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Shareholders upset about Yahoo's lagging performance forced CEO Terry Semel to defend the company's market strategy, even as he and other company-backed officers were re-elected to the portal's board of directors. Yahoo shareholders defeated a proposal to change the way executive pay is determined, ...

Bringing services-oriented architectures to life is a lot like delivering a baby -- it requires a copious nurturing, understanding, labor and ultimately ... pushing. So far, the job openings for SOA midwives outstrip the available pool of talent. These are great jobs: transforming companies and indu...

In today's competitive marketplace, securing online market share and mindshare are paramount to any business. Online market share is becoming increasingly important, with more and more consumers using the Internet. In January, 747 million people worldwide -- ages 15 and over -- used the Internet, a ...

Another day, another charge that Microsoft has violated its consent decree -- or so it must seem to the software titan, which has been battling such accusations ever since the mega antitrust case against it ended in 2002. In the latest controversy, though, the company lodging the complaint is none o...

Electronics maker Toshiba lowered its sales target for high-definition DVD players and recorders based on slumping sales figures in the United States. The Tokyo-based company now expects to sell 1 million of its optical disc players in the country by the end of this year, down 44 percent from its pr...

Chipmaker Texas Instruments narrowed its second-quarter fiscal outlook late Monday, reducing the high end of its forecast range on weaker demand for wireless networking gear and calculators sold to the education market. Texas Instruments -- a bellwether of sorts because it is the world's largest mak...

In five years, the number of mobile phone subscribers is expected to increase by almost two billion -- at that point, the way people purchase goods and services could be forever changed. For now, text-messaging, or short message service, is chiefly used for communication, but businesses hip to m-com...

A memo apparently written by a key antitrust enforcement official in the U.S. Justice Department is raising suspicions that the Bush Administration unduly favored Microsoft's positions. Issued by Assistant Attorney General Thomas O. Barnett, a former antitrust partner at Covington & Burlington, ...

IBM will acquire Sweden-based Telelogic in a $745 million cash deal, one that gives IBM access to a leading provider of application lifecycle management products. Big Blue will fold Telelogic into its Rational unit -- created in the wake of an earlier acquisition -- where companies will have access ...

Qwest Communications Chairman and CEO Richard C. Notebaert plans to retire from both positions as soon as a successor can be found, the telecommunications carrier said Monday. Qwest will commence a search for a replacement immediately, saying that it "plans no changes in strategy or operations" as a...

In the last a few years, the Internet has turned commerce on its head. Suddenly, once sound retail practices, like the mass-merchandising of a handful of popular products, no longer guarantee a big financial payoff in today's retail environment. The marketplace has become so segmented by niche consu...

It may be against the law for U.S. consumers to import prescription drugs into the United States, but that isn't stopping the growth in rogue Internet pharmacies. In fact, the number of such sites is skyrocketing: The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University found a to...

The hedge funds that earlier this week called for online broker TD Ameritrade to find a merger partner renewed their call for the strategic move, saying the company is ignoring a "massive value creation opportunity." TD Ameritrade had responded to an earlier call to seek a merger partner by saying i...

Mobile phone technology maker Qualcomm plans to ask the White House to step into a trade and patent dispute with rival Broadcom, hoping the Bush administration will overturn a trade ruling that could ban new models of third-general mobile phones containing the company's technology from being sold in...

Since the passage of Sarbanes-Oxley in 2002, board members have become increasingly aware of potential liabilities to board service. Though much of this worry is unfounded, some things still should be watched closely. As a board member, you should be aware of at least some basic indications that the...