Business

Many commercial Web sites fail to pass even basic tests for usefulness and usability largely because their architects use faulty reasoning to justify defective decisions. That's one of the conclusions in a report released by Forrester Research, of Cambridge, Mass. "Designers and stakeholders use fal...

Regulators from the New York Stock Exchange are investigating whether short selling helped fuel the decline of Vonage stock in the wake of the Internet calling company's disappointing initial public offering. The NYSE reportedly sent letters of inquiry to investment bankers and others in an attempt ...

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed the "Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act of 2006 by 321-101. If it becomes law, the bill will open the cable television market to further competition, allowing phone companies such as Verizon to offer subscription video programming.

U.S. Internet companies and other advocates of guaranteed network neutrality suffered a setback Thursday when an effort to tack a net neutrality amendment onto a larger cable reform bill could not muster enough votes. After several hours of debate, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 269 to 152 ...

Executive coaching has become very popular over the last few years. In fact, a great deal has been written about it, and quite a few coaching companies have sprouted up across the country. Some of these companies are even franchised, hoping to sell their "formula" to would-be coaches. Many businesse...

The question for marketers today is not whether to make online communities part of the marketing mix, it's how to tap them and what kind to create. Communispace is creating private online communities designed to uncover valuable research metrics to stimulate marketing efforts, while also serving as ...

As lawmakers gear up to debate the notion of passing legislation to ensure so-called net neutrality, an alternative approach to create a two-tiered Internet -- something many Web companies say will put them at a disadvantage -- appears to be gaining momentum. The House of Representatives was expecte...

Is momentum for worldwide regulation of the Internet mounting? Unfortunately, the answer to that horrid question is "yes." Last November, a worldwide political pact calling for "increased international involvement" in the creation of Internet governance policies -- and inter-government cooperation ...

Search giant Google may seek to alter terms of the agreement it made in order to conduct its Web search business in China. Google co-founder Sergey Brin suggested the move after admitting the company's decision to agree to censorship conflicts with its philosophy and famous "do no evil" motto. Brin...

For the second time in a month, Apple Computer has filed a lawsuit accusing Singapore-based computer and consumer device maker Creative Technology of infringing on its patents, including those behind the market-dominant iPod portable music player. The suit from Apple comes after Creative, which is t...

IBM said Tuesday it would triple the amount it spends to build out its India operations over the next three years, spending US$6 billion to hire workers and build research labs and other facilities. CEO Samuel J. Palmisano announced the planned investment during a speech to some 10,000 of IBM's 43,0...

With its initial public offering stumbling badly out of the gate, VoIP provider Vonage has been hit with a suit from a law firm representing shareholders, many of whom were customers who bought shares at a price higher than the stock is now trading. The law firm of Motley Rice LLC said Friday it fil...

Microsoft could soon face another private antitrust suit after talks with Adobe broke down over the level of support Microsoft would include for portable document format (PDF) in its upcoming Office 2007 suite. Reports say Microsoft expects Adobe to file suit, most likely in Europe, where regulators...

Most of us have a subtle, almost subconscious, awareness that the dollar is vulnerable to a currency crisis. Why? Because we realize that our US$4.8 trillion national debt is growing, due to our yearly deficits that have been running in the hundreds of billions. What has kept our dollar strong so fa...

After four straight years of declining revenue, Sun Microsystems said Wednesday it plans to cut 4,000 to 5,000 jobs in the next six months. The layoffs are part of a series of cost-cutting measures the company's board of directors approved to stimulate growth and a return to consistent profitability...