Business

If video killed the radio star, than Internet video may signal the demise of flat-rate broadband pricing. At least that's the suspicion of public advocacy groups who are complaining about attempts by Time Warner Cable and other providers to experiment with metered high-speed Internet usage. For thos...

eBay is planning to spin off Skype in a public offering next year. While Skype has been successful in terms of growing its user base since being acquired by eBay over three years ago, the VoIP service has proven to be a less-than-perfect match with the Internet auction powerhouse. "What can I tell y...

Microsoft has reportedly resumed its on-again, off-again talks with Yahoo on teaming up for online search and advertising. The discussions are apparently being held between Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and his Yahoo counterpart Carol Bartz. Both companies may need each other if they want to grow thei...

The four-month-long process to find a strategic investor for Satyam -- the India-based outsourcer that rattled the global business community with its ex-chairman's confession in January of longstanding accounting fraud -- is apparently over. Venturbay Consultants, a unit of Tech Mahindra, is acquiri...

Google's YouTube and Universal Music Group are partnering to launch Vevo, a music video vehicle featuring UMG's videos. The site will launch in the coming months. Few details have been provided about the launch; however, both companies will share in the revenues, and additional deals with other musi...

Cisco has announced its intention to acquire Tidal Software for $105 million in cash and retention-based bonuses. The privately held company makes intelligent application management and automation software. Cisco says that the company's line will enhance its data center product and service delivery ...

With his groundbreaking, immersive computer games, Will Wright allowed all of us to build our own virtual worlds and populate them with characters and creatures of our own designs. Now he gets a similar opportunity to fashion the next stage of his career -- and quite possibly that of interactive ent...

Consumers have come to accept that songs can be purchased a la carte for 99 US cents via the Internet. That is a result, of course, of Apple's revolutionary introduction of the iPod music player and the iTunes music store several years ago. Before then, consumers had few options for downloading musi...

Is the Associated Press trying to shoehorn a 21st-century technology into a 20th-century business model? Or is it merely trying to protect content that allows Google and others to rake in money while it is left holding the lost-revenue bag? The answers to those questions may end up coming from a cou...

Traditionally, IT product marketing emphasizes immediate and short-term technical performance. This week's/month's/year's hot new products are compared side-by-side with those of competitors, benchmark benefits are extolled and shortcomings magnified. However, a confluence of global events is making...

As the ongoing global economic crisis continues to impact the technology sector, many employees who once thought their jobs were secure are being given pink slips and shown the door. Giants like Microsoft, IBM and Sun Microsystems have cut tens of thousands of jobs in just the first quarter of 2009,...

Sun Microsystems has rejected IBM's offer to acquire it for $7 billion, a move that took the tech industry by surprise and sent Sun stock plummeting. Speculation is rampant as to why Sun Microsystems spurned the offer -- a move critics view as downright foolish in this economy -- as well as what th...

Is Google close to making a bid for Twitter? Reportedly, yes, though neither company has made official announcements. Google declined to discuss the issue. "We don't comment on rumor or speculation," Google spokesperson Rachel Nearnberg told the E-Commerce Times. Twitter cofounder Biz Stone ducked t...

Job insecurity combined with financial fear-mongering has consumers slashing their budgets. Cell phone and premium TV services look like easy items to eliminate. Typically, however, those services tie users to contracts as well as three ugly words: early termination fees. Can customers break those c...

A bill introduced in the U.S. Senate would give the government dramatic new powers to regulate and enforce federal standards for cybersecurity. The government already monitors and regulates military networks, of course. However, the "Cybersecurity Act of 2009" would extend that control to private sy...