Articles by Tim McDonald

Beset with legal and morale problems at home, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates laid out his vision for the company on the other side of the world on Tuesday, a vision that -- with its emphasis on the personal computer -- bucks conventional high-tech wisdom Gates told a technology conference in Taiwan that computing in the future will continue to rev...

Silicon Valley is still the epicenter of the digital explosion and the United States remains the world leader in e-commerce, but Sweden and other northern european countries lead the rest of the world, according to two new surveys The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a firm that conducts industry analyses, ranked the top 60 countries in the world...

A new survey shows that an increasing number of Americans, particularly those who are interested in financial matters, are turning to the Internet for news and information One in three Americans go online at least once a week for their news, compared to 20 percent two years ago, according to the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. Fif...

As news of Wednesday's judicial decision to break up Microsoft Corp. (NYSE: MSN) continues to reverberate through the high-tech world, many analysts and observers are wondering what all of the ballyhoo is about In the short term, Microsoft attorneys are expected to file for an emergency stay within the next few days. If granted, the stay would temp...

Microsoft attorneys got in the last word Tuesday as they filed their final response to the U.S. government's breakup plan, clearing the way for a ruling that is expected Wednesday afternoon U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, presiding over the biggest antitrust trial since the breakup of AT&T in 1984, has given strong indications that he ...

The information technology (IT) industry is the number one driving force in the runaway American economy, according to studies by the U.S. government and the Center for Research on Electronic Commerce at the University of Texas, Austin In its third annual report on the IT industry, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) said the digital age is no lo...

The European Union (EU) has agreed to allow American businesses to self-regulate the safeguarding of personal information collected about European consumers over the Internet U.S. companies that comply with the voluntary data privacy pact, called "safe harbor," will be granted immunity from legal action by the European governments who adopt the agr...

In an effort to help thwart attacks by the Internet's equivalent of petty thieves, the Systems Administration, Networking and Security Institute (SANS) has published a "Top 10 List" of the most popular ways hackers gain illegal access to network servers and computer systems The SANS list accounts for "probably 70 percent of the attacks occurring on...

The California Assembly narrowly approved an Internet tax measure Tuesday that could bring millions of dollars (US$) to what is arguably the leading high-tech state in the U.S. The bill now moves to the state Senate The goal of the bill is to provide similar treatment for retailers with stores in California who must pay the tax, and Internet compan...

Taking what some observers see as another step into the much-predicted "post-PC world," Gateway (NYSE: GTW) and America Online (NYSE: AOL) announced plans Tuesday for a new "Internet appliance" that uses neither an Intel microprocessor nor Microsoft software The new device bypasses the two industry giants and will use a processor from Transmeta Cor...

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has cleared the way for AT&T (NYSE: T) and MediaOne (NYSE: UMG) to merge if the two companies sell their interests in Road Runner, the country's second largest cable Internet service AT&T already has a controlling interest in ExciteAtHome, the largest provider of high-speed Internet access in the United States.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has cleared the way for AT&T (NYSE: T) and MediaOne (NYSE: UMG) to merge if the two companies sell their interests in Road Runner, the country's second largest cable Internet service AT&T already has a controlling interest in ExciteAtHome, the largest provider of high-speed Internet access in the United States.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has cleared the way for AT&T (NYSE: T) and MediaOne (NYSE: UMG) to merge if the two companies sell their interests in Road Runner, the country's second largest cable Internet service AT&T already has a controlling interest in ExciteAtHome, the largest provider of high-speed Internet access in the United States.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 237-197 Wednesday to grant China permanent normal trade relations, drawing plaudits from high-tech CEOs, unions and trade organizations "The outcome of this vote was critical, not only to U.S. high-tech companies, but also to the economy," said Intel chairman Andrew Grove.

Further solidifying what has traditionally been an uncertain niche for major players, Microsoft and Time Warner announced separate digital book publishing deals Tuesday Microsoft said it is teaming with two trade publishing giants -- Simon & Schuster and Random House -- to give away free downloads of Michael Crichton's new book, as well as 15 "Star...

A new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers indicates that 25 of the 28 UK Internet firms it studied are likely to run out of cash within 15 months, with some burning out much sooner The report predicts that an increasingly short "burn rate" -- the amount of time in which a company can operate before being forced to raise more cash -- will leave many UK...

Just months after a Georgia town announced that it would provide free Internet access to its citizens for at least a year, state Governor Roy Barnes and Bell South Corp. (NYSE: BLS) have unveiled an initiative to bring high-speed Internet access to residents in all reaches of the state The initiative is being funded through the Business Expansion a...