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Google has purchased upstart social networking site Dodgeball.com, a move that could bring together its own social networking efforts, its bid to gain more control over communications tools -- including in the mobile world -- and its ambitions to be more of a Web portal than a search firm, all at on...

There's no doubt about it, Microsoft is a behemoth. It has permeated the computer industry and has an enormous amount of clout. So, what's to rain on Microsoft's parade? Actually, a threat is emerging that can do considerable damage to this powerful software company. The threat is free software. Thi...

Eyeing enhancements to its instant messaging (IM) platform as it vies for users with AOL and Yahoo, Microsoft's MSN unit has purchased a firm that provides alerts through IM. Microsoft did not disclose the purchase price for MessageCast, a privately held firm whose broadcast messaging system works w...

Hoping to elevate mobile Web browsing from its current status as a "second class experience," a massive technology consortium has promised to turn its focus to making Internet browsing from a hand-held device more convenient. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), a group of some 350 technologies comp...

Microsoft announced today that Philips Electronics has agreed to use its software for playing digital audio and video on its semiconductors and consumer electronics products. Analysts called the deal a significant win for Microsoft. Under the terms of the non-exclusive deal, Philips said it will sup...

On April 27, President George Bush signed a copyright bill that aims to legalize technology that allows users to automatically skip over or mute objectionable content in movie DVDs. Contained in DVD players and other devices, the filtering technology allows parents to prevent their children from see...

Yahoo has added a subscription service to its digital music offerings as the portal bids to use its vast resources, name recognition and experience in e-commerce to shake up what is rapidly becoming one of the most crowded niches in online business. Yahoo Music Unlimited, as the service is known, op...

Bidding to boost its standing among security companies by acquiring one of the fastest growing forms of computer menace, Trend Micro said today it would buy a privately held anti-spyware firm in a deal worth about US$15 million. Trend Micro, which is based in Tokyo, Japan, said it would buy InterMu...

Coming off its best year ever in terms of sales growth, the mobile handset industry is set to see slowing rates of expansion going forward as established markets become saturated with cell phone users, according to a new report. Research firm IDC said mobile phone shipments grew 34 percent in 2004 t...

Are you considering outsourcing a customer support or software development project? Here are some practical tips, oriented towards South Asian facilities but relevant to North American outsourcing providers. It starts with planning, then moves to address payment and invoicing issues, and then lists ...

Consumer spending on broadband-delivered online services -- from streaming music and video to voice over Internet protocol phone calling -- more than doubled last year, according to a new report that bears promising news for telecommunications carriers as well as e-commerce companies and their conte...

The trend for industries to consolidate through major mergers and acquisitions has made its way back to the e-commerce space, with No. 2 online brokerage E*Trade Financial reportedly posed to make a surprise US$5.5 billion bid to buy smaller rival Ameritrade. Neither company has formally acknowledge...

The dot-com crash that saw hundreds of start-up businesses on the Internet close up shop in 1998 and 1999 is not discouraging new Net entrepreneurs. A record number of domain name sales in 2004 shows that business presence on the Internet is stronger than ever. A domain name that reflects an organiz...

In a move that extends its strategy to break down the wall between its online kingdom and the rest of the Web, America Online today said it would open up its free blogging service to anyone with an AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) account. The move seeks to leverage AOL's IM platform -- easily its most s...

Google has released a beta version what is believed to be the first Web accelerator designed specifically for broadband users, a move that quickly met with criticism over privacy and security concerns. Other firms have developed similar technology, but it is designed mainly to streamline page downlo...