Search

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion and Motorola have settled their two-year-long patent dispute over smartphone technology. Under the terms of the agreement, RIM has agreed to make a one-time payment and ongoing royalties to put an end to the litigation. The two companies have also settled on a cro...

Google will turn over data it collected from unsecured WiFi networks to authorities in Germany, France and Spain. This is the latest development in a controversy that began last month with Google's admission that cars gathering images for its Street View service were equipped with devices that captu...

Walt Disney Co. has quietly developed an application for Facebook that marries e-commerce functionality with social marketing. Disney Tickets Together, which debuted last week, lets people pre-order tickets to the upcoming "Toy Story 3" movie directly from the application. While engaging in the purc...

HP has announced it will lay off 9,000 employees over the next three years, trimming approximately 3 percent of its total workforce. At the same time, it will add 6,000 new jobs in global sales and delivery operations. The company will take $1 billion in charges, with half recorded in the current qu...

Google has completed its acquisition of mobile advertiser AdMob, after what was apparently a very close decision by the Federal Trade Commission, which had been vetting the buy for antitrust purposes. With the legalities finally over, the speculation shifts from "will it happen?" to "what happens ne...

There has been a reorganization at the top of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division: Its president Robbie Bach, who has been with Microsoft for 22 years, is retiring. Also departing is J Allard, senior vice president of design and development for the division. A 19-year company veteran, All...

A brewing battle between Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett and Twitter is apparently over. Following Twitter's refusal to comply with a subpoena demanding identifying information on two of its account holders, the ACLU rolled up its sleeves to prepare a defense. However, Corbett, who recentl...

The new breed of tablet-style computing devices typified by Apple's iPad -- "media tablets," as IDC calls the category in a new report -- are projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 57.4 percent between now and 2014. That is an increase from 7.6 million units in 2010 to more than 46 million f...

The producers of "The Hurt Locker" have reportedly signed up with the U.S. Copyright Group in order to sue thousands -- perhaps as many as tens of thousands -- of individuals who illegally downloaded copies of the Oscar-winning movie from the Internet. Voltage Pictures reportedly could file its comp...

Facebook reportedly held a company-wide meeting Thursday to discuss how to deal with the negative publicity surrounding its privacy policies. To be sure, Facebook has been fielding complaints and criticism for years. However, a series of recent events has pushed those complaints to a zenith. In shor...

SAP has inked a deal to acquire mobile and database software maker Sybase for $5.8 billion in cash -- or $65 per share. That translates into a purchase price that is more than 55 percent over Sybase's trading price before rumors of the deal became public, which was $41.57 per share. The deal, which ...

Microsoft launched Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 for business customers Wednesday morning in an event held in New York City. Office 2007, the last version of Microsoft's cash cow -- Office represents 25 percent of Microsoft's annual revenue -- came out four years ago. Office 2010 offers a plethora...

The Android operating system has moved past the iPhone to capture the No. 2 ranking in smartphone operating systems in the first quarter of 2010, with 28 percent of the U.S. market, according to the NPD Group. The Research In Motion OS was still No. 1, with 36 percent marketshare, based on unit sale...

The smartphone market is back in hyper-growth mode, according to the latest IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, which reported this piece of the mobile market posted a 56.7 percent increase in growth for Q1, shipping a total of 54.7 million units. That compares to the 21.7 percent growth r...

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has laid out a proposal that establishes the agency's authority to regulate Internet broadband providers much as it does telecom service companies. The FCC has always claimed to have this authority -- but it was not put to the test until Comcast challenged an order by...

Google has acquired Bump Technologies, a company that has developed an application that transforms a computer desktop screen into a 3-D display. The app -- called "BumpTop" -- is compatible with multitouch display technology, a feature found on devices like Apple's iPad and iPhone. That multitouch f...

Rumors about contenders for troubled smartphone maker Palm continue to circulate -- fueled in part by comments from Palm's CEO. HTC and Huawei -- two companies that were rumored to be interested in acquiring Palm -- have reportedly opted not to go forward, leaving Lenovo as the front-runner for the ...

Google has acknowledged its acquisition of tech firm Agnilux but has not provided any details about the transaction or even hints as to its purpose. The acquisition has prompted a far more spirited discussion than usually occurs when Google buys a company. Agnilux is something of an enigma -- but wh...

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday heard oral arguments in City of Ontario v. Quon -- a case that could significantly expand employees' privacy rights in the workplace. Questioning by the justices led some court watchers to conclude that the Court will decide it on very narrow grounds and likely side ...

Cisco will have completed its acquisition of Norwegian video company Tandberg once the compulsory acquisition for the company's remaining shares is closed. Cisco is acquiring the firm for $3.3 billion -- after its initial offer of $3 billion was rejected by shareholders. The compulsory acquisition w...