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Although the T-Mobile Sidekick data disaster caused much gnashing of teeth among the device's users this week, the incident might not represent as dark a blotch on the concept of cloud computing as it may seem Sidekick users lost all their data, which is stored on the infrastructure of Danger, the company that developed the Sidekick and is now owne...

The tech industry is getting a boost from Google's 7 percent revenue jump from the year-ago quarter, as well as from better-than-expected earnings reports from IBM and, earlier this week, Intel Google is apparently feeling confident enough about the economy and its own near-term prospects that it's contemplating one or more acquisitions. CEO Eric S...

Jeff Bezos named his company after the longest and largest river in the world. So it's appropriate that the past week has shown just how influential Amazon has become in both the online and offline retail spaces, as competitors and the Seattle-based e-commerce giant threw a series of punches and counter-punches Try to keep up with the opponents' ja...

T-Mobile's Sidekick users had a pretty rough time this week thanks to a mistake that first looked enormous but eventually was pretty much fixed, though with no small amount of worry and strife in between. An unfortunate series of events caused a major inconvenience for users of the smartphone, and it might have you thinking twice before entrusting a whole bunch of data to a cloud service without first making a backup copy to keep...

Continuing my tour of travel-planning Web sites for the E-Commerce Times, I moseyed over to Hotwire this week. Hotwire is a discount site that sells off unsold inventory by masking the identity of the hotel or rental car service or airline until the purchase is complete. I have to confess the concept never appealed to me that much -- it conjured u...

For decades, organizations have been dealing with the challenges of driving better, more effective customer service. Traditional customer relationship management (CRM) and contact center solutions have focused on presenting consolidated customer information, but they still rely heavily on employees to take the right steps to resolve customer issues.

That there are many compelling reasons to switch to Linux is no longer a matter of much debate Excellent security and low -- or nonexistent -- costs, to name just two, have already persuaded countless organizations and individuals around the globe to eschew the world of end-user license agreements (EULAs) and opt for the freedom and openness of Lin...

The following column is brought to you by nostalgia -- the unique kind experienced only by unrepentant newsies approaching a half-century of existence. But have no fear; technology plays a key supporting role, as always A slow weeknight evening shift at a regional cable TV network prompts some wide-ranging Internet exploration between newscasts. I ...

Research In Motion (RIM) has announced the BlackBerry Storm2 together with European carrier Vodafone ...

T-Mobile and Microsoft susidiary Danger have restored the data Sidekick customers lost when Danger experienced a massive server failure last week. The company announced the news via an online forum used to keep customers apprised of developments. The companies also provided a few sparse details about the meltdowns. The system failure caused data t...

As global PC shipments rose 2.3 percent year over year in the third quarter, Taiwanese PC manufacturer Acer took the No. 2 spot in PC sales worldwide, according to market research firm IDC That pushed Dell into third place; market leader HP, however, maintains its commanding lead....

It seems that no vaccine in recent history has met with as much public suspicion and fear as the new H1N1 vaccine. Commonly referred to as the "swine flu," H1N1 causes a wide range of symptoms, from mild to lethal The body count is already high for this time of year, and it is expected to soar much higher, according to the Centers for Disease Contr...

It is important to understand that Europe is not a melting pot like the U.S., where people of different cultures and religions blended together far from their native lands. Politically and culturally, Europe is diverse, but each country has a different history, religion, national language, culture and heritage to which it remains strongly attached. Europe consists of 520 million inhabitants in 34 countries, within which 32 languages are spoken and 23 different currencies used.

The role of the chief marketing officer (CMO) has evolved dramatically over the last 10 years. The average CMO is on the job for just 23.6 months. The CEO and board of directors are demanding a new level of accountability from senior marketing leaders, which requires tangible justification for marketing decisions. Marketers can no longer afford to make decisions or measure results based on gut feel. For CMOs, this leads to one undeniable truism: Job security is directly correlated with data-driven marketing...

A set of supposedly leaked photos, along with a video posted on YouTube, have sparked rumors that bookstore giant Barnes & Noble plans to put out a branded e-book reader built by Plastic Logic However, close listening to the video reveals that the interviewee, apparently a Barnes & Noble employee, may have been speaking about a different Plastic Lo...

The Wi-Fi Alliance is preparing a new specification designed to allow devices from cellphones to printers to connect to each other reliably, securely and wirelessly WiFi-enabled devices can currently connect peer-to-peer in what's known as "ad hoc mode," but configuration issues and security concerns have limited the usefulness of the capability....

Acer has announced details surrounding two hotly anticipated mobile devices running Google's Android mobile operating system: the Liquid A1 touchscreen smartphone, which Acer first said it was developing when it joined the Open Handset Alliance earlier this year; and the Aspire One netbook, which is available for preorder at Amazon for US$349.99 As...

From bulk mail to email to social media: The next chapter in the checkered history of spamming is now being written via status updates and tweets. However, Twitter is trying to ensure that the chapter is a short one following the company's introduction Tuesday of a new "report as spam" button on user profiles "Folks can now help us conquer spam by ...

California utilities and environmental groups Tuesday urged state energy regulators to ban the most power-hungry televisions from stores as a way to lower electricity demand A rule before the California Energy Commission would impose the nation's first energy-efficiency requirements for flat-screen TVs, a mandatory standard that is expected to be c...

In the continuing discussion of cloud computing, Salesforce.com occupies a unique place. While most cloud vendors have kept to one component of cloud computing, Salesforce has inserted itself into all areas, and the company is using its flagship CRM applications as its first case example Most people would agree that cloud computing is constructed ...