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The US$14.5 billion merger between Sprint Nextel and wireless broadband provider Clearwire closed Monday with $3.2 billion in equity funding from a variety of heavy hitters in the technology and telecommunications industries The two companies have joined forces to build a nationwide high-speed wireless Internet network using worldwide interoperabil...

Cyber Monday is the biggest online shopping day of the year, but online retail experts say it may not be big enough this year to increase overall holiday sales compared to 2007 The November-December holiday shopping season will generate US$29.2 billion in sales this year, the exact same figure as in 2007, according to comScore....

A variety of retail-watching experts are churning out Black Friday sales facts, figures and customer inclinations, and while it wasn't a rip-roaring Black Friday compared to previous years, it wasn't all that bad -- particularly for the hot-selling consumer electronics sector. Comparison shopping site PriceGrabber.com, for instance, is reporting t...

Regular viewers of "60 Minutes" may not have been aware of a major scandal in the online gambling industry before Sunday night's broadcast, but Internet poker enthusiasts already knew the score and were waiting for reporters to show their cards The report, a joint effort involving CBS's Steve Kroft and the Washington Post's Pulitzer-winning investi...

In the contest to dominate the video gaming landscape, there are three powerful players, each with a magic weapon: Microsoft with its Xbox 360, Nintendo with its Wii, and Sony with its PlayStation 3 (PS3). Like any great heroes, they each have their strengths and weaknesses, though none, it turns out, has a fatal flaw. For those hapless consumers ...

I recently read an article that featured an up and coming media measurement technology created by research firm Integrated Media Measurement Inc. (IMMI). Using cell phone based data collection, IMMI's digital monitoring system measures audience exposure to multiple media platforms via codes embedded in the audible audio portion of the advertisement. This includes ads appearing in out-of-home TV, on-demand and time-shift viewing, radio, Internet, DVDs, audio CDs, theatrical films, entertainment venues, and mobile video and games.

Update Rollup 1 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is now available. No, it's not a new release -- but as with anything Microsoft, the cyber-community is talking about implementation do's and don'ts The authors are advising users NOT to import customizations to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Server in the following scenarios:...

One of the first jobs I ever held was as an auto mechanic and have had a passion for cars that predates my passion for technology. Watching the U.S. auto industry make mistake after mistake until it was nearly out of business has been particularly painful for any of us who love both cars and our country. I'm in the market for a new car myself, and there isn't a single one from any of the Big Three that excites me at the moment. Based on how well the Japanese and Korean car companies are doing, I'm guessing I'm not alone...

Today we have the advantage of staying connected wherever we are, which gives us the convenience of completing our holiday shopping from home or our working space at any time of day. This convenience, however, comes with a price, which can sometimes present itself literally. Cybercrime is prevalent in our daily news; stories that discuss the lack of security or how some fraudster managed to bypass security barriers in place can cause customers to wonder how secure they are when shopping online...

Mobile commerce opportunities have been largely overlooked by retailers in North America with sound reason. The current shopping experience on mobile phones is just plain awful Nevertheless, mobile communication devices are a widely used resource -- ready and able to bridge stores with the site and call center....

Blockbuster on Tuesday threw its hat into the increasingly crowded ring of set-top boxes with the announcement of a deal with hardware maker 2Wire. Blockbuster's system will bring video directly to viewers' televisions on demand via a broadband Internet connection The move follows similar offerings from competitors. The Web-connected hardware comes...

Blockbuster on Tuesday threw its hat into the increasingly crowded ring of set-top boxes with the announcement of a deal with hardware maker 2Wire. Blockbuster's system will bring video directly to viewers' televisions on demand via a broadband Internet connection The move follows similar offerings from competitors. The Web-connected hardware comes...

Blockbuster on Tuesday threw its hat into the increasingly crowded ring of set-top boxes with the announcement of a deal with hardware maker 2Wire. Blockbuster's system will bring video directly to viewers' televisions on demand via a broadband Internet connection The move follows similar offerings from competitors. The Web-connected hardware comes...

This story was originally published on July 17, 2008, and is brought to you today as part of our Best of ECT News series In Internet time, it's been an eon since "smart appliances" were said to be stocked on the near horizon, but many sunsets later (eight years, actually), the futuristic devices are still, well, in the future. One would think the g...

This story was originally published on Aug. 19, 2008, and is brought to you today as part of our Best of ECT News series. It's not every day you hear scores of men arguing over whose is the smallest. But in the modern world of mobile computing, it's a conversation that's becoming increasingly common....

This story was originally published on Aug. 6, 2008, and is brought to you today as part of our Best of ECT News series It's no fun shopping alone. That's the theory behind social shopping, a trend that combines social networking with e-commerce. It's a trend that's coming into its own as increasing numbers of online shoppers turn to the sites fo...

This story was originally published on July 7, 2008, and is brought to you today as part of our Best of ECT News series The Internet is the greatest technical development of the 20th century, and its open competition model has been the envy of other market sectors. Internet advances are being crushed by monopolistic carriers who are more concerned ...

This story was originally published on June 30, 2008, and is brought to you today as part of our Best of ECT News series.You're the manager of a Hilton Garden Inn, and it's the height of family vacation season. The lobby is abuzz with kids toting skateboards and moms pushing strollers; your front desk agents are overloaded with check-ins. In the middle of all this, a harried business traveler calls to the front desk for extra towels. Quick, what do you do?...

This story was originally published on Aug. 25, 2008, and is brought to you today as part of our Best of ECT News series Portable electronics like smartphones and laptops aren't generally known for their ability to withstand drops, splashes and harsh conditions. Yet the portable nature of these devices means they're often in the line of fire -- swi...

The National Institute on Media and the Family (NIMF) released its 13th annual video game report card Tuesday. The report's findings this year are relatively upbeat, with improved grades for retailers and the ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) for making changes that the institute thinks will decreased the chances that inappropriate games will make their way into the hands of young children...