Articles by

Microsoft on Wednesday took the wrapper off its new subscription service, formerly code-named "Albany." The company had previously been operating a beta version of the service The service, Microsoft Equipt, combines applications from the software maker's Office productivity suite and its Live OneCare, an all-in-one security and PC management servic...

Custom Linux provider Xandros announced Wednesday that it has acquired Linspire , developer of the CNR software distribution facility, and the Linspire and Freespire Linux desktop operating systems Xandros, which also develops Linux desktop and server products along with advanced cross-platform Windows-Linux management tools, will use the combined ...

Now you can buy any domain with any suffix. If a dot-com is gone, so what? For a cost, you can create your own suffix using any letters and any name Domain names are made of three parts. The www, the "name" and the suffix like .com. With the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' latest decision, you now have full creative control ove...

Recently, I've observed a wave of articles, product releases and even analyst reports that describe solutions for companies looking to "get into" master data management (MDM) or "try out" an MDM project. Other reports claim that companies have been successful at MDM without having an MDM infrastructure in place. As someone who has been actively in...

I am an unrepentant gaming enthusiast, and there are lengths I will go for my hobby that might puzzle normal people with normal lives. I'll stand in the rain outside a Best Buy for a Nintendo Wii on launch day; I'll surf the Web at all hours for the latest gaming reviews or demos; I'll scream creative obscenities -- if I do say so myself -- at hordes of Covenant aliens and grotesque Flood monsters who keep me from advancing to the next level of "Halo 3."

The two largest electronic prescription networks have decided to merge. By joining together their two platforms, RxHub and SureScripts maintain that both doctors and patients will benefit Having one integrated system gives doctors more information about patients' health insurance plans as well as related medical history, Robin Cronin, a spokesperso...

Following its failed effort to curb youngsters' access to video games with "Mature" or "Adults Only" ratings by fining kids for obtaining them, the state of Minnesota on Monday was the one paying The state paid the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) US$65,000, reimbursing the organization for attorney fees and expenses that resulted from the ...

Sprint may be seeing a resurgence in the mobile market. The company's stock climbed 13 percent last week following reports of a Verizon exec telling investors Sprint had started "doing better." The industry has since seen intense speculation that fewer Sprint subscribers are defecting to the top two carriers, Verizon and AT&T -- a notion on which neither company will comment...

Adobe, Google and Yahoo have joined forces to add dynamic Web content and rich Internet applications (RIAs) to search results. The two search companies will use an optimized version of Adobe's Flash Player technology to improve their engines' abilities to index the Flash file format (SWF) and scan information contained within the files This, accord...

With the advent of new personalization technologies and the integration of user-generated content, social networking, RSS (really simple syndication) feeds, multichannel interaction and Ajax-based user interfaces, online retailers are rushing to upgrade their e-commerce sites to provide better user experiences and increase customer acquisition, retention and loyalty. These upgrade projects can be large and often involve deploying a new e-commerce platform.

Virtual worlds, despite all the press attention of late, are still in the early stages of development. Virtual worlds came into existence several years before YouTube, MySpace and Facebook, but their adoption rates pale in comparison to these services. Only 7 percent of Internet gamers ages 13 and older visit a virtual world on a weekly basis, compared with 37 percent who visit social networking sites and 41 percent who watch short videos online with the same frequency, according to a recent Parks Associates survey...

It already dominates the Internet -- why not the TV? Probably Google wasn't thinking exactly in those terms when it conceived the idea for Google Media Server, its latest addition to a ballooning product line. But planting a foothold in a medium in which it so far only dabbles is clearly the driver behind this release. Google Media Server is the c...

What seems to have started as a simple play to create new cartoon content for the Web -- and make money from it -- may in effect usher in a new media distribution model. A Web search engine giant, a highly paid cartoon creator, and a production company are all working together to deliver 50 two-minute episodes of edgy cartoons that will launch in September, according to a New York Times report...

Sony announced a crop of new features and functionalities for the PlayStation 3 Monday Additions in the 2.40 firmware update include in-game XrossMediaBar (XMB) access that will enable players to communicate with other gamers on their PlayStation Network (PSN) friends list -- now doubled in size to hold 100 contacts -- as well as access other featu...

Though their IT needs are fundamentally the same as larger organizations, small and medium-sized business owners may feel particularly challenged when it comes to rolling out a new operating system. The increasing complexity of IT system architectures combined with a relative shortfall of resources -- capital, IT expertise, etc. -- can make implementing a new or upgraded OS an anxiety-ridden experience...

Lyris has upgraded its flagship product and rolled out a new application for the marketing and advertising industry. The enhancements to Lyris HQ pave the way for a steady addition of collaboration and social networking tools this year.

Rest at ease: Physicists say fears over a powerful atom smasher leading to the end of the Earth are completely unfounded. A group of critics of the Large Hadron Collider -- a machine built 330 feet underground in Europe -- filed a lawsuit to try to stop its initialization. They worried the collider's operation could create black holes that would swallow up the planet. These worries, scientists say, border on absurdity...

Two associations representing complementary interests have agreed to merge their resources to develop a stronger ecosystem around Linux mobile development The Linux Phone Standards Forum, or LiPS, has been working toward a formal standard for mobile Linux since its formation at the end of 2005. Nearly a year later, the Linux Mobile Foundation, aka ...

MuleSource, a provider of open source service oriented architecture (SOA) infrastructure software, on Monday announced the release of Mule GalaxyEnterprise, a solution for storing and managing SOA artifacts with enterprise-class features Mule Galaxy Enterprise, the first open source SOA governance platform with integrated registry and repository, o...

Amir Khan, an IT consultant from Fremont, Calif., and a U.S. citizen, has been subjected to U.S. Customs questioning for a total of more than 20 hours after returning to this country from a number of trips abroad, according to the San Francisco-based Asian Law Caucus. Customs officials have searched Khan's laptop computer, books, personal notebooks and cell phone. Despite filing several complaints, he has never received an explanation for why he has repeatedly been singled out...