Archives: September 2009

RIM's Balsillie Loses Bid To Buy Bankrupt Hockey Team

Posted by: Arik Hesseldahl on September 30, Categories: wireless

Blackberry billionaire James Balsillie has lost his fight for control of the bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes hockey team, about which I wrote last month. An Arizona bankruptcy judge today rejected both...

Boucher's Net Neutrality Effort Could Eclipse the Markey Bill

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on September 30, Categories: Net Neutrality

The Federal Communications Commission is moving aggressively--or as aggressively as the ponderous FCC can move--to implement Chairman Julius Genachowski's proposals to expand and codify network neutrality rules. But the commission...

AdSense Oddity: Gizmodo Burial Urns

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on September 30, Categories: Google

Google AdSense is the service that puts "Ads by Google" display advertisements on many Web pages. It usually does a pretty good job of serving ads relevant to the content...

Cable: Not Impacted by Net Neutrality?

Posted by: Olga Kharif on September 30, Categories: Net Neutrality

Ever since the Federal Communications Commission ruled last year that Comcast had no right to slow down certain applications, such as file-sharing service BitTorrent, running over its network, the impact of the ruling has been subject of much debate. But has there been much of an impact?

National Archives and Footnote Put Paper Records Online

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on September 29, Categories: Digital Imaging

The Obama Administration has won kudos for making much of the government's wealth of data and current publications available to all via the Web. But what about the billions of...

Warner Makes Nice with YouTube

Posted by: Douglas MacMillan on September 29, Categories: YouTube

On Tuesday, Google announced that music videos by Jay-Z, Madonna, Green Day, and other Warner Music artists will return to YouTube after a nearly year-long breakdown in negotiations between the...

IRex: Kindle for the Enterprise?

Posted by: Douglas MacMillan on September 23, Categories: E-books

On Wednesday, iRex Technologies said its new touchscreen e-book reader will go on sale in October with a boost from retail partner Best Buy and wireless service provider Verizon. But...

Intel to Step into Mobile Apps

Posted by: Olga Kharif on September 23, Categories: Chips

On Sept. 23, chipmaker Intel announced it will launch, in 2010, its own store peddling applications for mobile devices. The app store is expected to cater to devices ranging from netbooks to cars to handsets, and to look similar to the popular Apple App Store.

Ellison's Impatience Over Sun

Posted by: Aaron Ricadela on September 22, Categories: Cloud Computing, mainframes, software

Toward the end of Larry Ellison’s freewheeling talk in San Jose on Sept. 21, host Ed Zander got into a spat with a fellow in the back of the room...

How Long Before Net Neutrality Ends Up in Court?

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on September 21, Categories:

I am not a lawyer, nor am I a Federal Communications Commission expert. But I can confidently predict that once the network neutrality rules proposed today by FCC chairman Julius...

Netflix, AT&T are Real Winners of Netflix Prize

Posted by: Douglas MacMillan on September 21, Categories: Netflix

On Monday, video rental service Netflix handed an oversized $1 million check to a team of software engineers who spent the last three years building an improved version of the...

FCC's Genachowski Proposes Modest Net Neutrality Expansion

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on September 21, Categories:

The more fervent advocates of a tough Federal Communications Commission policy on network neutrality are likely to be disappointed by the relatively modest proposals announced by Chairman Julius Genachowski. But...

Venture-Backed Startups: A Growing and Increasingly Important Part of the U.S. Economy

Posted by: Spencer Ante on September 17, Categories: venture capital

Yesterday, the National Venture Capital Association published its fifth overview of the impact of companies backed by venture capital investment in the U.S. economy. The numbers are very interesting and...

Motorola to Release 10 Android Phones?

Posted by: Olga Kharif on September 17, Categories: Motorola

Motorola plans to release at least 10 cell phones based on Android operating system in the next six to 10 months, according to a report from Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry released this morning. On Sept. 10, Motorola showed off its first Android phone, called the Cliq.

Skype Lawsuit May Complicate Sale

Posted by: Douglas MacMillan on September 16, Categories: Skype

Four years ago, Swiss venture capital firm Index Ventures became one of the first backers of Skype. Now, just two weeks after Index and a group of private investors agreed...

Apres Mint, Intuit Must Freshen its Brands

Posted by: Aaron Ricadela on September 16, Categories: Cloud Computing, Mergers And Acquisitions, PC, Web 2.0, software

Now that it’s bought Mint.com to spruce up its personal finance software, Intuit needs to protect a place in the market for its aging Quicken brand. It's got to do...

Facebook Climbs Toward Profitability

Posted by: Douglas MacMillan on September 15, Categories: Facebook

Facebook dominates the social networking landscape when it comes to membership and mindshare, but many have speculated that the company's focus on user growth has strained its ability to ever...

Rubicon Project Buys Others Online in Audience Data Play

Posted by: Rob Hof on September 15, Categories: Google, Rubicon Project, Search, advertising

There's an emerging trend in online advertising that I only flicked at in an article last February on ad networks: As data about people's online activities grows, it's allowing advertisers...

Massive Study of Net Vulnerabilities: They're Not Where You Think They Are

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on September 14, Categories:

There are lots of opinions of where the greatest vulnerabilities in computers and networks lie—just read the comments to any security-related post on this blog for an earful. Hard data,...

Google Fast Flip: Reading Online a Bit More Like Print

Posted by: Rob Hof on September 14, Categories: Google

Print has its advantages. In addition to its portability, a magazine or newspaper is easy to flip through to find what you're looking for, or run across articles or...

Intel Begins Vetting Execs For CEO Role

Posted by: Cliff Edwards on September 14, Categories: Chips

Chipmaker Intel is looking for a few good CEO candidates. The company on Sept. 14 announced a management shakeup that kicks off a three-way race to succeed current CEO Paul...

At Last: IEEE Approves 802.11n Wi-Fi Standard After 7 Years

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on September 13, Categories: wireless

People who criticize companies like Microsoft and Apple for pursuing their own de facto standards instead of working through formal standards bodies might consider the long, strange history of Wi-Fi....

iSuppli: iPhone Will Stay at AT&T

Posted by: Olga Kharif on September 10, Categories: Apple

On Sept. 10, consultant iSuppli released a report that claims that, based on feverish and expensive improvements AT&T is making to its network, there's reason to believe that Apple will renew its contract to deliver the iPhone to AT&T in the U.S. exclusively. iSuppli believes the current contract will expire in mid-2010.

Microsoft Security Essentials Update: Beta Now Closed

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on September 10, Categories: Microsoft

A good news, bad news update on Microsoft Security Essentials, which I wrote about in my current Tech & You column. The bad news is that the public beta test...

Symantec Warns on CyberTerrorism

Posted by: Cliff Edwards on September 09, Categories: malware

Here's a sobering statistic: One in five of us will be victims of a cyber-attack, which are occurring at an astounding rate of every quarter of a second. Following up...

Rhapsody, and Subscription Music, Come to the iPhone

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on September 09, Categories: iPhone

There was a little bit of iPod news that Steve Jobs neglected to mention at Apple's big music event Sept.9. Subscription music in the form of RealNetworks' Rhapsody has come...

Will Genius Fix the Apple App Store?

Posted by: Olga Kharif on September 09, Categories: Apple

Along with new iPods, today Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced App Store Genius, a recommendation engine for the iPhone and iPod touch that suggests apps you might like to download from the App Store.

Reinventing Print Media: IDG's Online Ad Network Gains Traction

Posted by: Spencer Ante on September 08, Categories: advertising

Everyone knows the print media is in a world of hurt. The more difficult question is this: What do publishers do about it? Technology publishing giant IDG just may have...

Interview: Google China's Kai-Fu Lee Debuts Innovation Works

Posted by: Rob Hof on September 06, Categories: Cloud Computing, Google, Kai-Fu Lee, Microsoft, e-commerce, eBay, mobile computing

Kai-Fu Lee became famous in 2005 when the engineering whiz left Microsoft, where he had created Microsoft Research Asia, to head search giant Google’s operation in China. Microsoft sued, charging...

Google China Head Kai-Fu Lee Leaves to Start New Venture

Posted by: Rob Hof on September 04, Categories: Google, Microsoft

The head of Google's China operation is leaving four years after his acrimonious departure from Microsoft, the search giant is announcing Friday. Kai-Fu Lee, president of Google's Greater China operation,...

Forrester: E-Readers Too Pricey

Posted by: Douglas MacMillan on September 03, Categories:

Last month Sony began selling the most affordable electronic book reader on the market, its Pocket Edition, for $200. Turns out, even that's too steep for most people. New research...

Sprint Unveils Its First Android Phone

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

On Sept. 3, Sprint Nextel announced it will soon start selling HTC Hero, a device that's already won accolades in Europe. The smartphone, which will become available on Oct. 11 , is the first device from Sprint to feature Android, a phone operating system developed by a consortium of companies lead by Google. When it comes out, the Hero just may be the snazziest Android-based device around.

MMS Comes to AT&T iPhones Sept. 25

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on September 03, Categories: iPhone

AT&T said that multimedia messaging would be available on the iPhone this summer. The company has just admitted the its going to miss the deadline, but only by four days....

Snow Leopard Upgraders: Update Your Flash Player

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on September 03, Categories: Apple

Another glitch in the upgrade to Snow Leopard has come to light, courtesy of the folks at the security firm Sophos. As explained in a blog post by Sophos' Graham...

Snow Leopard: How Serious Are the Compatibility Issues?

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on September 02, Categories: Apple Computer

It's impossible to tell from the anecdotal reports showing up here and in other forums just how serious Snow Leopard compatibility problems are. My gut feeling is that they are...

CONFIRMED: YouTube Negotiating With Studios to Rent Movies Online

Posted by: Rob Hof on September 02, Categories: Google, YouTube, video

YouTube is negotiating with major Hollywood studios on a plan to stream rented movies on Google's popular video-sharing site. If an agreement is reached, still an uncertainty, it would be...

Is Nokia's Netbook Too Expensive?

Posted by: Olga Kharif on September 02, Categories: wireless

On Sept. 2, Nokia announced the specs of its first netbook, the Nokia Booklet 3G. The netbook, which comes with a global positioning system and runs Nokia mobile services, will cost $819. Most analysts I've talked to expected it to cost less than $500, which is the price of premium netbooks today.

Consumer Groups Call for Online Privacy Guarantees

Posted by: Rob Hof on September 01, Categories: Google, Privacy, Yahoo, advertising

A group of 10 consumer and privacy watchdog groups this morning called for Congress to clamp down on online tracking of people's behavior to target advertising to them as they...

CALL FOR ENTRIES: Help Us Identify the Most Intriguing New Businesses

Posted by: Spencer Ante on September 01, Categories: Entrepreneurship

BusinessWeek is excited to announce a new editorial project to showcase the most intriguing new businesses on the planet. To identify these new businesses, we want to tap the brains...

EBay Sells Skype, Keeps 35% Stake

Posted by: Douglas MacMillan on September 01, Categories: Skype

In a deal announced Tuesday morning, eBay has agreed to sell Internet calling service Skype to a group of investors which includes private equity firm Silver Lake, Index Ventures, Canada...

How Will Windows 7 Impact Your Company's IT Spending Plans?

Posted by: Peter Burrows on September 01, Categories: Reader Poll

I'm starting work on a story on whether or not we're in the early stages of a sustainable turnaround in tech spending, and in particular at the impact of Windows...