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On the heels of IBM's decision to sell its PC unit to Chinese player Lenovo, Forrester Research is reporting that the number of personal computers in use worldwide will more than double to almost 1.3 billion by the end of the decade. That's up from 575 million today, according to the Forrester repor...

In a deal that further reduces the number of large wireless companies in the U.S. and leaves three heavyweight companies to duke it out, Sprint said today it would buy Nextel Communications for about US$35 billion in stock and cash. The merger, rumors of which began to circulate last week, will inst...

Melodeo and Warner Music Group today announced they have signed an agreement to allow consumers to securely download entire tracks from WMG's music catalog directly to their mobile phones. Melodeo, a Seattle-based company, provides music to wireless subscribers through a mobile-music solution instal...

The second week of the prime holiday shopping season accounted for US$2.2 billion of online purchases, with the number of transactions up 21 percent over the same week last year, according to VeriSign's latest e-commerce data. Monday, December 6, was the peak day of the week, accounting for 5.4 mill...

There are thousands of very, very small companies out there who will develop a logo at no cost, a tagline at no cost, get you a free domain name and a free Web site at no cost. I guess the next big thing will be that they also write you a fat check -- all for free. Who are these enterprises and how ...

Undaunted by the failure of the recording industry to convince courts to hold peer-to-peer networks responsible for piracy, the movie industry is taking its own legal action against server operators they say have enabled "hundreds of millions" of copyrighted files to be shared illegally. The Motion ...

Microsoft has announced a beta version of its new MSN Toolbar Suite, which includes desktop search functionality designed to help users quickly find virtually any type of document, media file or e-mail message on their Windows-based PC. MSN Toolbar Suite is the promised response to the Google Deskto...

Usage of Microsoft Internet Explorer continues to fall in the United States, dropping 1.09 percentage points to 91.80 percent of the browser market between November 5 and December 3, more than triple the rate of loss of the previous month, a study shows. Meanwhile, over the past month, the U.S. brow...

The Internet's governing body has cleared the way for two new top-level domains, one of which is designed to make it easier for users to find information on mobile devices and a second that would be set aside for job postings. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) said it w...

While there are still a few days left in the holiday shopping season, all signs point to merry profits for portals. In the effort to catch that cash, this year has seen some eye-catching promotions from old favorites and some new players with promising propositions. It's all about the customer's sho...

Why do almost 80 percent of e-commerce and other software development projects undertaken in the U.S. fail to be completed on time, or within budget, or to function as anticipated? What is the biggest cause of these failures? Most problems stem from an unwillingness or inability to develop adequate ...

In a move to beef up its security for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) offerings, 3Com today announced it has agreed to acquire publicly held TippingPoint Technologies, a network security products maker, for about US$430 million. 3Com will pay $47 cash per outstanding share of TippingPoint stock,...

Gary Winnick, the founder and chairman of Global Crossing, the telecommunications company that became a symbol of late 1990s corporate excess, will not face a civil insider trading charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Winnick's attorney Gary Naftalis issued a statement saying t...

Reversing a stance its board of directors held fast for 18 months, PeopleSoft today agreed to be acquired by Oracle for US$10.3 billion, clearing the way for a merger that sparked one of the longest and most bitter business battles in the history of the tech industry. The merger promises to dramatic...

Ten days after the successful launch of Nintendo DS, Sony put its PlayStation Portable (PSP) on sale in Japan at a discounted price of 19,800 yen (US$189). It looks like sales are off to a good start. Reuters reported that game fans stood in lines through a chilly Tokyo night to be among the first i...