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This story was originally published on Sept. 25, 2008, and is brought to you today as part of our Best of ECT News series After more than a decade in the software privacy and antipiracy space, Keith Beeman, general manager, Worldwide Anti-Piracy, Small and Midmarket, Solutions & Partners for Microsoft, says he has been able to gain a first-hand vie...

This story was originally published on Sept. 26, 2008, and is brought to you today as part of our Best of ECT News series When it comes to security software, who really knows what lurks in the minds of today's users? It appears that most people seem to choose their security products based on a lot of other factors beyond their ability to protect th...

This story was originally published on Sept. 12, 2008, and is brought to you today as part of our Best of ECT News series. Let's say you're a newspaper reporter, and you got into the business because you love to tell stories. You revel in the conflict and drama to be found in everyday situations, from crime scenes to City Hall -- and if you live i...

Celebratory excess marks the holiday season, with its freewheeling use of credit cards, mountains of new toys, and piles of discarded packaging and wrapping paper after it's all over. The tree is green, the money's green, but the overall effect of the season is not particularly, well, green So what's an environmentally conscious shopper to do?...

What a great time to be thinking about the future. Seriously This is my last column of the year, and traditionally I try to forecast some movements in the market for the year ahead. This year it takes a special kind of fortitude to even read a piece like this, let alone write it, but if you think about it, this really ought to be a good time for ...

Linux has proven that the open source model works -- it addresses two of the biggest challenges for IT professionals: the high cost of infrastructure software and the limitations a closed stack imposes on the enterprise. Open source is particularly appealing for the following reasons: ...

Unlike computers, software and other gadgetry, the hot brand names in digital photography never seem to change. However, what they offer continues to evolve, both in terms of features and price range "Cameras are following the silicon curve in many ways," Jack Gold, principal analyst with J.Gold Associates, told TechNewsWorld. "The CCD sensors (ima...

GateHouse Media, a chain of local newspapers, has sued the New York Times Co. for copyright and trademark infringement Fairport, N.Y.-based GateHouse, which owns 125 local newspapers,alleged that Boston.com, the Web site for The Boston Globe, violatedcopyright law by linking to GateHouse stories on the Internet.

Struggling smartphone maker Palm just got a US$100 million shot in the arm from private equity group Elevation Partners In an investment agreement announced Monday, Elevation acquired new issues of preferred stock in Palm for $3.25 per share, a 31 percent premium over the closing price of Palm's stock last week....

Lorrie Thomas does not "sell, share or whore out" the personal information of any visitor who comes to herLorrie Thomas Web Marketing site -- and she backs up this no-share promise in herprivacy statement. Indeed, the entire document is a straightforward description of what the company will and will not do with personal data. For example, it "coll...

PicSay, a photo editing and sharing app by Shinycore Software, is available free from the Android Market.PicSay is one of the winners of the Android Developer Challenge, a contest Google set up to get a batch of decent apps into the Market in time for its launch. Cash prizes went to the devs who built the coolest apps for the platform.

The real estate crisis in this country is felt in the workplace. It's impacting our leisure time. It's affecting the way we look at everything Actually ... make that how we look at everything that's in the video we watch on our smartphone screens....

Warner Music Group has started pulling some of its songs from YouTube, a move that apparently reflects a breakdown in the renegotiation of a licensing agreement between the two sides Warner licensed its entire music catalog to YouTube just before the latter was acquired by search engine powerhouse Google for US$1.65 billion a few years ago....

PC gamers will now be able to buy and download titles from Electronic Arts via Steam, an online game distribution platform that delivers games straight to the buyer's computer. EA's putting some of its top-shelf content up for availability on the platform, including titles like "Spore," "Spore Creepy & Cute Parts Pack," "Warhammer Online: Age of R...

Microsoft is giving PC makers -- essentially, companies that make build-to-suit computers -- an additional four months to buy the Windows XP operating system. Redmond had originally designated Jan. 21, 2009, as the cutoff for shipping the OS. Now, these manufacturers can take delivery up to May 30. Now seven years old, XP is becoming the OS that s...

There's no leap of imagination needed to expect the arrival one day of a T-Mobile "G2" Android-based smartphone, an expected though still hypothetical follow-up to T-Mobile's popular G1. At this point, however, one does need some imagination to guess on a delivery date and describe a possible feature list A variety of rumors have been swirling arou...

Part 1 of this four-part series gives an overview of the game console market this holiday season. Part 2 takes a closer look at the pros and cons of Microsoft's Xbox 360. Part 3 examines the PlayStation 3. Part 4 discusses the Nintendo Wii The success of Nintendo's Wii gaming system came as something a surprise to almost everyone. Hardcore gamers w...

Part 1 of this two-part series explores the relatively new e-commerce practice of voluntary carbon-trading among businesses. This second installment takes a look at some of the online options for consumers who wish to reduce their carbon footprint That the term "carbon offset provider" has become part of the business lexicon may be an indicator tha...

The Internet provides opportunities for businesses to interact withcustomers in new ways. As innovations in social media appear,enterprises slowly adopt those same trends to offeralternatives for making the sale online Some companies are attracting potential new clients through live videostreaming or open chat channels. Sometimes these cutting-edge...

This year was likely the last of an era where vendors could afford to shotgun out products and services and hope that buyers would take them. 2009 will be much harsher on practices like this, as funding will be very short and misses will be career limiting, severely for some. Looking back, there were a number of products we covered that stood out as being amazing, and one I can't picture living without at the moment.