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Wall Street has battered tech stocks for more than a year, so one might think the Nasdaq would be littered with bargains. But recent gains in the tech sector have wiped away many of the best opportunities. "Few [stocks] are undervalued. We had that huge snapback, and now they're all grossly overvalu...

As the battle for online revenue extends into 2002's shortened holiday-shopping season, some e-commerce firms may be considering whether to post uncensored reviews of the products they sell, as Amazon does. To be sure, it is a risky proposition -- e-tailers risk losing product sales by having negati...

IBM has announced it will invest $1 billion to provide customers with access to a team of 200 research consultants, who will split their time between pure research and working with customers on real-life computing and business problems. "IT research has to change along with the industry," IBM senior...

In his first appearance since the announcement of the landmark Microsoft antitrust settlement, CEO Steve Ballmer told an audience last week that the software giant is striving to fulfill the provisions of the settlement decree. Of course, it remains to be seen how the company actually will conduct b...

In what may be its most direct competitive move yet against e-tail giant Amazon.com, eBay has announced plans to consolidate its electronics listings into a single online store and to offer free shipping on some purchases. The free shipping move is likely a nod to the fact that Amazon recently exten...

WiFi, a technology that enables wireless Web access at speeds many times faster than a standard dial-up connection, is cropping up in coffee shops, airports and hotels. But despite WiFi's increasing convenience, m-commerce, once seen as a promising way to sell goods, is unlikely to be a boon for ret...

In its first advertising push since its May 2002 merger with Compaq, and on the heels of president Michael Capellas' departure, computer and peripherals maker Hewlett-Packard has unveiled a new campaign to refocus its identity away from its printing and imaging reputation. The campaign, which will c...

In some ways, it is easier than ever to build an e-commerce site. As technology has matured, its price has fallen. However, the growing need to integrate a site's business operations -- such as ordering, sales and call center functions -- has raised the bar, even as the number of e-commerce technolo...

Two new reports suggest online holiday shopping has gotten an early start this year, possibly paving the way for a strong fourth quarter. Nielsen//NetRatings said online shopping activity spiked 12 percent during the week ended November 3rd, with traffic particularly heavy in typical holiday categor...

Number two semiconductor manufacturer AMD has announced it will lay off 2,000 people, or 15 percent of its global workforce, in an attempt to break even in the coming year. A thousand employees will be notified immediately in the United States, Europe and Asia, and the remaining 1,000 will be laid ...

As the U.S. economy continues to traverse shaky ground, companies are asking more of their IT departments. The root of the problem is that many companies, large and small, have pressing IT needs that are not about to disappear -- but they also have far less capital than they once did. The question i...

Just seven months after being hired to revive the America Online Internet brand, James de Castro has announced he is leaving AOL Time Warner. AOL said de Castro is leaving to "seek new opportunities" and indicated he wants to hold a CEO position. De Castro reportedly was disappointed he was not chos...

What is free, easy to learn and manage, and compatible with other file formats and every major platform? (Hint: It also represents one less tie to Microsoft.) The answer is OpenOffice.org, according to the creators, managers and evangelists of this open source office productivity suite. One of the m...

HP president Michael D. Capellas, a key figure in the hard-fought battle over the HP-Compaq merger, will resign his position and is rumored to be the choice to try to resurrect fraud-plagued WorldCom. HP said the president's position will not be filled, leaving CEO Carly Fiorina firmly in control of...

In the last two years, BroadVision's revenues have collapsed, and its market cap has shrunk. Even after a year of aggressive cost cutting, the company's third-quarter results showed continuing losses. That red ink has spurred speculation that BroadVision could run out of money before it executes its...