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In today's global economy, more businesses sell products online, in more markets and in more languages, than ever before. According to a recent Forrester Research report, "Web Content Management Adoption in 2005," enterprises are shifting focus from cost containment and internal efficiencies -- to growth. With that shift, e-business is becoming a priority again for companies that rely on the Web to sell products and services, improve sales execution, and create new products and services...

Halloween has passed, and Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away. The Christmas shopping season is well upon American shoppers -- and retailers American retailers are turning to radio frequency identification technology -- RFID tags -- to ensure that in-demand items are in stock this holiday season, hoping to bolster end-of-year revenues, experts te...

Open-source browser developer Mozilla was hit with some good news and some bad news this week The good news is that the Firefox browser has gained 10 percent of the planet's browser market share, according to UK Web analytics firm OneStat.com. Further good news is that the first release of Firefox 1.5 Release Candidate 1 (RC1) is available for down...

The imperative to fight diseases like AIDS and cervical cancer is a no-brainer, yet new technologies that help in this quest are under assault from bureaucrats and advocacy groups. As technology advances, questions surrounding its control and use will only get hotter. A key set of guiding principles is therefore of the utmost importance This month...

Yahoo looked to shorten its route to more online consumers with an enhanced Yahoo Maps tool that is integrated with Yahoo's local maps service and offers new features, such as drag-and-drop location and directions delivery Yahoo, which has lagged behind its online search portal competition Google and MSN on Internet maps, also bolstered its maps se...

For the second time in four months, Microsoft said it would buy a privately held firm developing Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technologies, this time with an eye toward adding more communications tools to its Office productivity suite Microsoft said it would pay an undisclosed sum to acquire Zurich, Switzerland-based media-streams.com, a sof...

A fruitless prosecution against a teenager in English court highlights the inadequacy of that nation's cyberlaws to cope with denial of service attacks The youth was accused of sending 5 million e-mails to a former employer, thereby shutting down the company's servers. The case did not fail because it could not be proved that the teen was the attac...

Lawmakers are moving forward with a bill that would offer providers of fast-growing Internet calling services the same access to E-911 service that traditional phone companies have and give them more time to put the emergency service in place The legislation, which was approved by the Senate Commerce Committee and is widely expected to pass the ful...

A white paper published this week by the Heartland Institute, a free-market think tank in Chicago, is critical of a "discussion draft" of legislation released by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce concerning a new regulatory regime for Internet telephony The document, entitled "The Metaphysics of Communications Reform," raises concerns that...

Nokia yesterday launched three multimedia smartphones and a new version of its open-source browser in effort to build on its position as top mobile phone maker. The new phones allow users to watch TV, play music, and trade files with other electronic devices "We are seeing increased interest in advanced functionality on mobile devices, particularly...

Their numbers may not jibe but two prominent research firms agree on one thing: the holidays will be merry for online retailers Forrester Research and JupiterResearch released their holiday sales projections for online retailers this week and both predicted double-digit increases for the period....

WiFi hot spots have become quite popular because they enable nomadic travelers to tap into the Internet. The ability to stay connected has reached another area: metropolitan buses. King County Metro Transit, which services the Seattle area, has begun offering WiFi services on a few of its bus lines. "Seattle is a high tech community and we think customers will find the service beneficial," noted Wayne Watanabe, supervisor for infrastructure and integration at the public transportation provider...

Looking to thwart piracy and the unlicensed, unprofitable consumption of its content, Sony is reportedly spiking its music CDs with digital rights management (DRM) software that is similar to malicious code used by computer attackers, including virus writers and spammers The code, exposed recently on blogs and reports from industry observers, mirro...

In a move to market the PlayStation Portable as a multimedia device, Sony is enhancing its handheld gaming hardware with new software that lets players transfer various file types between the PSP and their PCs Sony Media Software released the PSP Media Manager on Monday. Sony said the software allows users to take advantage of the PSP's ability to ...

A white paper published yesterday by the Heartland Institute, a free-market think tank in Chicago, is critical of a "discussion draft" of legislation released by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce concerning a new regulatory regime for Internet telephony The document, entitled "The Metaphysics of Communications Reform," raises concerns that...

Lawmakers have revived legislation that could provide a huge boost to efforts by music and movie studios to curb online piracy by letting federal agencies write rules that outlaw tactics used to copy programs when they are broadcast Two bills on Capitol Hill dealing with so-called broadcast flags are now being circulated for comment. The legislatio...

Trend Micro is picking up on one of the latest security trends with its new home office solution -- spyware protection PC-cillin Internet Security 2006 is designed to combat unpredictable malicious threats like phishing, spyware, spam, hackers, viruses, and other threats. The company said its solution provides enhanced antivirus, anti-spyware, and ...

All of a sudden, there is a rush to secure a copyright on any distinct smell from our daily lives and exclusively use it in conjunction with a branded product or a service Like the smell of bread in a hot oven at the bakery to be used by a sandwich maker? Yum!...

Government -- and industry -- executives are moving forward with plans to increase the use of authentication technologies, and prevent fraud online. The Direct Marketing Association, based in Chicago, last week issued a set of rules for its members, and the federal government, a few days earlier, did the same for financial institutions Trouble is, ...

When crises like the recent earthquake in Asia, the London terror bombings and devastating hurricanes such as Katrina strike, more people than ever turn to the Web for news and real-time updates on these history-making events. This is not a new phenomenon, but it continues to be a growing one Rewind four years to September 11, 2001. Terrorism conc...