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U.S. sales of gaming hardware, software and accessories experienced a slump in the month of June with such transactions down by 6 percent compared to a year earlier, to US$1.1 billion, according to NPD Group. Within that category, hardware -- in particular, Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3 -- showed signs of growth, posting a 5 percen...

All it takes is one bad experience to turn a customer away -- which is why the delivery of accurate and consistent product data across all channels is fast becoming one of the most important criteria for online and cross-channel success Whether consumers visit a site to make a purchase, use their mobile devices to conduct research, or place a call ...

With the advent of technologies enabling buyers with increasing insight into the sellers' products and competitors, the traditional strategies of bringing qualified prospects to a closed deal require a new set of contemporary skills among sales staff. ...

Linux will dominate the non-smartphone mobile device market by 2015, a study by ABI Research indicates, and Google will likely play a prominent role in this "Linux-enabled mobile devices, led by the success of Google's Android and upcoming Chrome OSes, will comprise 62 percent of the operating systems shipping in all non-smartphone mobile devices b...

How's this for tying together Old Spice's winning social media strategy and Apple's current iPhone problems: While the cologne and deodorant company is ending the week smelling like a rose, Steve Jobs' tech colossus is in danger of stinking up the joint Follow along with me as I attempt to marry the two top tech stories of the past few days. Both i...

Twitter on Wednesday launched its @earlybird service, aimed at providing its some 75 million members with daily deals and creating a revenue stream for itself The first offering from the service was a discount on tickets to see the critically panned movie "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" from Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer....

HP has delayed the launch of its Android tablet device, All Things Digital reported on Thursday The tablet had been scheduled for release at the end of the year....

Consumers who have put off buying their first smartphone or upgrading an aging one are facing a more complicated decision as of Thursday. Into a market already very heated with the recent launches of Apple's iPhone 4, carried exclusively by AT&T, and HTC's EVO 4G Android, via Sprint, comes Motorola's Droid X, the latest Android-based smartphone offered by Verizon.

Over the last 10 to 15 years, Apple has done a remarkable job of creating cutting-edge devices that have won the hearts of their users. It forged a special bond with customers and investors that other companies want but don't have. It seemed to be bulletproof. Suddenly, Apple may have a chink in its armor. The new iPhone 4 seems to have real probl...

If you've ever implemented a CRM application or trained to use one, you've undoubtedly noticed that there are an awful lot of features that you never touch. Some just aren't useful for your circumstances or for your particular vertical industry segment; some are overkill; some are just attempts by your vendor to anticipate a need that never materializes...

The word "hurricane" means "evil wind spirit" -- and the 2010 hurricane season is predicted to be the most active of the past five years. In fact, in just the first two weeks of the season there were nine named storms in the Atlantic basin. So if the technical disaster recovery plan that you have in place involves holding your breath, crossing you...

eBay has been slammed with a lawsuit alleging that the e-commerce giant infringes on six patents with its PayPal, Bill Me Later, Shopping.com and StubHub services. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Delaware by XPRT Ventures, veers from the typical pattern of patent disputes. For starters, XPRT has already tabulated its damages and is a...

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released its final version of rules that define the parameters under which physicians and hospitals can qualify for funding to upgrade their electronic medical records systems. Included are new definitions for what will constitute "meaningful use" of electronic records to meet objectives of the programs...

Opera Software on Wednesday released its Opera Mini 5.1 browser for the Android mobile platform, concluding a beta period that began in March Opera Mini 5.1 offers improved page layout on high-end Android handsets with large screens, its Norwegian maker says. Among the software's features are tabbed browsing, a password manager, bookmarks and speed...

Zuora, a provider of on-demand subscription billing and payment services, was cofounded in March 2008 jointly by Tien Tzuo, who serves as its CEO; Cheng Zou and K.V. Rao. It received $6.5 million in Series A funding later that month and $15 million in Series B funding in October of 2008. It has been profitable since. The company's more than 100 cu...

Zuora, a provider of on-demand subscription billing and payment services, was cofounded in March 2008 jointly by Tien Tzuo, who serves as its CEO; Cheng Zou and K.V. Rao. It received $6.5 million in Series A funding later that month and $15 million in Series B funding in October of 2008. It has been profitable since. The company's more than 100 cu...

Zuora, a provider of on-demand subscription billing and payment services, was cofounded in March 2008 jointly by Tien Tzuo, who serves as its CEO; Cheng Zou and K.V. Rao. It received $6.5 million in Series A funding later that month and $15 million in Series B funding in October of 2008. It has been profitable since. The company's more than 100 cu...

The most popular concept of sustainability revolves around energy use, and while I have no issues with energy as an issue, I think in business the idea goes further -- all the way to products and customers. I will leave the last couple of ideas for another time and concentrate on energy today. Actually, energy is a huge topic, and the only thing I want to focus on is the data center, not whatever you have in the garage...

Backing up data on my multiple Linux computers has always been a gray area for me. The process of backing up data for me boiled down to convenience and cockiness. I thought my no-app backup procedure was a better option. That twisted view nearly resulted in a data disaster for me recently Having multiple computers all storing the same data tends to...

Facebook has joined the list of social networking sites available in the in-boxes of Outlook users, thanks to Microsoft's Outlook Social Connector Outlook users have been expecting Tuesday's announcement since November, when Microsoft said the service would be included in its Office 2010 suite. The social networking giant joins professional network...