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BitTorrent, the company whose Internet file-sharing technology is perhaps best known for the illegal trafficking of copyrighted content, has launched a new service designed to let media companies use its technology to blast out faster streams of online content over their legitimate channels The service, called "BitTorrent Delivery Network Accelerat...

With all the social networking and photo-sharing Web sites out there, few teenagers are taken by surprise when they find that pictures they posed for have been posted online by their friends. However, few expect to see their likeness then featured, without their permission, on a billboard advertisement for a major telecommunications company Virgin ...

The day has come. Fingerprint biometrics is real technology for real people Spurred by the size and cost advantages of fingerprint sensors and a growing need for security, biometric fingerprint technology is being integrated into more and more devices, including laptop PCs from the leading manufacturers around the world, cell phones -- particularly...

Interactive Intelligence introduced a new iteration of its flagship contact center automation and enterprise IP (Internet protocol) telephone software platform. Customer Interaction Center (CIC) and Vonexus Enterprise Interaction Center (EIC) version 3.0 include upgraded security, new deployment and integration technologies -- it introduced a public API (application programming interface), for example, that allows users to create custom apps -- as well as enhanced mobility features...

Google is introducing ad-supported video clips from YouTube -- what it calls "video units" -- to its AdSense advertising platform, one of many steps in a strategy designed to glean a return on its massive investment in the video-sharing Web site Google is working with select YouTube content partners, including TV Guide Broadband, Expert Village, Mo...

NBC Universal (NBCU) will purchase Oxygen Media, the operator of a cable channel aimed at women, for US$925 million, a move that dovetails with media and entertainment company's 2006 purchase of the iVillage online network for $600 million The acquisition gives NBC a cable channel that reaches 74 million homes and offers advertisers a focused demog...

As it prepares to meet its customers' growing demands for wireless multimedia services, AT&T's board of directors approved the acquisition of 700 MHz spectrum licenses from Aloha Partners The purchase will cost the nation's largest wireless carrier about US$2.5 billion. The purchase will give AT&T licenses covering 196 million people in 281 markets...

As it prepares to meet its customers' growing demands for wireless multimedia services, AT&T's board of directors approved the acquisition of 700 MHz spectrum licenses from Aloha Partners The purchase will cost the nation's largest wireless carrier about US$2.5 billion. The purchase will give AT&T licenses covering 196 million people in 281 markets...

As it prepares to meet its customers' growing demands for wireless multimedia services, AT&T's board of directors approved the acquisition of 700 MHz spectrum licenses from Aloha Partners The purchase will cost the nation's largest wireless carrier about US$2.5 billion. The purchase will give AT&T licenses covering 196 million people in 281 markets...

Sony's PlayStation 3 (PS3) price shift spread to its home territory in Japan Tuesday with a price cut on its 20 GB (gigabyte) and 60 GB PS3 models, the company announced. In addition, Sony Computer Entertainment Japan (SCEJ) said it will make the latest 40 GB model available to Japanese gamers The announcement comes less than a week after Sony Comp...

Skype hardware maker Ipevo announced on Tuesday the U.S. launch of the Solo, a desktop Skype phone that makes phone calls over the Internet without being tethered to a computer Ipevo officials hope the stand-alone device will catch the fancy of users who shy away from computers. The always-on phone, however, requires a broadband Internet connection...

Sprint Nextel CEO Gary Forsee stepped down Monday amid mounting pressure from investors of the telecommunication company, which said it would launch a worldwide search for its next leader After days of rumors and published reports suggesting he was on the way out, Forsee announced he would leave the positions of chairman, CEO and president effectiv...

IBM and Google disclosed on an initiative the two technology heavyweights hope will help computer science students and researchers learn more about and gain experience in what has come to be known as "cloud computing." Ultimately, the goal is to create a new generation of software developers able to write software that will fully take advantage of the capabilities of parallel computing...

It's no secret that an awful lot of TV shows and movies can be found on file-sharing networks like BitTorrent and Kazaa. It's also no secret that the producers of those shows really, really hate it when people share them without permission Is there a way for content makers to cash in on what is a clear consumer desire? Two main draws of using file-...

The uninsured and underinsured in this country will be a top focus in the run-up to next year's presidential elections as competing candidates face off over who has the best plan to solve the burgeoning problem One doesn't have to wait until the primaries are held, though, to know that whatever candidate -- and his or her plan -- is nominated, the ...

The worldwide open source community shares a common overall goal: better software through collaboration and peer review. It's difficult enough to achieve this task even when most of the participants share a common language. Building bridges between different parts of the world -- especially between Eastern and Western societies -- adds an entirely new element to the equation...

At first blush, the recent Podcast and New Media Expo held in Ontario, Calif., might have looked a bit frivolous -- there was a guy with bright blue hair, a woman in a burlesque getup posing for pictures, and someone in a pickle suit handing out promotional buttons -- but doesn't every trade show have its share of weirdness? Podcasting is anything ...

MSNBC Interactive, a joint venture between Microsoft and NBC, will buy Seattle-based startup Newsvine, a participatory news site that carries news from media outlets and from individual users who are paid for their writing Newsvine uses the so-called "social model" of user-driven ranking of the news....

Australian renewable energy firm Epuron, a division of German Conergy, plans to build what may be the world's largest wind farm in the outback of Australia, the company announced Monday With plans for between 400 and 500 turbines, the A$2 billion (US$1.8 billion) project in Australia's New South Wales (NSW) state could deliver 1,000 megawatts of cl...

SAP has announced it will acquireBusiness Objects for about US$6.78 billion. The French business intelligence vendor is one of the few assets on the market able to go head to head withHyperion, which Oracle bought earlier this year for $3.3 billion The acquisition will allow SAP to move into the BI marketplace and offer an integrated package to cus...