Search

Microsoft and Verizon Wireless are said to be close to a deal that would make Windows Live Search the default search engine on Verizon handsets and expand the number of Verizon devices powered by the Windows Mobile operating system. News of an impending deal between the software giant and the soon-t...

Just two days after regional consumer electronics chain Circuit City declared bankruptcy, Best Buy has slashed its earnings forecast for the upcoming holiday season and much of 2009. The retail giant forecast fiscal 2009 earnings of about $2.30 to $2.90 per share, down from a prior forecast of $3.25...

While other consumer electronics makers are headed for a rough holiday season, two standouts in the industry are expected to rise above the rest -- Apple and Dell. A survey by ChangeWave concluded that the U.S. is on the brink of experiencing a "massive breakdown in consumer spending" just in time f...

Four years after Microsoft paid US$1.6 billion to Sun Microsystems to settle an antitrust and patent suit, the once-bitter rivals are teaming up on Internet search. Under an agreement announced Monday, Sun will offer Microsoft's MSN Search toolbar when users download Java Runtime Environment, or JR...

The Federal Communications Commission gave its blessing to two large wireless deals Wednesday. The larger of the two is Verizon Communications' $28.1 billion buyout of Alltel; Verizon will pay $5.9 billion and assume $22.2 billion of Alltel's debt. The other deal is the $14.5 billion merger between ...

Search engine giant Google has walked away from a proposed ad-sharing deal with Internet portal Yahoo after the U.S. Department of Justice made it clear that it would seek to block the agreement in court. Google's decision is a profound setback for Yahoo, which has struggled to maintain its share in...

Search engine powerhouses Google and Yahoo have offered to significantly scale back the depth of their proposed online ad-sharing deal in an attempt to gain the approval of the U.S. Department of Justice. The proposed deal, first announced last June, would allow Yahoo to display ads from Google and ...

Consumers will get a break from having to wrestle with tough-to-open parcels this holiday season with the advent of "frustration-free" packaging from Amazon.com. The online retail giant will try to cut down on the sheer volume of packaging materials used to ship purchases from the site. The effort b...

An online ad-sharing deal between Google and Yahoo may be on the verge of collapse. Talks between the two Internet search powerhouses and the U.S. Department of Justice reportedly have stalled, prompting Google and Yahoo to consider walking away from the proposed agreement. Despite the press reports...

Just one day after notifying an Internet registrar notorious for allowing massive spamming that it would terminate its registrar accreditation, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has given the registrar a temporary stay of execution. ICANN sent a letter to EstDomains on Tuesday,...

Motorola announced a new round of layoffs as it reported a 15 percent decrease in revenue during the third quarter on Thursday. "Approximately 3,000 employees will be affected globally across all businesses and functions," said company spokesperson Maya Komadina. The company also said it will postpo...

Struggling wireless phone maker Motorola will cut more jobs and focus on designing handheld devices that run Google's new open source Android operating system. The company will pare down the number of operating systems for which it currently creates mobile phones to just three: Android, Microsoft's ...

The Christian Science Monitor will cease the weekday print edition of its award-winning newspaper in April after a century of continuous publication. The plan is to move the weekday publication to an online-only format while rolling out a new weekend print magazine. The Monitor has a storied history...

Search engine giant Google has settled two copyright lawsuits over its Google Book Search program for $125 million. In two separate lawsuits, the New York City-based Author's Guild and McGraw-Hill sued Google in 2005, alleging it had violated copyright laws through its scanning and online distribu...

Cable television provider Cox Communications plans to roll out its own cellular network some time in 2009 in an effort to take market share from telephone companies and wireless operators. The Atlanta-based company has already spent $550 million to acquire wireless spectrum so it can offer cellular ...

Microsoft reported better-than-expected financial results Thursday but also warned that the economic downturn will cut into top-line revenue and profits for its current fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2009. For the first fiscal quarter ended Sept. 30, Microsoft reported $4.37 billion in earnings, u...

Comcast announced late Wednesday that it will launch faster broadband Internet service speeds over the next few weeks to more than 10 million homes and businesses. The new service will give Comcast subscribers access to speeds of up to 50 megabits per second in parts of New England, Boston, Philadel...

Shares of memory chip maker SanDisk plummeted nearly 31 percent to $9.91 per share after the bell on the news that Samsung has dropped its offer to acquire the troubled semiconductor company. Samsung first made its $26 per share offer six months ago in a letter to SanDisk's board of directors, which...

Just one day after saying it would slash its 15,000-employee workforce by 10 percent, struggling Internet giant Yahoo announced Wednesday that its profit dropped by a whopping 64 percent during the third quarter. It also announced that revenue would be lower than it had expected for the remainder of...

Online auctioneer and retailer eBay has banned the sale of ivory products on its Web site to help protect African and Asian elephants. The policy goes into effect in December, and eBay will begin enforcing it in January. The decision to ban ivory items outright from its site is eBay's second attempt...