E-Commerce News: Trailblazers

Phone-Hater Linus Torvalds Blesses Nexus One
February 09, 2010

Google's Nexus One phone is a winner, according to Linus Torvalds, founder of the operating system it's based on. "I generally hate phones," explained Torvalds, who is known as "the father of Linux," in a blog post on Saturday. "At the same time I love the concept of having a phone that runs Linux, and I've had a number of them over the years," he wrote.

Sir Tim Unveils Slick UK Government Services Site
January 22, 2010

Move over Data.gov. The United Kingdom has unveiled its own version of an open source database for its citizens, and the U.S. version pales in comparison. The site, data.gov.uk, which has been running in beta since last September, opened to the public this week to much fanfare.

Best Things From the Dismal Aught Decade
December 28, 2009

From a technology perspective, this decade -- with Apple and Google being exceptions -- sucked. There were some interesting things that happened that set us up for the teen decade, though, and that fuel anticipation for the 20s, which a hundred years ago, was actually a decade of wonder and excitement -- and had a better name.

Is 'Ethical Malware' an Oxymoron or a Best Practice?
December 07, 2009

Every community has its heroes, and here in the world of Linux there's no doubt that Linus Torvalds is one of them. Linus featured more prominently than usual in the Linux blogosphere over the past week. There was serious discussion of the possibility of a Nobel Peace Prize for our favorite Finn!

IBM and Apple: Why We Love Monopolies and Then Kill Them
October 12, 2009

The age of the computer started in the 1950s, and one of the first things that happened to a then relatively tiny IBM was it got nailed by the Department of Justice. The result was competition and the modern age of computing. Last week, the DoJ opened another, very similar, investigation of IBM. It was -- you'd never guess -- on the mainframe.

Shuttleworth and the Raging Inferno of the Great Sexism Debate
October 05, 2009

If the success of a conference can be judged by the duration of the conversations that follow from it, LinuxCon was a hit beyond measure. Here it is, two weeks later, and the repercussions are still being felt. What we might call "The Great Sexism Debate" gained considerable fuel there and, in fact, is now raging out of control. Put those safety glasses on!

Ellison: Oracle Hearts MySQL
September 23, 2009

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison can be a wellspring of newsworthy comments. Little wonder, then, that for close to an hour on Tuesday, IT journalists were rapt as he ruminated on the subjects of the day in an interview with Sun Microsystems' Ed Zander at the Churchill Club in Silicon Valley.

Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Freedom
July 06, 2009

In the United States, the 4th of July is celebrated as Independence Day, recalling the time when Americans stepped away from a government they viewed as repressive and forged a new future. Over the years, I've worked for a number of harsh managers and companies. Some were actually good for me -- others not so much.

Grumbling Over Transparency Intensifies as Jobs Returns to Apple
June 30, 2009

Apple has confirmed that CEO Steve Jobs has officially gone back to work, according to numerous media reports. Beyond saying that Jobs would be working both at his office and from home, and that the company was happy to have him back, Apple provided no details about its chief's future involvement with the company.

Reports Fan Flames of Speculation Over Steve Jobs' Health
June 23, 2009

Once again, the technology mediasphere is engrossed with Apple CEO Steve Jobs' health, and the questions are ricocheting off the virtual walls: What did Apple know? When did it know it? What is it legally obliged to reveal? This latest round of speculation was prompted by a weekend Wall Street Journal report revealing that Jobs had a liver transplant in April.

Jobs Hails iPhone 3G S Sales Milestone as Transplant Rumors Swirl
June 22, 2009

News-wise, it's been a big weekend for Apple. First came reports that its ailing CEO, Steve Jobs, recently underwent liver-transplant surgery. On the heels of that news, the world learned that sales of the new iPhone 3G S have passed the 1-million mark. Whether investors remain confident in Apple's strength despite Jobs' illness remains to be seen.

The Undoing of ubExact, Part 2: Market Malaise
January 23, 2009

When ubExact.com's CEO Wilhelmina Stephenson started work on her innovative beta platform last year for a new search engine concept, she had every reason to believe consumers would gravitate to the new search technology designed around the way they searched the Internet. However, what she did not count on was a marketing industry that failed to go for the money-making model she was pitching.

The Undoing of ubExact, Part 1: Searching for Answers
January 22, 2009

What started out on Sept. 2, 2008, as a potential innovation in the search engine space ended this month as the latest technology sacrifice to the economic gods. ubExact.com went out of business, unable to sustain enough financial traction to make the innovation viable.

Can Carol Bartz Put the Yodel Back in Yahoo?
January 14, 2009

Struggling Internet portal Yahoo has tapped former AutoDesk CEO Carol Bartz as its new CEO. Bartz, 60, will face a monumental task in attempting to turn around Yahoo, which was the No. 1 destination on the Internet before being supplanted by search engine powerhouse Google a few years ago.

After Their Tech Empires Are Built
November 20, 2008

What's left to do after you've earned your first billion in the technology business? For some, it's legacy building -- finding a way to make a mark of a different sort in the world. Philanthropy calls. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is perhaps the archetype with its multipronged worldwide operations focused on eliminating poverty, disease and hunger.

Physicist Ian Appelbaum Puts New Spin on Semiconductors
October 28, 2008

University of Delaware's Dr. Ian Appelbaum is looking to "spin" his research on the magnetic properties of electrons to get more electronic enhancements from semiconductors. Appelbaum's research is now funded in part with a nearly half-million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Defense Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research.