Business

It's one of the world's most popular manufacturers of phones. It has a globally recognized brand. It's ready to show off the latest enhancements to its smartphone operating system. And as far as anyone can tell, it hasn't lost a prototype phone in a Silicon Valley bar and seen it torn apart on a tec...

The U.S. Federal Court for the Southern District of New York recently ordered the unsealing of court filings submitted by Viacom and Google in Viacom's three-year old, $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against Google-owned YouTube. The released documents paint a tale of corporate intrigue a...

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to review a California law banning the sale of violent video games to minors. California civil code 1746.1 reads "A person may not sell or rent a video game that has been labeled as a violent video game to a minor." The Supreme Court will review Schwarzenegg...

In response to a raft of recent privacy changes at Facebook, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., on Monday asked the FTC to design privacy rules for social networking sites, including clear guidelines on how information submitted to sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter can be used and disseminate...

Rumors about contenders for troubled smartphone maker Palm continue to circulate -- fueled in part by comments from Palm's CEO. HTC and Huawei -- two companies that were rumored to be interested in acquiring Palm -- have reportedly opted not to go forward, leaving Lenovo as the front-runner for the ...

Google has acknowledged its acquisition of tech firm Agnilux but has not provided any details about the transaction or even hints as to its purpose. The acquisition has prompted a far more spirited discussion than usually occurs when Google buys a company. Agnilux is something of an enigma -- but wh...

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday heard oral arguments in City of Ontario v. Quon -- a case that could significantly expand employees' privacy rights in the workplace. Questioning by the justices led some court watchers to conclude that the Court will decide it on very narrow grounds and likely side ...

Once again, Microsoft and Google are locking horns in the office apps space, releasing their latest products within days of each other. Google unveiled a more feature-rich Google Docs on April 12, and Microsoft announced that Office 2010 had been released to manufacturing three days later. Their pro...

Cisco will have completed its acquisition of Norwegian video company Tandberg once the compulsory acquisition for the company's remaining shares is closed. Cisco is acquiring the firm for $3.3 billion -- after its initial offer of $3 billion was rejected by shareholders. The compulsory acquisition w...

Roughly six months before it bought YouTube, did Google actually share the view of the online video site that other copyright owners had -- that it was a repository for illegally uploaded content? Does Viacom have a smoking gun against Google/YouTube, and does it come in the form of statements from ...

The Truth in Caller ID Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday. The bill aims to prevent misrepresentation of the called-from number on voice calls through any channel. Called "caller ID spoofing," the practice involves using various types of software to insert a name and number pe...

The FCC believes it has the authority to implement its National Broadband Plan -- a wide-ranging initiative that calls for nationwide Internet services, greater availability of wireless connectivity, and improved rural access to such services -- despite a recent court ruling that clouds the issue. T...

Microsoft auditors are rushing to inspect a factory in China where workers are said to be turning out products for the software giant and other high-tech firms under prison-like conditions. "We have a team of independent auditors en route to the facility to conduct a complete and thorough investigat...

Google isn't the only entity taking an interest in Twitter's tweets. That most venerable of government institutions, the Library of Congress, announced Wednesday it will archive every single "what's happening?" update broadcast on the short message service since it opened for business in 2006. Grant...

After months of questions about how Twitter plans on making money, the short message service and social media phenomenon on Tuesday launched its first foray into advertising. However, in doing so, the company made it clear that traditional corporate interests would take a back seat to overall custom...