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BusinessWeek Online -- Tech Beat (39 unread)

Twitter: Growing Business Use?

Posted: November 25th, 2008, 4:12pm CET

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 why people choose to follow my posts, but lately I...
Blockbuster and Netflix Take Their Competing Models Online

Posted: November 25th, 2008, 3:29pm CET

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 as many DVDs as they want to watch, the different...
Hmm, Could Search (Meaning Google) Actually Buck the Economy?

Posted: November 25th, 2008, 6:07am CET

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 today, to about a third of its all-time high, despite...
Measuing the Market for Hacked Data

Posted: November 24th, 2008, 9:21pm CET

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 transactions drive more hacking attacks. Symantec toted up the advertised...
The Silver Lining on GM's Private Plane PR Problem: At Least GM Leased.

Posted: November 21st, 2008, 7:05pm CET

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 found out the hard way, when they were lambasted during...
Google Launches SearchWiki for Customized Search Results

Posted: November 20th, 2008, 6:46pm CET

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 log into your Google account--and you need to have one...
Consumer Electronics With A Twist

Posted: November 19th, 2008, 11:05pm CET

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: November 19th, 2008, 10:03pm CET

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 editor Peter Elstrom and I struggled with how to explain...
Microsoft to Stop Charging For Home PC Security

Posted: November 19th, 2008, 9:32pm CET

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 of a give-away program due next year called Morro. Not...
Apple's iPhone to Debut at Wal-Mart?

Posted: November 19th, 2008, 5:57pm CET

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: November 18th, 2008, 7:06pm CET

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 can say he didn't deserve it. Yang, having spurned Microsoft's...
Focus On The Big Fish, SEC. There Will Always Be Mark Cubans To Go After

Posted: November 18th, 2008, 4:34pm CET

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 where I come from. That's the amount he allegedly saved...
Jerry Yang to Step Down As Yahoo CEO; Will Microsoft Return?

Posted: November 18th, 2008, 1:56am CET

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 the jump, along with Yang's memo to the troops) came...
Spansion Fires A Salvo Amid Memory Slump

Posted: November 18th, 2008, 1:20am CET

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 fireworks on Monday, filing twin patent infringement lawsuits against South...
Windows Live--Welcome to the Social

Posted: November 17th, 2008, 5:09pm CET

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 world of social networking. While the service is well designed,...
Why Obama Should Keep His BlackBerry

Posted: November 17th, 2008, 3:17pm CET

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 house. While I can see why he might choose to,...
Valleywag On The YouTube Election

Posted: November 15th, 2008, 2:29am CET

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 played in the political discourse of 2008. When the historians...
The Ax-Man Finally Arrives at Sun.

Posted: November 14th, 2008, 7:29pm CET

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 be: it's not enough. Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi, for...
Obama's New Lobbying Rules May Affect FCC Chief Selection

Posted: November 12th, 2008, 12:09am CET

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: November 11th, 2008, 9:00pm CET

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 fbFund. With venture capitalists growing more wary every day of...
NPD: People Are Using Their Smartphones More

Posted: November 11th, 2008, 5:27pm CET

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: November 10th, 2008, 11:04pm CET

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, since very little news has trickled out of Intel exec...
HTC Touch Pro: Much Better With a Keyboard

Posted: November 10th, 2008, 9:20pm CET

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 Touch Pro. is a slide-out keyboard, but boy what a...
Sun Drops Google for Microsoft Search

Posted: November 10th, 2008, 4:08am CET

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 the first time, they'll get the opportunity to download the...
LIVE: Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg at Web 2.0 Summit

Posted: November 6th, 2008, 10:45pm CET

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 he has to say (keep refreshing). (As he talks, he...
Yang Says Microsoft Buyout Still ‘Not a Bad Idea’

Posted: November 6th, 2008, 3:19am CET

“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 up for understatement. During a repartee with conference chair and...
White Spaces: The Wait for Devices

Posted: November 5th, 2008, 7:21pm CET

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 before products emerge to take advantage of "white spaces." I...
What the Failure of the Google-Yahoo Deal Means

Posted: November 5th, 2008, 6:48pm CET

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 of government regulators. Google read the handwriting on the wall...
Google Ends Search Advertising Deal with Yahoo

Posted: November 5th, 2008, 4:21pm CET

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 days, despite last-minute concessions by the two companies this week...
Election Night Twitter: Good News, Bad News

Posted: November 5th, 2008, 4:50am CET

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 up beautifully under the flood of election night tweets--not a...
Why You Can't Vote Online

Posted: November 5th, 2008, 12:29am CET

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: If we can bank online and buy just about anything...
FCC Makes White Spaces Free for All

Posted: November 4th, 2008, 11:26pm CET

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: November 4th, 2008, 8:51pm CET

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 X on desktops. The problem is that an extremely solid...
Searching for a New President: Obama Wins on Search Engine Optimization

Posted: November 4th, 2008, 7:54pm CET

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 Obama's Web braintrust has done a much better job of...
Election Day on the Social Web

Posted: November 4th, 2008, 1:52am CET

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: November 4th, 2008, 12:26am CET

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: November 3rd, 2008, 11:48pm CET

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 Journal story. People "familiar with the matter" say the new...
Microsoft and Yahoo Duel Over Who Can Lose the Most Media Executives

Posted: November 3rd, 2008, 9:56pm CET

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 executives? Yahoo just announced the latest of a long string...
Windows 7: The New User Account Control

Posted: November 3rd, 2008, 8:49pm CET

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 huge number of things, from installing software to changing minor...