Spotlight Features

With cell phones now becoming popular fixtures among the masses, securing coverage in even the most remote geographic areas has become an important goal for service providers. Cell towers are expensive, however, costing from US$100,000 to more than $1 million to set up, and present logistical proble...

Last week, Apple became a tentative Windows platform OEM with its announcement of Boot Camp, which allows new Mac hardware to run Windows XP and, eventually, Vista. Apple had said it wasn't planning to support Windows -- just like it said it didn't plan to support Intel or bring out flash-based medi...

The typical picture of a hacker has often been one of an introverted, misunderstood teen with a great deal of repressed anger. Launching an attack and disabling thousands of computers somehow seems to compensate for those feelings. Increasingly, however, while the hacker profile remains much the sam...

When Integrated Direct needed to drive registrations for one of its clients' New York City events, the company included popular social networking site MySpace.com in its online marketing initiatives. "Online registrations doubled compared to previous years just by using MySpace and some other simila...

OPINION

What if Microsoft Bought Apple?

I spent a lot of time last week reading the Microsoft employee blogs and apparently there is some reasonably strong feeling among many folks who work there that the wrong "Steve" is running the company. This is, in my view, a "grass is greener on the other side of the fence" type of perception -- s...

The hype surrounding machine-to-machine communications -- known by the acronym M2M -- is surpassed only by the expense of network transport and the "exorbitant process" of integrating M2M modules into the machines they will monitor. Cellular networks are the most likely the M2M enabler, according to...

OPINION

Keeping Free Speech Free

This week, the Federal Election Commission voted to exempt much political communication on the Internet from the provisions of the McCain-Feingold finance law. This action is a partial win on free-speech rights, but bad news on government control of the Internet. A few years ago, the FEC issued reg...

Some 25 million households in the nation have a wireless network, and that number is growing. So, too, is the number of home networks without a lick of security on them, according to a report released last week by ABI Research in Oyster Bay, N.Y. That's because, for most consumers, activating the se...

Could Apple's troubles in Europe get any worse? It's on the wrong end of a lawsuit from The Beatles in the UK, who say iTunes breaks a $26 million settlement under which Apple Computer agreed to stay away from the music business; there's a distinct possibility Apple's digital rights management techn...

Businesspeople and consumers are becoming more reliant on handheld devices for the obvious conveniences they offer. "We are starting to see users do more with their handheld devices than simply check e-mail," noted Jack Gold, a principal with market research firm J. Gold Associates. "Increasingly, t...

In the midst of the Game Developer's conference in San Jose, Calif., last week, Microsoft announced that Windows Vista would miss its do-not-miss date. Then, Dell, which does not typically do acquisitions, bought the premier gaming PC builder Alienware. Each event has within it the potential to in...

Blogs are providing an unprecedented look inside organizations in the Internet age. Via blogs run by current and former employees and associates we can now see aspects of major technology companies that otherwise would only be visible to a few insiders. While it is fun to position these companies...

Unlimited, uncensored access to video featuring Howard Stern may or may not be the epitome of the new era of digital television. Nevertheless the pay television service "Howard TV" and similar offerings are emerging rapidly as the government's deadline requiring conversion from analog to digital TV ...

OPINION

Cable Reform Is Almost Here

About a month ago, a bi-partisan group of senators released a statement supporting cable franchise reform. Now key members of the House of Representatives appear to agree. At this rate, consumers might actually see national reform that will slash cable bills and make video service more innovative ...

More than half of American high school students say they have at least one symptom of hearing loss, and many of their problems are directly attributable to the use of iPods and other portable music players, says a new study. Teenagers aren't the only ones at risk, however. Technology that provides a...

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