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A few weeks ago, I read a SmartMoney article titled "10 Things Cable Companies Won't Tell You." I have to admit it was a real eye-opener. We are all aware of a few of these items, but to have them all laid out in one piece was very powerful. It looked at many top cable players such as Comcast, Time ...

After an arguably crummy 2012 for Facebook, it is kicking off 2013 on a positive note: J.P. Morgan raised its price target on the social network giant from $29 to $35 at the start of the year, citing the progress the company has made with its mobile advertising business unit. Morgan research analyst...

Zynga has closed down 11 of its social games this week, including PetVille, Mafia Wars 2, Vampire Wars and Mafia Wars Shakedown. Some of the titles were completely shut down, while others were pulled from app stores or simply stopped accepting new players. Zynga intends to reallocate resources to mo...

Despite the arrival of a plethora of new tablets and Ultrabooks, plus a new operating system from Microsoft that was expected to drive PC sales, 2012 was a gloomy year for chip manufacturers. As any confident gambler might do when the chips are down, the leading consumer electronics original equipme...

It was a busy summer for Microsoft and chief executive Steve Ballmer. The software giant released customer previews and ship dates for the newest versions of its flagship Windows and Office products; purchased Yammer, a cloud-based enterprise social networking company; hosted its annual Worldwide Pa...

The decentralization of software and services has greatly changed the way businesses need to approach and appeal to their customers' whims. Before, software vendors could work with distributors to get their boxes onto shelves and into customers' hands -- but when was the last time you went to Fry's ...

Some Netflix customers found themselves without service on Christmas Eve -- an unpardonable lapse on a day when many are snuggled in their homes and eager for entertainment. The streaming video provider has caught its fair share of flak for the outage -- but it was not solely to blame for its servic...

More bibliophiles are turning to e-books rather than their paper forebears for their reading consumption. The percentage of people who read e-books in the past year jumped from 16 percent to 23 percent, according to a study by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project. As tablet...

One of the features of Amazon Prime, in addition to free two-day shipping, is access to free video content. To sweeten the deal, Amazon is using its Amazon Studios division to produce original content: The company has ordered six pilots for original series, which will become available on Prime Insta...

How much do federal agencies need to spend on data center consolidation investments now, in order to save money later? It could be quite a lot. The U.S. Department of Labor, for example, figures that $60 million or so will do the trick in meeting its data center consolidation goals. Last month, DOL ...

Google is heading into the new year with a new set of enterprise customers, the result of moves made this year to revamp its cloud-based productivity applications. For years, Google has been infiltrating areas beyond its core search business. This was the first year it was able to make real headway ...

Instagram's recent changes to its terms of service have led one user to file a proposed class action lawsuit against the company, alleging breach of contract and other violations. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco last week by California user Lucy Funes, claims that Instagram's...

Online advertising spending hit a record $9.26 billion in the third quarter of 2012, an 18 percent increase over the same period last year. The IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report for the third quarter of 2012, released last week by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers, ...

The Consumer Electronics Show kicks off Jan. 8 in Las Vegas, and it looks like it will be another big success. So what will be hot during this year's show? There are plenty of new ideas that will wow you. Let's take a quick peek at what we can expect. Gary Shapiro, CEO of the Consumer Electronics As...

How can classic retail, the brick-and-mortar physical stores dotting our neighborhoods, compete with the likes of Amazon and Zappos? Can real-world retail survive e-commerce? And if it can, what's the trick? How do retailers intend to meet this growing threat? We're now seeing something insidious t...