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Have you ever waited on the line for a customer care representative to help place that very important order right before Christmas, or help you figure out how to resolve a technical issue with your iPod that you're eager to start using? And right when they gave you that special "free shipping" deal, you get some static on the phone. Guess what's next: The call gets dropped -- after 30 minutes of waiting on the line!...

Gateway has come to the table with its 17-inch widescreen notebooks a little later than some of its competitors, but its latest offering in this category illustrates, once again, that it's capable to delivering excellent value without skimping on performance Some impressive features have been incorporated into this offering, the M680 notebook, most...

Microsoft continued its efforts to make more third-party security software of its own this week, completing its acquisition of enterprise messaging protection provider Sybari The deal, announced last February and finalized this week, will result in the availability of Sybari's Antigen software for messaging, gateway, spam and other security on the ...

Mobile phone malware may be farther off than antivirus software makers say, and how far off is up for debate among analysts A Gartner report by security analysts John Pescatore and John Girard released yesterday says that despite the warning signals being sent by antivirus companies, mobile phone users don't really have anything to worry about for ...

Phishers could exploit a vulnerability in several popular Web browsers, according to a report from security research firm Secunia. The flaw would allow cybercriminals to steal personal information from its victims Specifically, malicious Web sites could spoof pop-up boxes in Internet Explorer for both Mac and Windows, Opera, Safari, iCab, Mozilla, ...

An ambitious project launched by Google to scan millions of pages of widely read books to create a digital library open to all is drawing flack from the publishing industry and raising anew questions about how the Internet interacts with traditional copyright laws The Association of American Publishers (AAP) has reportedly written to Google asking ...

Most successful corporations, while producing wonderful products and services, knowingly or unknowingly do not own a single global iconic name brand identity that is both a universal, hassle-free name and a solid intellectual property asset Yes, they do own factories and buildings, they might own some local name registrations, one or two trademarks...

Emerging technologies could lead to a quantum leap in PC security, but the realization of that advance is still years away, industry experts say "The next quantum leap in security won't occur until there is better operating system and better hardware support for it," John Bedrick, a director of eTrust Security Management at Computer Associates, tol...

As part of an effort to foster innovation and help developers more quickly and easily build applications using the eBay and PayPal Web services platforms, eBay today introduced a new online forum for open-source developer collaboration Free to all eBay Developers Program and PayPal Developer Network members, eBay Community Codebase allows participa...

IT analysis firm Yankee Group is warning that an increasing number of vulnerabilities in security software from major vendors may be putting enterprises and users at risk The company called for security vendors to make their computer protection products more secure themselves before applications such as antivirus, firewalls and anti-spyware become ...

In a move that takes Cisco Systems into the middleware market, the company today unveiled plans to develop technology designed to enable networks to support intelligent decisions based on business policies Technology developed under the initiative, dubbed Application-Oriented Networking, or AON, also supports application needs by integrating messag...

Microsoft's MSN has launched its own version of local search, joining both Yahoo and Google in seeking to make search more useful while opening marketing opportunities for smaller businesses, just the latest in a series of moves that suggest no let up in the rollout of new services and features from search leaders The launch of MSN Local Search bet...

The Liberty Alliance today announced it will write specifications designed to enhance the privacy of mobile messaging, a lucrative, but insecure way of selling content. The alliance is a consortium of industry representatives working to create online authentication standards The newly formed alliance team will focus on SMS (short message service) a...

Most companies depend exclusively on perimeter defenses to protect their computer networks from intruders, a practice that appears to be more sieve than stone wall, according to a survey released yesterday by Vernier Networks, a network access management firm in Mountain View, Calif Surveyors found that 51 percent of those sampled said they relied ...

A new call center just opened in Navi Mumbai, India. It won't be making the headlines for being a new monster facility with impressive clients and well-known managers. But this modest business, Purple Support Services, has more to teach us about call center operations and IT outsourcing than any other center that has opened recently What barriers i...

South America and Central America are increasingly becoming popular destinations for information technology outsourcing -- whether it is offshore, nearshore or even "rightshore." "Central and South American countries are improving on outsourcing competitiveness," said Mark Minevich, international strategic advisor and principal at Going Global Vent...

Pay us 4,000 pounds (US$7,290) by July 1. Or go to jail That's the message from the BPI, the Big Four record labels' UK enforcer, to the mother of 14-year-old Emily Price who downloaded songs from the Net without her 53-year-old mother knowing, says Britain's Gloucestershire Echo....

The controversy over P2P -- or peer-to-peer network -- file-sharing continues as the technology and entertainment industries are this week eying the U.S. Supreme Court for a pivotal decision that could determine the future of music on the Internet The ruling on MGM v. Grokster, which could be announced in the coming days, tackles the problem of ill...

In a move designed to quickly expand its call center capacity and productivity, Vonage today announced its sales and service subsidiary, Vonage America, has chosen Avaya's SIP-based telephony and contact center solutions Vonage, a provider of broadband telephony in North America, hopes the move will continue its growth by emphasizing customer satis...

Intel is touting its development of a prototype, CMOS-standard wireless radio that supports all WiFi, or 802.11 standards, including a, b and g, as well as the next-generation wireless 802.11n The chip giant said through standard CMOS silicon manufacturing, it could create the "system-in-a-package," which is a wireless transceiver capable of connec...