Articles by Susan B. Shor

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) this week dealt Microsoft a blow that may not be a knock-out punch, but comes pretty close to hobbling its argument that Internet Explorer (IE) does not infringe on a Web browser patent because prior art makes the patent invalid The USPTO reviewed and reaffirmed the patent owned by the University of Cali...

Research in Motion (RIM) announced this week that it would be using Intel processors for its next-generation wireless devices, a move one analyst called a big deal for the chipmaker "This is the first real communications processor design win Intel has had with a mainstream handheld communications provider. So, is this significant for Intel? Absolut...

Google took a giant step today, announcing with NASA's Ames Research Center that the two will combine efforts on technology research ranging from the microscopic to the massive The search engine company and the space agency signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that Google says outlines projects including "large-scale data management, massivel...

Microsoft and Intel yesterday lined up behind Toshiba and its next-generation DVD technology, called HD DVD, in a move that seems significant because of the combined influence of the two industry giants, but which in fact, one analyst said, will likely have a negligible effect "The announcement will appear to be more than it is," Josh Martin, resea...

China further asserted its control over Internet information within its borders this weekend, announcing updated restrictions on online news services "We need to better regulate the online news services, with the emergence of so many unhealthy news stories that will easily mislead the public," a spokesman for the Ministry of Information Industry sa...

Antivirus experts have found a virus that can move from mobile phones to computers, but analysts say the bug is neither very dangerous nor very sophisticated The Trojan, called CARDTRP.A or Sybos/Cardtrap.A by different antivirus vendors, is rated as a low risk by Trend Micro. F-Secure calls it "unremarkable" except that it runs on the mobile phone...

Reports from Reuters today of the demise of P2P file-sharing networks WinMX and eDonkey appear to be only half true. While WinMX.com does seem to have disappeared, eDonkey, which accounts for more shared files than any other network today, may still be up and running. The P2P network moved its offices from New York to New Jersey a year ago and this migration looks to be the source of some of the confusion...

Microsoft hasn't discussed the strategy behind the reorganization and new leadership the company announced yesterday other than to say that it wants to "speed decision-making," but there are some messages that can be gleaned from its choices, one analyst said "In some ways this is the pushing out at the highest level of the old vanguard," Joe Wilco...

The latest addition to cell phone services allows Sprint customers to listen to radio over their handsets. Sprint today announced a deal with RealNetworks to broadcast Rhapsody Radio over its cellular network Seven cell phone models will be able to access the streaming radio for a monthly service fee of US$6.95. In addition to stations in genres su...

The Federal Communications Commission's proposal to spend US$211 million to help rebuild telecommunications in the wake of Hurricane Katrina is a good stop-gap measure, but it will take a lot more money and a lot more time to restore full communications, one analyst said "The American people and our economy depend on effective and efficient communi...

Microsoft won't really gain much of a competitive advantage by getting a jump on its game console rivals Sony and Nintendo, one analyst said today as the software giant announced the hardware's official release dates The Redmond, Wash.-based behemoth announced today that it would release the Xbox 360 in the United States on Nov. 22, just in time fo...

After years of promising, Google has come through with a blog search engine -- google.com/blogsearch or search.blogger.com. As it usually does, Google is offering the new service in beta. (Google News has been in beta since its release in September 2002.) The engine indexes only the content published through RSS feeds, not the full text of the blog...

After years of promising, Google has come through with a blog search engine -- google.com/blogsearch or search.blogger.com. As it usually does, Google is offering the new service in beta. (Google News has been in beta since its release in September 2002.) The engine indexes only the content published through RSS feeds, not the full text of the blog...

Tomorrow will not be "Patch Tuesday" after all, Microsoft announced late Friday, just a day after it said it would release just one patch, but a critical one "Late in the testing process, Microsoft encountered a quality issue that necessitated the update to go through additional testing and development before it is released," the company said on it...

With its hiring of Internet pioneer Vint Cerf last week, Google proved again that it has the cachet to lure great minds. Google anointed Cerf "chief Internet evangelist," but announced no specific duties to go with the title, saying only that he would "help Google build network infrastructure, architectures, systems and standards for the next generation of Internet applications."

Technology writer Robert X. Cringely and PBS TV on Tuesday began offering a Web-exclusive hour of tech talk, appropriately titled NerdTV Each show features a one hour-long interview with a celebrity of the geek world. For instance, the first installment's description reads: "Andy Hertzfeld, the original Macintosh systems programmer, talks about Ma...

According to reports today, Samsung has announced it will bridge the gap between two rival next-generation DVD formats by building a machine that is compatible with both "To a certain extent, it makes sense for Samsung to do this and it will put pressure on others to do the same," Josh Martin, associate research analyst with IDC, told TechNewsWorld...

File-sharing network Kazaa must alter its software to try to stop illegal music sharing, a federal judge in Australia ruled Monday, but one analyst said the ruling won't change peer-to-peer file-swapping at all "In the end it's about as relevant as anything else these industries have done. Trying to pin down file sharing is like grabbing sand slipp...

File-sharing network Kazaa must alter its software to try to stop illegal music sharing, a federal judge in Australia ruled yesterday, but one analyst said the ruling won't change peer-to-peer file-swapping at all "In the end it's about as relevant as anything else these industries have done. Trying to pin down file sharing is like grabbing sand sl...

Intel and Philips are working together to build and market home entertainment centers that will run on Intel processors, the chipmaker said at IFA, the International Consumer Electronics Fair, in Berlin Both personal computer makers and consumer electronics manufacturers have been touting centralized home media centers, but the question is whether ...