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For thousands of years, auctions remained largely unchanged -- until 1995, when a computer programmer posted a single item online. The result: A broken laser pointer found a home, and Pierre Omidyar founded eBay. Unlike its slow-to-change offline predecessor, the online auction has gone through som...

Google announced Monday it intends to purchase Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, pursuant to regulatory approval. That price is a premium of 63 percent over the closing price of Motorola Mobility shares on Friday. The deal was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies. The...

A partially redacted letter supposedly sent from AT&T to the FCC has raised new questions about the pending merger between AT&T and T-Mobile, bringing to light the money at stake and whether the merger is necessary, as AT&T claims, to expand wireless broadband coverage. Since February, A...

A partially redacted letter supposedly sent from AT&T to the FCC has raised new questions about the pending merger between AT&T and T-Mobile, bringing to light the money at stake and whether the merger is necessary, as AT&T claims, to expand wireless broadband coverage. Since February, A...

A social network makes changes to its privacy policy. Shortly thereafter, users are shocked to see their names and photos appear in in-house ads. For example, an ad promoting the services of a local printer might include the faces of three "followers" of that particular company. Is this Facebook pri...

EXPERT ADVICE

Commerce 3.0: Online Research, Offline Buying

In an era when the sting of recession has not yet worn off, many consumers are continuing to look for ways to save a few dollars. One of the effects on the retail industry is the increasing desire of shoppers to avoid unnecessary shipping fees. While many consumers want to be able to purchase an ite...

Google+ challenged its top competitor Facebook on Thursday by adding games to the newly launched social networking site. Google has begun a gradual roll-out of the games, stating they should be fully available to all users soon. Google+ users will have a selection of 16 games to choose from at first...

It's no secret that nearly everyone is on Facebook. So, it shouldn't be a surprise that corporate recruiters are starting to infiltrate the world's largest social network in search of potential new hires. It makes sense for corporate headhunters to set up shop on Facebook for numerous reasons, start...

Over the past two years, I've been chronicling the evolution of the channel in the cloud in my monthly commentaries in this space. Although many industry pundits have predicted the disintermediation of the channel in the cloud computing marketplace, I continue to see signs of success but under a new...

Cisco Comes Roaring Back

Cisco's efforts to revamp its business -- cutting jobs and shaving $1 billion from expenses -- seems to be paying off. After three disappointing quarters, the company wowed the street with its fourth-quarter performance, delivering $11.2 billion in sales, exceeding Wall Street's forecast of $10.98 ...

Did AT&T just get chink in its armor? Something curious and interesting may be happening at the phone giant. Its growth seems to be slowing, according to the latest quarterly results. I watched Verizon for something similar that would show a trend in the industry, but its growth still looks stro...

Did AT&T just get chink in its armor? Something curious and interesting may be happening at the phone giant. Its growth seems to be slowing, according to the latest quarterly results. I watched Verizon for something similar that would show a trend in the industry, but its growth still looks stro...

Nokia revealed a bold move Wednesday as it announced its North American operations will stop selling cellphones based on its Symbian operating system and introduce from now on only smartphones based on Microsoft Windows Phone 7. The head of Nokia's U.S. subsidiary, Chris Weber, broke the news in an ...

The Rise of We-Commerce

It just makes sense that consumers tend to trust the opinions and recommendations of friends before they trust those of advertisers, promoters and retailers. Social shopping sites, which combine features of social networking with online sales, seek to capitalize on the sharing and trust that exist b...

TECHNOLOGY LAW CORNER

Apple's Mounting Trademark Challenges

Apple's brand name is currently the most valuable name in the world. Google held that title for the last four years, and now Apple has finally surpassed it. The top 10 are all very familiar names: Apple, Google, IBM, McDonald's, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, AT&T, Marlboro, China Mobile and GE. So what'...

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