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Consider these two observations: First, every half century or so, advertisers accidentally tumble onto a new idea that makes the entire industry go bonkers for a decade or so -- like neon lights, gigantic high-resolution billboards or Web sites. Second, every half century or so, consumers get a brea...

Since the revelation last week that the Justice Department has subpoenaed Google for search term data, Internet users have been awakened to its profound ramifications. At some date in the future, many fear, they may be confronted with questions by the government or from law enforcement agencies abo...

As the dust settles on this latest season's holiday shopping data, there is yet one more issue to consider before this time next year: conversions. The recent release of the Top 40 Online Retail Satisfaction Index, a study produced by ForeSee Results and FGI Research, revealed that consumer satisfac...

The Walt Disney Co. will pay US$7.4 billion to buy Pixar, the groundbreaking animation studio co-founded by Apple CEO Steve Jobs. The deal is noteworthy not only for the potential future benefits entailed in an Apple-Hollywood link, but also because it immediately vaults Disney back to the top of th...

Recent research suggests that satisfaction among customers of 40 top retail Web sites dropped over the holiday season. So says the Top 40 Online Retail Satisfaction Index, a study produced by ForeSee Results and FGI Research. The Index measures the top 40 retailers by revenue and provides a comparis...

Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page and CEO Eric Schmidt aren't getting a raise this year. Each is slated to make in 2006 exactly what they took home last year: US$1. Google said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that the three top executives would again forgo all but...

Microsoft received both good and bad news on the antitrust front. The European Commission has agreed to give the software maker extra time to answer criticisms that it has not opened up its Windows source code as required before facing stiff daily fines. On the other hand, the Department of Justice ...

For the second time in less than a year, the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal by Research In Motion, which was hoping to overturn a lower court ruling that could lead to the shutdown of its BlackBerry mobile e-mail service in the U.S. The failure to win a reprieve from the high court...

The accounting scandal that rocked the Japanese stock market last week escalated Monday with the arrests of the high-profile CEO and other executives of Internet company Livedoor. Prosecutors charged Takafumi Horie, the 33-year-old founder of the company, and his colleagues with violating securities...

Imation on Thursday agreed to acquire Memorex International in an all cash transaction for US$330 million. Contigent on financial performance of the purchased business, Imation could pay an additional sum ranging between $5 million and $45 million over a period of up to three years after close. The ...

Nearly nine out of 10 businesses and other organizations faced some type of computer security incident, a fifth of them were attacked 20 times or more and some US$67 billion was lost as a result of the incursions, according to the 2005 FBI Computer Crime survey. The report, released Thursday by the ...

The strength of the Razr phone helped push Motorola to strong fourth-quarter earnings and revenue results -- but, like other tech companies, it failed to meet or exceed expectations. Motorola also acknowledged some operational difficulties, with profit margins lower in the quarter for all of its mob...

The world economic landscape is rapidly changing. Assuming that you regard the European Union as one economic entity, as of this writing, there are two economic superpowers. Those two superpowers are the U.S. and the E.U., which have roughly equivalent gross domestic products. If your definition li...

The Christmas shopping season may be officially over -- but online shopping continues to flourish with consumers still scrambling to buy iPods, XBox 360s, DVDs and baby cribs and strollers. Wait -- cribs and strollers? The Shopping.com Consumer Demand Index (CDI) for the period of December 26, 2005 ...

Philips Electronics on Thursday announced plans to acquire Lifeline Systems, a personal emergency medical services company. Philips has offered approximiately US$750 million, or $47.75 per share to buy the firm. That's 21 percent higher than Lifeline's closing stock price of $39.49 on Wednesday. Lif...