Business

IBM, in a move to bolster its presence in the electronic forms market, is expected to close a deal tomorrow to acquire developer PureEdge Solutions. Terms of the acquisition have not been made public. PureEdge, of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, is a developer of electronic forms using open-so...

A recent survey in the United States has highlighted the growing trend of employers to electronically monitor employees in the workplace. According to the 2005 Electronic Monitoring & Surveillance Survey conducted by the American Management Association (AMA) and The ePolicy Institute, employers ...

IBM has announced it will separate its services businesses, creating two divisions to focus on the different types of consulting and outsourcing that now make up half of Big Blue's total revenue stream. The move, announced yesterday when IBM reported strong earnings for the second quarter, comes aft...

This fight over the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is all about a golden key, as without it, the Internet is completely useless. That golden key is a name on the Net called a URL. It's all about the master design of a sophisticated key management system so that billions ...

Venture capital investment for the Internet could be poised to return to a healthy volume not seen since the late 1990s and earlier this decade. In a sign of renewed confidence in the prospects of the consumer Internet, the founders of PayPal, based in San Francisco, and a number of other successfu...

Hewlett-Packard revealed its long-anticipated restructuring plan today, saying it would cut 14,500 jobs, freeze pensions and revamp its structure as it seeks to remake itself into a leaner enterprise better able to compete with the likes of Dell and to regain market share lost in recent years. HP sa...

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 48.9 million units in the second quarter of 2005, a 14.8 percent increase from the same period last year, according to preliminary results by Gartner. The PC market exceeded Gartner's previous projections by 2 percentage points. Apple Computers showed the biggest growt...

This has been a bad couple weeks for your country, Pakistan. Every day brings more bad news. The worst indication is the drop in confidence among broad segments of the business community in Pakistan earlier this month, particularly the tech sector, which has been growing at over 50 percent per year ...

Dell customers are grieving over the computer maker's decision to shut down its Customer Care message boards. As the Customer Care boards have been an integral part of the company's Community Forum, the service shutdown has some questioning Dell's commitment to its customers. Dell posted a message o...

Microsoft came up with a hulking win in the gaming world today, announcing that it had cemented exclusive rights to develop and publish multiplayer, online games using Marvel super heroes. No financial terms were released. Marvel's lineup includes the "Hulk," "Spider-Man," the "Avengers," "Fantastic...

Internet security firm VeriSign today announced it has acquired Reston, Va.-based security intelligence firm iDefense for approximately US$40 million in cash. iDefense provides special intelligence information about network-based security threats and vulnerabilities to financial services firms, gove...

Should bloggers receive federal legal protection so they can shield sources from overzealous prosecutors? Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), believe so. But others in the Congressional leadership with more influence aren't so sure. Two pieces of legislation, S 340 and HR ...

The long-discussed consolidation of the wireless communications industry appears poised to pick up speed again, with the Federal Communications Commission said to be on the verge of approving Sprint's US$35 billion acquisition of Nextel Communications. Staff at the FCC have reportedly forwarded reco...

Agents from the European Commission (EC) have conducted surprise inspections of several offices of leading computer chip maker Intel and other high-technology firms, apparently seeking evidence of antitrust behavior. Intel said that in keeping with company policy, it was cooperating with investigato...

My friend Kevin Dart has always had an eye for English antiques. In fact, he regularly makes a pilgrimage to mother England to buy unique or hard-to-find pieces. Aside from working his "day job," his avocation is selling these pieces for a profit back in the U.S. While this task of hauling or shippi...