Archives: November 2008

Twitter: Growing Business Use?

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on November 25, Categories: Twitter

I get a steady stream of emails from Twitter notifying me that someone has started following my posts (swildstrom, if you're interested) on the microblogging service. I'm never sure just...

Blockbuster and Netflix Take Their Competing Models Online

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on November 25, Categories: digital media

Blockbuster and Netflix have very different visions of how the residential movie distribution business works in the physical world. Netflix customers pay as little as $5 a month for...

Hmm, Could Search (Meaning Google) Actually Buck the Economy?

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 25, Categories: Google, Search, advertising

Two new reports appear to indicate that search--and by extension Google--might do better despite the tanking economy than investors may think. And investors are bearish indeed. Google's stock fell again...

Measuring the Market for Hacked Data

Posted by: Aaron Ricadela on November 24, Categories: security

Cyber criminals have assembled a black market for information worth $276 million, according to a new study by computer security company Symantec, which is spotlighting the results as these underground...

The Silver Lining on GM's Private Plane PR Problem: At Least GM Leased.

Posted by: Peter Burrows on November 21, Categories: Corporate Excess

If you're going somewhere with tin cup in hand, it's probably best to leave the corporate jet at home. That's what GM CEO Rick Wagoner and other Detroit car execs...

Google Launches SearchWiki for Customized Search Results

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 20, Categories: Google, Microsoft, Search, Yahoo

After almost a year of testing and some recent early sightings, Google today is planning to launch SearchWiki, a way for searchers to edit their own search results. When you...

Consumer Electronics With A Twist

Posted by: Olga Kharif on November 19, Categories: Chips

One good thing that could come out of this economic downturn is an explosion of innovation in consumer electronics. There are signs that the electronics industry may be inching closer to breaking a new frontier and offering flexible consumer electronics.

Cisco Needs To Step Up To Reduce Net Censorship, Says Net Freedom Advocate

Posted by: Peter Burrows on November 19, Categories:

I recently finished writing a story on Net censorship in Saudi Arabia, as part of a larger package on Cisco's ambitions in the world's emerging markets. Throughout the process, my...

Microsoft to Stop Charging For Home PC Security

Posted by: Aaron Ricadela on November 19, Categories: Microsoft, Personal Computers, security

Two years after jumping into the PC security software market, Microsoft is scaling back its ambitions there. The company said Nov. 18 it’s discontinuing its $50-a-year OneCare software in favor...

Apple's iPhone to Debut at Wal-Mart?

Posted by: Olga Kharif on November 19, Categories: Apple

Several blogs are claiming that Apple's iPhone will go on sale at Wal-Mart beginning Dec. 28. Is this the right move for Apple? You bet.

Who Should Lead Yahoo? Answer: Nobody

Posted by: Spencer Ante on November 18, Categories:

From Creative Capital: Well, no one can say they didn't see it coming. Jerry Yang is finally out at Yahoo, reports Kara Swisher with the big scoop. And no one...

Focus On The Big Fish, SEC. There Will Always Be Mark Cubans To Go After

Posted by: Peter Burrows on November 18, Categories: Insider Trading

So SEC, you're going after Mark Cuban, for alleged insider trading on a company nobody has heard of? Really? Don't get me wrong. $750,000 is an awful lot of money...

Jerry Yang to Step Down As Yahoo CEO; Will Microsoft Return?

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 17, Categories: Google, Microsoft, Search, Yahoo, advertising

Yahoo co-founder and CEO Jerry Yang will step down as CEO as soon as a successor is found, the embattled Internet company just announced. The release (quoted in full after...

Spansion Fires A Salvo Amid Memory Slump

Posted by: Aaron Ricadela on November 17, Categories: Chips

Amid a memory chip market decimated by competition and plunging prices, flash memory maker Spansion is trying to remodel itself as a technology licensing company. It announced its intention with...

Windows Live--Welcome to the Social

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on November 17, Categories: Microsoft

I'm a bit late getting to this, but Microsoft has finally taken the wraps off its completely overhauled Windows Live service, Redmond's attempt to become a force in the burgeoning...

Why Obama Should Keep His BlackBerry

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on November 17, Categories: wireless

The news over the weekend was full of stories about (the AP's, for example) how Barack Obama will have to give up his beloved BlackBerry once he enters the White...

Valleywag On The YouTube Election

Posted by: Arik Hesseldahl on November 14, Categories: YouTube

Consider for a moment that the last time this nation elected a president that YouTube didn't exist. Then consider for a moment how important Google's YouTube and sites like it...

The Ax-Man Finally Arrives at Sun.

Posted by: Peter Burrows on November 14, Categories: Sun Microsystems

It's a hard thing to watch Sun. On the day the company takes another whack at giving Wall Street the massive layoffs its been demanding, the immediate reaction seems to...

Obama's New Lobbying Rules May Affect FCC Chief Selection

Posted by: Olga Kharif on November 11, Categories: wireless

Henry Rivera, an influential Washington lawyer who was expected to be key in selecting the next chairman of the Federal Communications Committee, may have to help Obama with something else, instead. Blame new lobbying rules the Obama team announced today.

Will Facebook's Apps Contest Jumpstart Its New Advertising Strategy?

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 11, Categories: Facebook

Facebook has just launched a new voting application that will allow its members to cast votes on which of 25 selected new applications should win funding from its $10 million...

NPD: People Are Using Their Smartphones More

Posted by: Olga Kharif on November 11, Categories: wireless

Consultancy NPD came out with a new survey today that shows that consumers are spending a lot more time using their portable electronic devices, such as PlayStation Portable, the iPod and the iPhone.

Intel Tries Its Hand at Home Health Care Market

Posted by: Cliff Edwards on November 10, Categories: Intel

Remember all the fanfare three years ago when Intel CEO Paul Otellini suggested digital health might be one of the chipmaker's best big growth opportunities? You're forgiven if you don't,...

HTC Touch Pro: Much Better With a Keyboard

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on November 10, Categories: wireless

I was not at all impressed with the HTC Touch Diamond when I took a look at it in September. The main difference between it an its big brother, the...

Sun Drops Google for Microsoft Search

Posted by: Peter Burrows on November 09, Categories:

Microsoft and Sun Microsystems announced that Microsoft's Live Search will be distributed with Java, which is downloaded tens of millions of times a year. So when people download Java for...

LIVE: Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg at Web 2.0 Summit

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 06, Categories: Facebook, Web 2.0

Mark Zuckerberg, the still impossibly young CEO of social network phenom Facebook, is onstage at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, interviewed by conference leader John Battelle. Here's what...

Yang Says Microsoft Buyout Still ‘Not a Bad Idea’

Posted by: Aaron Ricadela on November 05, Categories: Yahoo

“It’s been a pretty amazing year,” Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang said at the outset of an on-stage interview at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco Nov. 5. Chalk one...

White Spaces: The Wait for Devices

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on November 05, Categories: wireless

The FCC's decision to open up more spectrum for mobile wireless, reported yesterday by my colleague Olga Kharif, is a big step forward. But it's going to be some time...

What the Failure of the Google-Yahoo Deal Means

Posted by: Spencer Ante on November 05, Categories: advertising

So the Google-Yahoo search deal finally fell apart. It's not terribly surprising. From the beginning, I said that this deal was very problematic, probably anti-competitive, and would raise the ire...

Google Ends Search Advertising Deal with Yahoo

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 05, Categories: Google, Search, Yahoo

After four months of wrangling with the Justice Department, Google has ditched its search advertising deal with Yahoo. The move, announced unilaterally by Google, had been widely expected in recent...

Election Night Twitter: Good News, Bad News

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on November 04, Categories: Twitter

It looks like Twitter, which has had a tendency to collapse under heavy loads, has really got its infrastructure in order. As of 11 pm Eastern, the service was holding...

Why You Can't Vote Online

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on November 04, Categories: computer science

The question arises every two years, especially after an election in which voters had to stand in line for hours and faced a variety of problems with electronic voting machines:...

FCC Makes White Spaces Free for All

Posted by: Olga Kharif on November 04, Categories: wireless

On Nov. 4, the Federal Communications Commission unanimously approved to allocate a swatch of wireless spectrum for public uses similar to Wi-Fi.

What Linux Needs To Win on Desktops

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on November 04, Categories: open source software

The Register, a snarky British online tech publication, has a great example of the challenges facing Linux if it is ever to make real progress displacing Windows or Mac OX...

Searching for a New President: Obama Wins on Search Engine Optimization

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 04, Categories: Google, Obama, Search, advertising

If Barack Obama wins the election today, will it be because his Web geeks know how to do search engine optimization, commonly known as SEO? Of course not, but apparently...

Election Day Plays Out on the Social Web

Posted by: Olga Kharif on November 03, Categories: Web 2.0

Social media revolutionized the way campaigns were carried out online. How will the new, user-generated Web cover — and influence — Election Day? BusinessWeek bloggers will be monitoring the gamut of social sites and blogs throughout the day to provide a roundup of how Nov. 4 plays out online.

White Spaces Vote Still On... For Now

Posted by: Olga Kharif on November 03, Categories: wireless

A news story is going around, claiming that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has decided to cancel its vote on white spaces tomorrow. Well, I just checked with the FCC, and was told, "That is not true." So the vote, which could provide more wireless spectrum for free public use, is still on, for now.

Report: Google, Yahoo Revise Search Advertising Deal

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 03, Categories: Google, Microsoft, Search, Yahoo, advertising

Google and Yahoo have made major concessions in their proposed search advertising deal in hopes of getting the Justice Department to go along with it, according to a Wall Street...

Microsoft and Yahoo Duel Over Who Can Lose the Most Media Executives

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 03, Categories: Microsoft, Yahoo, advertising

When they aren't letting each other know how little they think of each other, Microsoft and Yahoo seem to be engaged in another contest: Who can lose the most Internet...

Windows 7: The New User Account Control

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on November 03, Categories: Microsoft

One of the most annoying futures of Vista is the User Account Control window that, unless you have disabled the feature, pops up when you do any of a...