Articles by Tim McDonald

One of the latest trends in notebook computers represents a 180-degree turn from what manufacturers have been trying to do for years, which is to make devices ever smaller. Now, some laptop makers are betting that bigger notebooks will attract a certain segment of the market. And these new behemoths are also cheaper and faster....

In an analysis released Thursday criticizing the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, market research company Gartner Dataquest said a "radicalreform" of telecom policy is needed if the rollout of high-speedInternet services, or broadband, is ever to break out of the slow lane "The insistence of some regulators, such as the U.S. FederalCommunica...

While much of the online advertising industry remains in thedoldrums, travel advertising on the Internet has picked up, according to a report released Wednesday by market research firm Jupiter Media Metrix (Nasdaq: JMXI) Following the September 11th terrorist attacks, online travel ads plunged in the second week of September and bottomed out during...

There are not many things I miss from the days before I started working at home I don't miss overbearing and clueless bosses. I don't miss rushed commutes to the office, spilling coffee on the perfectly-creased khakis I just bought, or fighting rush-hour traffic on the way home. I don't miss infuriating office politics....

Here in the season of insane buying, it may be useful to point out that Americans are essentially a giving people. This generosity toward those less fortunate is a consistent national characteristic that the country should be proud of The vast majority of Americans, about 70 percent, give to at least one charity per year, according to IndependentS...

Despite the fact that I write about e-commerce almost daily, I have never had a pleasant experience buying something off the Internet Once, I ordered a set of steel drums online because I was planning to play in a band that specialized in Caribbean music. When the steel drums arrived, they were smaller than any sub-atomic particle scientists have y...

I was waffling on whether or not to support Napster until I heard Tony Bennett is a Napster man. This may not be fair, but in my mind I started lining up the musicians on both sides of the argument For Napster: Bennett, Chuck D of Public Enemy, Ice-T, Don Henley, Bruce Springsteen, Sheryl Crow....

I'm no big fan of J. Edgar Hoover, the famous (or infamous) former FBI honcho, but I'm having a difficult time getting myself worked up over this Carnivore controversy. I know I should be worried about the Carnivore electronic surveillance system, especially if the concerns voiced by advocacy groups like the Electronic Privacy Information Center (...

When you go to the polls on Election Day, please remember that a vote for George W. Bush is a vote for closed Internet access It's true: a Bush presidency will mean pricier fees for access to high-speed Internet service. You'd be voting to widen the Digital Divide into a Grand Canyon.

The marketing ploy for those new wireless location tracking devices we've heard so much about might go something like this: "Say, Mr. Consumer, let's say you're walking down the street in a strange part of the city and you happen to pass by Ray's Pizzeria, one of many such fine eating establishments in the world. Your head is lost in a swirl of led...

Too much technology makes you sad, the International Labor Organization (ILO) announced this month I wasn't surprised at the news. Psychologists have been saying it for years, and besides, anybody with any common sense could tell you that staring into a computer screen all day isn't healthy, in the same way your mother told you to turn off the TV f...

The Internet is now in everything from cars and taxis to airports and malls. It's crammed into cell phones and personal digital assistants. The Japanese wear the Net on their wrists, and the Koreans are putting it in refrigerators, washing machines and soon, microwaves. Yawn Okay, maybe my whites will come out whiter, but I don't think the Net-enab...

A Florida appeals court ruled Monday that Internet service providers (ISPs) must reveal the identities of eight people who anonymously posted allegedly defamatory messages in a Web chat room Although privacy advocates from the ACLU had argued that the identities of the eight "John Doe" defendants should not be disclosed, the Third District Court of...

Two new software products for connecting cars to the Internet are expected to help drivers navigate congested roads Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) unveiled software Sunday that will control a variety of Internet devices in cars, while Clarion Corporation of America has unveiled software that can alert drivers to accidents and obstructions on freewa...

Dell Computer (Nasdaq: DELL), which recalled 400,000 notebooks with defective memory chips earlier this year, on Friday began recalling nearly 27,000 notebook batteries that the company says have the potential to cause fires "These batteries can short-circuit, even when the battery is not in use, potentially causing them to become very hot, release...

Here's a brief trivia quiz for would-be corporate accountants. How much federal income tax did Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), the supreme ruler of the known software universe, and Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO), second only to General Electric as the most valuable company in the U.S., pay this past year? Combined or separately, the answer is zilch, nada a...

Along with three other members of the public, a German hacker and a vocal American critic of the domain name process have been elected to the board of directors of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the group that oversees the domain name system and Net addressing functions However, the new members will not become offi...

Under growing pressure from Wall Street and consumers alike, Amazon.com has intensified its efforts to achieve profitability, quietly raising prices on books Of course, most of the other major online booksellers are following the example of the number one e-tailer in the world and leaving their discount days behind as well. And while it might, at f...

Internet powerhouse Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) announced a free Internet telephone service Tuesday that will allow users to access e-mail, news and other information from remote locations The company also unveiled a joint venture with Net2Phone, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTOP) to provide a service that allows its customers to make free calls from personal computers...

Travelers frustrated with airline delays are increasingly finding ways to stay connected to the Internet, as both airline carriers and automakers are expanding their wireless technologies to customers. United Airlines (NYSE: UAL), reeling from customers angry at delays and cancellations, said last week it will begin offering wireless Internet access in up to 50 air terminals around the world, starting next year.