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Online learning has come a long way from its roots in simple how-to Web pages. Today, corporations hoping to enhance their employees' skill sets and individuals seeking to advance their careers can choose among a smorgasbord of online tutorials, courseware and classes. What is the state of the growi...

The Web hosting industry is vast and growing -- but for potential customers, the array of choices can be mind-boggling. Faced with hordes of vendors vying to win their business, companies must determine their goals before leaping into the fray. Questions prospective customers should ask themselves, ...

Today's teenagers have powered the ongoing success of apparel seller Abercrombie & Fitch and music heavyweight MTV, among many other brands -- but the vast majority of e-tailers have long ignored the buying power of this group of consumers. That neglect is shortsighted, say industry experts who ...

When it comes to fighting traditional crime, tipsters play an integral role in reporting suspicious activities, questionable characters and true confessions. But while few people question the existence of Crime Stopper hotlines or highway billboards, Microsoft's recent plan to offer a bounty for inf...

Corporate America is outsourcing an increasing number and variety of jobs to foreign shores, a trend that few industry experts predict will slow, let alone reverse, in coming months and years. Recently, the AFL-CIO -- citing a report by Gartner -- reported that by the end of next year, one out of ev...

The first installment of this two-part series explored the notion that despite consumers' increasing demand for strong multimedia capabilities, vendors' low-end notebook computers can be a suitable replacement for home desktop PCs. When consumers deduct the cost of a flat-screen LCD panel from a not...

Executive road warriors probably would not want to tote Dell's $849 Inspiron 1100 or Gateway's $699 M305S. However, while sub-$1,000 notebook computers may be bulkier and less technologically cutting-edge than their more streamlined siblings, they still pack a powerful punch for a consumer's buck. I...

Despite red-alert headlines about hackers, worms and viruses, and despite the threat of identity theft and misappropriation of personal data, many home computer users have yet to invest in the first line of defense against external attacks: a firewall. "Currently, only about 55 percent of antivirus ...

While this bottom-line focus may seem like a return to normalcy for those who entered the workforce before the dot-com boom, twentysomethings who first entered the professional employment arena during those halcyon days have come crashing brutally to Earth. Perhaps for the first time, they are encou...

Consumers finally are gaining more widespread access to WiFi high-speed wireless networks as vendors install this technology in airports, hotels and restaurants across the United States. The main challenge faced by these vendors is economic, rather than technical, in nature. The consumer market is n...

Corporate demand for computer security experts is growing -- and so are the options available to higher-education students and IT professionals. Rice University in Houston, Texas, offers courses in cryptography, viruses, spam, intrusion detection, tamper resistance, wireless security, untrusted plat...

In recent weeks, high-profile arrests of hackers and malware authors have trained a spotlight on the sometimes-shadowy underworld of computer crime. The Internet may seem like a more dangerous place than ever before, but by taking some basic steps beyond the obvious ones of installing firewalls and ...

Although worms can create media furor and disrupt business, to date they have adhered to a strange dichotomy: A given worm may spread rapidly or deliver a destructive payload -- but no worm has accomplished both tasks with equal aplomb. August 2003 was the worst-ever month for malware attacks, than...

Even as annual e-commerce sales storm past the $45 billion mark, according to U.S. Census Department figures, companies engaged in an older form of selling soldier on, using TVs and telephones to communicate with potential customers. One of the largest such firms, QVC, was founded in 1986 and earned...

Data security has become a far more complex proposition than it was a few years ago, thanks to the rise of storage area networks, or SANs. These networks allow users to store information anywhere within an enterprise and access it from any point as well. Although such a model boosts storage efficien...

Although ciphers long have been a staple of spy thrillers and mysteries, data encryption now has gained a real -- and critical -- foothold in the business world. Without this technology, data packets can be easily captured and viewed by unauthorized users. Right now, most enterprises and government ...