the mobile ad ecosystem, according to a new report. However, the format hasn't been fully exploited yet, in spite of the tablet's strong presence in the mobile world, thanks to Apple's iPad Non-phone mobile devices -- primarily, tablets -- accounted for 20 percent of all impressions for Q1 2012, compared to 15 pe...

Salesforce.com is adding more functionality to its Chatter tool -- in this case, real-time communication capabilities. The two new features soon to be available are Chatter Messenger and Chatter Screensharing Chatter Messenger is an instant messaging application to be used within the Chatter application. When it launches as part of Salesforce.com'...

Executives at Google no doubt are heaving signs of relief at the outcome of the latest -- and possibly last -- phase of the Java copyright and patent trial: The jury unanimously found that Google did not infringe Oracle's patents U.S. District Judge William Alsup, who is presiding over the trial in the U.S.District Court of Northern California, dis...

Before Apple and Samsung launched a new chapter in their multicountry, multiargument patent dispute, Judge Lucy Koh of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, told the two sides to sit down and try to iron out their differences. Apple CEO Tim Cook and Samsung CEO Choi Gee-sung duly complied with the judge's orders, spendin...

After dropping to US$31 per share on Tuesday, Facebook's stock is hinting at a turnaround Wednesday morning, hovering around $32.15 per unit. Unless the stock surges past its $38 per unit launch price, however, it is hard to imagine how those responsible for its disappointing debut -- a group that includes lead underwriter Morgan Stanley, Nasdaq o...

Amazon has begun taking pre-orders for the Samsung Galaxy S III, a handset that will become available in Europe at the end of this month The offering has caused some head-scratching: If this were the newest iPhone, the rush to get one might be understandable. However, the unlocked Galaxy S III smartphone will cost an eye-popping US$799.99, and it w...

The European Union's antitrust ax is about to fall on Google, but the company can still avoid the worst repercussions. That is the essence of the message from EU antitrust chief Joaquin Almunia. After a year-and-a-half investigation into Google's activities in the market, there are four areas of concern that need to be rectified, he said.

No one could accuse Facebook of having beginner's luck on Wall Street. The company's initial public offering on Friday was delayed by two hours due to a glitch in Nasdaq's trading system, prompting many traders to cancel orders because they were not sure of the stock's price. The day, in general, was arguably a disappointment for the social media giant, with its per share price ending only slightly above the US$38 starting price...