Articles by John P. Mello Jr.

Social networking is popular on the Web. So is shopping. Imagine, then, the potential of Net shops that combine the two into a package called "social shopping." Until recently, most designers of e-commerce sites have concentrated on catering to individual shoppers -- what the research firm Gartner calls the "solo hunter."

Hard-core gadgeteers never need a rationalization to buy a new piece of hardware, but for those who need at least a tissue of temperance whenseeking new tech, the introduction of Microsoft's new operating system,Vista, is an invitation to splurge Where should you start your shopping? How about a new laptop? Toshibarecently released a new series of ...

A tiff between the world's largest chipmaker and an organization selling low-priced laptops to the developing world will ultimately benefit poor kids, according to one tech aid expert "I think it's wonderful that Intel and OLPC [One Laptop Per Child] are now competing," Wayan Vota told LinuxInsider. Vota is editor of OLPC News and director of Geekc...

With e-mail's value as a malware delivery agent on the decline, writers of malicious software have boosted their efforts to infect Web sites with their nasty payloads Thousands of malicious Web sites are created on a daily basis to steal information from unsuspecting visitors or plant insidious software on their computers without their knowledge, a...

Consumer electronics will become an exploding market over the next six years for chipmakers who incorporate security features into their silicon, according to a research report released last week While hardware's role in protecting content on consumer devices is small today, that won't be the case in the coming years, according to technology resear...

Tightening controls over distribution of commercial satellite photos may not be in the best interest of the nation, according to academic and industry experts on the subject "It is sometimes more advantageous for our military to have satellite imaging broadly available, especially if you're in a situation with allies, like Iraq," Christopher Simpso...

For years now, Microsoft Word has become synonymous with word processing. Nevertheless, the folks in Redmond, Wash., with the latest release of their word cruncher, have shown they're unafraid to take a daring turn with the program Veteran users will barely recognize Microsoft Word 2007 (US$175 to $230) as their venerable word processor of choice.

For most newspapers, there's a clear line of demarcation between their print and Web operations. Although that line gets fuzzier and fuzzier every day, nowhere has it gotten fuzzier than at BostonNow BostonNow, a free newspaper handed out around Boston to some 85,000 commuters five days a week, publishes blog items beside its news stories as well a...

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a mind map may be worth many more. That's because a mind map combines both the power of a picture with the suggestion of words You may have seen mind maps, but you may not have known the name for them. Sometimes they look like clusters of bubbles; other times, like elaborate tree structures....

Broadband providers have been pushing so-called triple play offerings as a means to fatten their coffers, but those services are also contributing to increasing support costs and drooping customer satisfaction "The competitive environment that characterizes today's broadband and value-added services landscape benefits the growth of many digital lif...

Adobe Systems created a media tsunami earlier this month when it released its Creative Suite 3, a two-year project designed to roll all the company's formidable software packages for creative types into an integrated monolith. Needless to say, since the package costs more than US$1,000, it isn't something for tinkerers. Given my experience with Adobe's software, there would be much fun in tinkering with the suite in the first place...

In what one attorney described as "the most important patent case in a generation," the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday issued a decision that's expected to make patents that combine existing technologies more difficult to obtain "What this case will do will make it harder to get patents in the first place because it will ease the restrictions on the ...

The chairman of a powerful Congressional committee filed a bill Thursday that aims to repeal the ban on Internet gambling passed last year Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, filed the measure Thursday morning....

The chairman of a powerful Congressional committee filed a bill Thursday that aims to repeal the ban on Internet gambling passed last year Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, filed the measure Thursday morning....

We're all inundated with information every day, and we all have our strategies for dealing with that flood. A common tactic adopted by many of us is making lists. The problem with lists, though, is that they can be misplaced That problem prompted two serial entrepreneurs, Joe Bergeron and Josh Weinstein, to ponder why there was a glaring dearth of ...

Over the last 18 months, how often have you heard rumors that an online music service from Amazon was imminent? Plenty, no doubt, so much so that it seems Amazon has redefined the term "imminent" in much the same way that Google redefined the term "beta." Nevertheless, the rumor has arisen again, reportedly because a major barrier to the launch -- ...

The so-called "New Web" has been hailed as a great place for sharing and interacting, but data released Tuesday by Internet traffic researchers suggests most cybersurfers are watchers, not uploaders In a presentation at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco this week, Hitwise analyst Bill Tancer noted that upload rates at participatory cyberstops like ...

With so much sizzle being created in the consumer electronics market by digital media players, it's tough for a traditional gadget like a digital voice recorder to grab much consumer mindshare. That hasn't stopped recorder makers likeOlympus from continuing to introduce innovative and interesting products A case in point: Olympus' new additions to ...

Transparency has become a rallying cry for critics of existing electronic voting systems made by secretive corporations jealously guarding the software code inside their products. One way to assure transparency in voting systems, those critics maintain, is to require the disclosure of any code used in a voting system or use open source software for those systems...

Mortgage lenders have improved their online customers' experience over the last year, but many Web sites still fall far short of meeting their visitors' needs, according to a report released Tuesday by a financial services customer satisfaction research firm In a Web site study of 26 major online mortgage lenders, Change Sciences Group noted that 2...