Business

Members of the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers voted to go on strike at Verizon Communications on Sunday. The 45,000 striking workers are employed in the wireline side of Verizon's operations and their absence will, theoretically at least, af...

Verizon is struggling through yet another strike. Actually, all the workers, customers and anyone who touches Verizon are also struggling. I have commented on these strikes many times over the last couple of decades. What is happening is unfortunate, but it's a necessary part of the process as the i...

A war of words continues between executives at tech giants Google and Microsoft as accusations regarding patent bullying fly between the companies. The public dispute began Wednesday, when David Drummond, the chief legal officer at Google, posted a company blog missive accusing Microsoft, Apple and ...

For some time now, I've felt almost like the proverbial lone voice in the wilderness questioning the value of Groupon as an investment. My primary issue with Groupon is that there is nothing inherently unique about its business model. Given that fact, I don't understand how a company that really has...

Google's chief legal officer went on the offensive Wednesday, posting a company blog entry that attacked Microsoft, Apple, Oracle and other tech companies for securing patents and undertaking legal activity that would block the development of the Android platform. The post, penned by David Drummond,...

Some people are considering now buying a home because they realize that residential prices are quite low. They reason that if they don't get into the market now, they might miss the window of opportunity to purchase a home at a deep discount from previous prices. Others are looking to get into the m...

Motorola Mobility is one of the industry's more interesting stories. It is a story of rags to riches to rags, again and again. It was the leader in the wireless handset market for decades. Then it lost its way in the 1990s and has not had a long-term recovery since. Through partnerships with Google ...

Push Pop Press, a start-up digital publisher, announced recently it's been acquired by Facebook. Push Pop, founded by former Apple engineers Mike Matas and Kimon Tsinteris, originally aimed to approach e-books by incorporating new designs, better imaging technology and interactive elements. It's fir...

A consortium of six major tech players calling themselves "Rockstar Bidco" won a $4.5 billion bid for 6,000 Nortel patents in June. The deal closed last week, but all may not be said and done. The Department of Justice reportedly intends to ask the consortium members just what they plan to do with t...

Can things get any worse for Nintendo? Its first-quarter earnings were a major disappointment, with net sales down 50.2 percent and gross profit down 84.3 percent, compared with the same period the previous fiscal year. Sales of its five-month old 3DS game console were absolutely dismal -- a mere 71...

Sprint Nextel stock tumbled as the company came out with its quarterly earnings report Thursday, in which it highlighted improved customer service but also announced a higher-than-expected net loss of $847 million as well as a loss of 101,000 postpaid subscribers. Wall Street analysts weren't surpri...

Sprint and LightSquared have entered a 15-year agreement to collaborate on spectrum hosting, network services, 4G wholesale and 3G roaming. LightSquared will pay Sprint to implement a nationwide LTE network that hosts L-Band spectrum licensed to or available to LightSquared. LightSquared will be abl...

We always think the next generation is better. Often that is true -- but too often, it's worse. On the heels of success, too many companies take their eye off the ball. Every year, new and improved versions are introduced to keep us brand-loyal. That works until something goes wrong. Then years of v...

In Microsoft v. i4i, The U.S. Supreme Court recently affirmed that the presumption of validity is high for an issued patent and that invalidating it requires an extremely strong case. In particular, the court affirmed that proving invalidity and unenforceability requires "clear and convincing eviden...

Opponents of the pending $39 billion merger between wireless carriers AT&T and T-Mobile are taking legal action with New York-based law firm Bursor & Fisher in a bid to block the deal. Eleven arbitration cases have been filed on behalf of AT&T customers, and the law firm hopes more angry...