Author Archive
Posted in March 10th, 2010
“Avatar” may be the box office champ in this or any other galaxy, and the first weekend of ticket sales for “Alice in Wonderland” has certainly put a Cheshire Cat smile on the faces of Walt Disney studio executives. However, all that monetary activity stems from watching those two movies in the plush, dark expanses of a special, 3-D-enabled movie theater.
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Posted in February 19th, 2010
If competition for Google is still “just a click away” — as its executives kept saying last summer to anybody who would listen — then the U.S. Justice Department and the European Commission made that click easier with their decisions this week to bless the Microsoft-Yahoo search technology merger. Here’s the new search query for this latest development: Will consumers get the hint?
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Posted in February 17th, 2010
Just as Skype devotees use the Voice over Internet Protocol service to talk to friends and family anywhere in the world, Verizon Wireless used Skype Tuesday to send a loud message of its own to Apple, AT&T and the rest of the competition: We can play the VoIP game too. Beginning in March, Verizon said, the wireless carrier will offer a full suite of Skype mobile services on nine of its smartphones.
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Posted in February 16th, 2010
A newly formed international consortium has claimed it can be the glue that unites a fragmented mobile applications market. However, if the Wholesale Applications Community can’t deliver on its promise of an open platform that will let developers write apps for all devices — save perhaps Apple’s iPhone — then that “glue” could simply result in a stickier situation in the mobile space.
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Posted in February 12th, 2010
After enjoying a holiday bounce, the U.S. video game industry came crashing back down to Earth in January with post-Christmas double-digit drops in hardware and software sales, according to the latest figures from industry researchers NPD Group. However, new gaming categories for casual, social media and smartphones may offer a glimmer of hope for companies still stuck in a recessionary swamp.
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Posted in February 8th, 2010
Two Monday technology stories, both involving China: Call them the yin and yang of that country’s attempts to repair its image following Google’s recent hacking allegations and the search giant’s subsequent threats to end its business dealings in the country. Chinese police are trumpeting their shutdown of a major hacker training Web site and three related arrests.
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Posted in February 5th, 2010
Apple’s new iPad may look like a thin, fragile piece of hardware, but it’s apparently strong enough for publishing houses to use as a powerful wedge against Amazon in their negotiations over e-book pricing. Hachette Group became the latest publisher to announce it was going to move to the “agency” relationship with retailers, which would result in a higher pricing structure.
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Posted in February 3rd, 2010
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin wants to know if Google’s current dustup with China has the potential to create more cracks in that country’s Great Firewall. So late Tuesday, the Illinois Democrat sent letters to 30 top technology companies — including Apple, Facebook, Cisco, Verizon and Amazon — asking them to attend a new round of congressional hearings next month.
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Posted in February 3rd, 2010
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin wants to know if Google’s current dustup with China has the potential to create more cracks in that country’s Great Firewall. So late Tuesday, the Illinois Democrat sent letters to 30 top technology companies — including Apple, Facebook, Cisco, Verizon and Amazon — asking them to attend a new round of congressional hearings next month.
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Posted in February 2nd, 2010
A brief stroll through the Google Solutions Marketplace shows you that the search giant is already working and playing well with others when it comes to the business of specialized business software. Need something to give your Google Calendar a little sharing and productivity boost? What about enhancements to Google Spreadsheets?
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