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Fighting the animated powers of evil may be a reward unto itself for some gamers, but it can't hold a candle to finding a cure for cancer. A new game from scientists at the University of Washington, however, aims to tap gamers' brain power to make medical discoveries, with the potential even to win the Nobel Prize The game, Foldit, focuses on prote...

The recent fall and near collapse of Bear Stearns has been breathtaking. What has caused this once great company to flirt with becoming a penny stock? Will there be stockholders' suits for this remarkable collapse of value? Management of Bear Stearns decided to ride the mortgage-backed securities boom at the worst time. They apparently took an out...

Corporate social networking ... channel communities ... enterprise social software applications -- the business of business has entered the Web 2.0 world, and there's no going back Part 1 of this three-part series looks at how B2B (business-to-business) enterprises can sharpen their public relations chops by engaging Web 2.0 communities. Part 2 exp...

Virtualization is one of the most significant hot-button topics in enterprise today. Linux server virtualization has allowed enterprises to leverage resources more efficiently. It also is giving CIOs and IT managers a tool to address growing corporate concerns over environmental issues and rising energy costs Running virtualized servers cuts down o...

At last week's UCLA Technology & Aging Conference, representatives from Intel, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Toyota and other big-name firms discussed how technology is reshaping lifestyles for older individuals. However, important policy implications directly connected to these new tools went unspoken. RFID (radio frequency identification) tags that can m...

Cox Communications is actively blocking BitTorrent file-sharing users from enjoying unfettered Internet services, according to a new study based on more than 8,000 Internet users. Like Comcast, which was the first major cable Internet service provider (ISP) to be outed for throttling peer-to-peer data, Cox says it interferes with the traffic to ensure quality service for all of its customers...

Two and a half years after its launch, the Xbox 360 has sold its 10 millionth unit in the U.S., making it the first console of its generation to reach that milestone, according to Microsoft. Worldwide, consumers have purchased a total of 19 million Xbox 360s "The 360 milestone is significant in that their push to release the current Xbox console a ...

Billionaire investor and Yahoo shareholder Carl Icahn is taking steps to revive the Microhoo deal that last week was all but dead in the water Icahn will be launching a proxy fight at Yahoo's July 3 annual shareholders meeting to replace 10 of its directors with his own slate in order to bring Microsoft back to the negotiating table, according to a...

In a move to amplify its online exposure and capitalize on the burgeoning Internet advertising market, CBS has agreed to purchase Cnet Networks for approximately US$1.8 billion. The television and radio giant will combine Cnet's assets with its national and local interactive businesses, enlarging its user base to about 200 million. That will place...

IBM has released additional Lotus software for Research In Motion's popular BlackBerry platform, taking the set of applications further beyond the realm of simple e-mail and into the wild world of Web 2.0 social networking applications. Yes, that's social networking for the enterprise. While IBM already offers core Lotus collaboration software tha...

A federal court has awarded MySpace nearly US$230 million in its suit against Sanford Wallace and his partner Walter Rines -- aka the "Spam King." The judgment -- especially given the size of the award -- represents a decided victory for e-commerce sites in their costly battle against spam. This is the largest award since the enactment of the CAN-SPAM Act in 2003...

HP's now officially pending EDS buy for just shy of US$14 billion positions the combined companies to organize and manage the hosted/on-premises mix to maximum efficiency and lowest total cost of ownership. It's a great goal to shoot for because all they have to do is beat IBM With this merger, the IT/business transformation second-source in the gl...

The European broadband, communications and television landscape is not just characterized by intense competition among telephone providers. The cable operators, telcos and satellite providers not only need to keep a close eye on each other, but also players delivering digital terrestrial television (DTT) services. As of the end of 2007, Europe had...

Retailers' approach to interaction between e-commerce and the contact center is changing. The online and call center channels are starting to meld together, and perspectives on how retailers handle the two have to change. A typical shopping experience today may go something like this: The customer browses online, fills the shopping cart, and might...

Many organizations are decreasing their reliance on user names and passwords for user authentication. They are also learning more about the benefits of deploying strong user authentication to increase the level of assurance for online identities as part of an overall approach to securing access to information and managing risk. Companies should se...

Perhaps you know at least one person who totes around one or more devices to ensure an almost constant connection to the office and friends. They answer their phones during dinner at a restaurant or turn away from a movie to read their latest text. Perhaps you are that person Those individuals are part of a growing population, according to IDC and ...

A growing number of households in the U.S. are hanging up their landline phones, opting instead to use cell phones exclusively, according to a Wednesday report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) The six-month survey, conducted from July 2007 to December 2007, found that 22.3 percent of households with both landline and mobile...

The Open Handset Alliance may have the power of Google behind it, but a surge of new members has just swelled the ranks of the competing LiMo Foundation to 40, the group announced Wednesday. Verizon Wireless is the marquee name on the list of new members, becoming the first U.S. wireless carrier to join the foundation Mozilla, Infineon Technologies...

An unlikely savior could bring Microsoft's failed bid for Yahoo back from the grave. Billionaire investor Carl Icahn may be mulling a proxy battle to replace the Web portal's board with one that's more friendly toward a Microsoft purchase Icahn has not publicly stated his intentions, but he has accumulated more than 3.5 percent of the outstanding s...

There is really nothing wrong with the brand "Bollywood," except that the Indian film industry has become far more powerful and far-reaching than anything else like this in any other country of the world, and even larger than Hollywood. In hindsight, decades ago, who in their right mind would have picked such a blatant knockoff as "Bollywood" -- s...