Business

Dell and AT&T Wireless have announced a joint agreement that will allow Dell's mobile computer customers to access the Internet wirelessly using AT&T's GSM- and GPRS-based technologies. The services to be provided will enable users to connect to the Internet at a data transfer rate of 20 to ...

Venture capitalists may not be the heroic figures they were a few years ago, but they still have the power to decide whether would-be e-business superstars get a chance to seek the limelight. The difference between now and then is scale, Bain Capital Ventures partner Mike Krupka told the E-Commerce ...

Dell plans to introduce a new line of consumer and business printers this week, launching an attack on rival Hewlett-Packard where HP's defenses are strongest. "The printer segment was traditionally one that HP didn't have to worry too much about," Forrester analyst Rob Enderle told the E-Commerce T...

In macro terms, the hostile takeover has been a common, if generally reviled, tactic throughout human history. But does this art of war hold up over the long term in the business world? Are there times when such shotgun marriages turn out to be the right decision for the parties involved? Amid the O...

Fraud on the Web may be analogous to fraud in the real world, but it seems to be far easier to defraud individuals of their bank accounts, cell phone accounts and even entire identities online. In this new medium, the black hats are outpacing the white hats, at least so far. Analysts are hoping the ...

PeopleSoft has commenced its offer to buy software maker J.D. Edwards, forging ahead with the $1.75 billion deal despite Oracle's best efforts to squash the merger. PeopleSoft is offering each J.D. Edwards shareholder $7.05 in cash, plus a fractional share of its own stock, in a deal that values J.D

Oracle has upped the ante in its hostile bid to take control of PeopleSoft, boosting its all-cash offer by 22 percent, or $1.2 billion. Oracle now says it will offer $19.50 per share for all outstanding shares of PeopleSoft stock, making the acquisition worth about $6.3 billion in total. "Oracle rem...

Microsoft has filed suit against 15 spammers in the United States and United Kingdom as part of a stepped-up campaign to stop the flood of junk e-mail. The lawsuits claim the 15 defendants sent some 2 billion unwanted and deceptive messages to members of Microsoft's MSN service and its Web-based Hot...

Microsoft has whittled the number of states appealing its antitrust settlement with the U.S. federal government to one, reaching a deal with West Virginia that will require the software giant to pay at least $21 million in total to consumers, businesses and state agencies. West Virginia's decision t...

Most CIOs at some point have asked: Should I outsource this IT project? The answer can be surprisingly complex, depending on the reasons for considering such a move. According to Gartner principal analyst Bruce Caldwell, savings achieved through outsourcing can be significant -- in the 20 to 30 perc...

Amid talk that U.S. adoption of broadband Internet access is about to slow down, Yahoo has forged an alliance with British Telecom (BT) to launch a co-branded broadband service in the United Kingdom. The two companies will jointly market BT Yahoo! Broadband, and BT will drop its dial-up offering, wh...

According to Giga/Forrester analyst Stacey Quandt, tech-oriented organizations, such as the Johnson Space Center and the U.S. Census Bureau, have begun using the Linux operating system on their desktop computers, and several insurance and financial services firms also are evaluating it. Has Linux fi...

EBay has announced it will plunk down $150 million to buy the remaining two-thirds of Chinese e-commerce site EachNet, which, like eBay, sells a wide range of items in both auction and fixed-price formats. The news propelled eBay stock past the $100 mark once again, with shares up more than a dollar...

Despite a relatively strong first quarter, sales of personal computers will grow more slowly than expected this year and next -- 6.3 percent in 2003 and 10.3 percent in 2004 -- according to a report from IDC. Because of price pressures, the total value of PCs shipped actually will decline more than ...

Apple Computer has accomplished a raft of goals since Steve Jobs returned to its helm in 1997. But there is one hurdle that Apple, with all its creativity, has not been able to leap. The company's share of the desktop computer market continues to hover at between 3 and 5 percent, the same as it was ...