Business

A lawsuit that is moving forward in the state of Hawaii adds another dimension to the ongoing debate over Internet addiction -- while prompting more than a few cynical guffaws from tort reform advocates. The suit, filed by plaintiff Donald Smallwood against the company NCSoft, claims that he became ...

Consolidation is a common theme in the IT sector, with IBM's purchase of Unica, Dell and HP's pursuit of 3PAR, and Intel's planned acquisition of security specialist McAfee standing as the most recent moves. Do such deals have anything in common? Sometimes. Large IT vendors tend to grow in two way...

HP has made an eyebrow-raising counterbid for a data storage company that Dell is trying to acquire. Last week, Dell made a play for 3Par, offering $1.15 billion. HP has topped that offer with its own bid of $1.6 billion -- a 33 percent premium on Dell's $18 per share bid, and a huge premium for 3Pa...

Nokia on Friday announced that it will purchase San Francisco-based mobile analytics firm Motally. The Finnish mobile phone giant did not disclose what it's paying for Motally, but it said the transaction is scheduled to close in the third quarter. The purchase is aimed at helping Nokia, which is lo...

Chipmaker Intel on Thursday announced that it will acquire computer security vendor McAfee for about $7.8 billion. The deal will create a behemoth that may improve the semiconductor's position in the burgeoning mobile and cloud computing fields. "Security now joins our more well-known strategic focu...

Search engine optimization is the least expensive method of getting visitors to a website, Ralph Wilson, founder and editor-in-chief of Web Marketing Today, told the audience at the SES Conference and Expo in San Francisco Tuesday. In a presentation on SEO basics, Wilson outlined tips on how to get ...

In the mid-to-late 1980s, colleagues and friends were surprised when I transitioned from working as an on-camera investigative TV reporter to cover the then-fledgling high-technology industry for specialized trade magazines. After all, they reasoned, how could I be content covering semiconductors, m...

There was a time, early this decade, when every day saw a new technology company make an initial public offering. Talk of stock options and vesting schedules was common coffee break fare. Lately, the flow of capital for startups is much more like a trickle, and IPOs are sparse. Still, some partnersh...

The $1.15 billion that Dell has pledged to spend for data storage vendor 3Par could turn out to be a wise investment if Dell is able to use 3Par's assets -- its product line and its sales and support staff -- to carve out a position at the high end of the storage market. Dell announced its intent to...

Google's expansion into advertising outside the virtual world received a boost Wednesday when it landed a new client: DirecTV. The deal with the satellite TV provider will add another 18.7 million households to Google TV Ads' reach, bringing the total number of households reached by the service to 3...

After giving a speech, I was asked a question that got me thinking. Many of you may be wondering about this too. AT&T and Comcast have two of the strongest brand names in the business -- so why in the world are they both suddenly changing them? What are we, as customers and investors, not aware ...

After giving a speech, I was asked a question that got me thinking. Many of you may be wondering about this too. AT&T and Comcast have two of the strongest brand names in the business -- so why in the world are they both suddenly changing them? What are we, as customers and investors, not aware ...

After giving a speech, I was asked a question that got me thinking. Many of you may be wondering about this too. AT&T and Comcast have two of the strongest brand names in the business -- so why in the world are they both suddenly changing them? What are we, as customers and investors, not aware ...

Netflix said Tuesday that it has reached a deal with a movie-studio owned pay-tv and streaming service that will make recent theatrical releases available to its customers 90 days after they begin to appear on premium cable and on-demand channels. Neither Netflix nor Epix, the pay-tv and streaming s...

HP Chairman, CEO and President Mark Hurd resigned Friday in a move that shocked the market. HP announced the decision following an investigation of a sexual harassment claim by a former contractor to the company. The probe found there was no sexual harassment, but that there were violations of HP's ...