Business

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. That seems to be the attitude of Microsoft now that Warner Bros has decided to back Sony's Blu-ray in the high definition movie format war. Although the Redmond-based company once stood firmly behind Toshiba's rival ... HD-DVD, things appear to be changing very quickly in the Pacific northwest. For those who haven't heard, Warner Bros recently dealt Blu-ray a pair of aces ('bullets') in the high stakes game for next generation's movie format. By turning its nose up at HD-DVD, Warner may have finally put the final nail in Toshiba's coffin; although the tech company ... (view more)

A little more than a week ago, Wal-Mart Stores quietly chucked its video download offering into the waste bin. Introduced less than a year ago, Wal-Mart appears to have given up when Hewlett-Packard, its technology partner in the venture, cut ... support. (Source: zdnet.com ). This doesn't mean that downloading video directly to the consumer is a dead issue. This week, Netflix -- the company that sends DVD's to more than 7 million consumers in little red envelopes -- joined Apple and Amazon in experimenting with ways to offer complete media "choice" to the heretofore limited selections offered ... (view more)

While in Las Vegas this past weekend, Gates boasted that Microsoft has served more than 100 million copies of Windows Vista since the OS was launched to consumers last January. At first 100 million sounds impressive, but in fact it indicates that ... Microsoft's once dominant grip on the operating system is loosening. Based on what Gates said, Windows Vista was only on 39% of PCs that shipped in 2007. Statements at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) by Bill Gates this week show that Windows Vista is proving far less popular with new PC buyers than Windows XP did during its first year in the ... (view more)

Having etched his own place in tech history, Bill Gates' 'swan song' is now playing at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The famous (and to some, infamous) Microsoft leader gave his final speech to the media Sunday night at the Venetian ... Hotel's Palazzo Ballroom. Ending a dominant legacy that to some was marked my monopoly more than success, Gates' address took time to both look back at his own history and the future of a company he made the most powerful in the world. With the former cutesy McDonald's tune "Do You Believe in Magic" thumping from speakers, Gates and his executives ... (view more)

In what's being called a big blow to a One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program designed to bring millions of low-cost laptop computers to children in developing countries, Intel Corp. has abandoned the program, citing disagreements with the ... organization. (Source: yahoo.com ) Intel joined the OLPC board in July, agreeing to contribute money and technical expertise. The fallout came a few days before the OLPC-designed laptop that uses an Intel chip was going to debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. According to Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy, the company quit the non-profit project and ... (view more)

Along comes Jimmy Wales with a $4 million (not billion) investment from Bessemer Ventures, an investment from Amazon of an undisclosed amount, and some private money from a handful of angel investors that include Marc Andreesen (cofounder of ... Netscape), Josh Kopelman (Half.com), Mitch Kapor (Lotus), and Ron Conway (an early investor in Google, PayPal and Ask Jeeves). And while no one knows the exact amount of funding that Jimmy has received, it's probably safe to guess that, altogether, it's less than $100 million. In a relatively short span of technology history, Google has achieved revenues ... (view more)

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has a nagging pet peeve: he absolutely hates waiting in long lines, be it for a coffee or a hamburger. The only difference between Jobs and the countless others who share his grief is that the tech magnate is actually going to ... do something about the situation, and likely make millions in the process. Jobs is in the midst of patenting a service that will allow customers to skip the line at coffee houses and fast food joints. If he had his way, Jobs would ensure that nobody would have to stand in a line ever again. The method is as simple as it is complex: a system that ... (view more)

Google is well positioned to expand its dominance of the Internet advertising space -- if -- it can pull off a triple play in the market. In baseball, a triple play is almost unheard of: it requires one team to get three outs in a single, continuous ... play. But it does happen. The most recent was this last September when the Philadelphia Phillies made a triple play while playing the Colorado Rockies. Now Google may be on its way to the first Internet advertising "triple play." Google's first play, of course, was unseating Yahoo! as the search-engine-of-choice. From Google's launch in 1998, it ... (view more)

After three decades of year-after-year innovation, it would be hard to remember any company that has had a better fiscal year than Apple in 2007. It seemed that Apple, Inc. just couldn't do anything wrong: not only did they introduce a large string ... of new products and new milestones, but almost everything was buzz-worthy. Let's recap: January: the year started off great. Apple introduced the iPod Shuffle, declared its intentions with the iPhone, announced Apple TV, and the iTunes library hit 2 billion songs. February: a time of peacemaking. Apple makes peace with Apple Corps and Apple and ... (view more)

Although retailers reported an increase in sales this past holiday season, they're not particularly happy about it. Many analysts are startled that U.S. spenders didn't match an expected sales increase pegged at 4.5 per cent. According to major ... credit card company MasterCard, Americans spent more money this holiday season than last year, a surprising fact given a relatively stagnant U.S. dollar and more broadly, the U.S. economy. MasterCard finds that retailers experienced a 3.6 per cent rise in sales in 2007 over 2006. Earlier in the shopping season, most researchers pegged the holidays to " ... (view more)