Business

CNET has an interesting article article praising the release of Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3), encouraging Windows Vista users to upgrade to Windows XP. In comparing Windows Vista to utter "crap," the report details what a substantial and ... extremely helpful upgrade Windows XP SP3 is -- going so far as to exclaim that it creates the best windows experience the author has ever had. Windows Vista still receives, for the most part, a lukewarm reception from consumers, even less from businesses. Windows Vista SP1 will be released early this year in hopes of gaining a greater customer base, but ... (view more)

Many of us have simply accepted that the holiday season's hottest Christmas gifts are often hard to find. In some ways, that makes up about half of their appeal. However, for the two companies behind this season's most in-demand items, customer ... complaints are beginning to mount. Could it even affect their post-Christmas sales? Few of us are new to the Nintendo Wii shortage. Even those that haven't much interest in owning the cutesy little console -- myself included -- it's no secret that the device is very hard to get, and has been for a remarkable amount of time. In fact, finding the Wii has ... (view more)

I remember one Christmas in grade seven. I completely ruined any surprise my parents may have planned that year by sneaking into their closet and unwrapping all of my gifts before carefully replacing the tape and shelving them just as they had first ... appeared. Had my parents known, they would have been ticked. It looks as if Apple doesn't like it when people ruin their surprises, either. Last week the popular iPod and iPhone maker completed a string of lawsuits meant to close down ThinkSecret.com, a site run by Harvard senior Nicholas M Ciarelli. As you might infer from my anecdote and the ... (view more)

What a difference a year makes! At this time twelve months ago, Google was the darling of the online world. As 2007 progressed, however, the search firm found itself under scrutiny for 'collaborating' with the Chinese government, questions arose ... about Google's role in privacy issues via its web advertising, and it is in the middle of a lawsuit with Viacom over proprietary content on YouTube. Perhaps the most interesting development is the head-to-head battle between Google and Microsoft, the undisputed heavy-weight champion of the software world and new contender for the advertising crown. A ... (view more)

Think just because a company can throw around a big 'ol brand name it means their web business is always protected by an iron curtain? Think again. According to reports from Reuters, advertisements placed by Google on a number of web pages have been ... hijacked by Trojan software. Reuters' source on this one is Romanian antivirus group BitDefender, who allege that Google's ads are being steered by text from a much different provider. What that means is that a specific program is directing queries for Google to a tertiary rogue server, which replaces the big G's ads with marketing from a third ... (view more)

A report from the Associate Press reveals details of a telephone survey of 1,623 Internet users conducted between Nov. 30, 2006 and Dec. 30, 2006 by Pew Internet and American Life Project showing that more Americans are Googling themselves, their ... friends, co-workers and romantic interests. According to the report from Pew, 47 percent of U.S. adult Internet users have searched for information about themselves through Google or another search engine, more than doubling the 22 percent of users from the previous survey conducted in 2002. About 60 percent of Internet users aren't worried about the ... (view more)

Not so long ago they invested heavily in social networking magnet Facebook for the advertising payoff. Now, Microsoft has turned its attention to CNBC.com, nabbing rights to display contextual ads in the United States for the immensely popular news ... site. Although exact details of the deal are not available at this time, Microsoft and CNBC are acknowledging that the Redmond-based software giant will take over most of the banner and text advertisements for the page. Jon Tinter, general manager of Microsoft's strategy and business development, is in fact comparing the deal to Microsoft's ... (view more)

Google is launching an ambitious project to become the Internet's leading source of information on just about every subject. Their plans appear to be a direct attack on Wikipedia's popularity. According to a blog by Google's Vice President of ... engineering, the company wants to make it easier for experts to share knowledge. They plan to do this through a project titled 'knol' (a term they are also using to refer to each entry). The idea is for Google to take care of the hosting and formatting, leaving the experts to concentrate on the information. The goal is for the 'knol' to be "the first ... (view more)

Microsoft acquired Multimap on Wednesday, a leading provider of location-based services in Europe. The privately-owned British company is one of the United Kingdom's top 100 technology firms, and was an early pioneer in online mapping for the island ... country. According to the Times of London, the deal is worth $50 million dollars, half of which will go to Multimap's founder Sean Phelan. (Source: timesonline.co.uk ) The website is the second most popular online destination in its class in the UK, trailing Google Maps and leading Microsoft's Live Search Maps (which came in fifth). This is the ... (view more)

Renowned photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand has entered into an arrangement with Google to display his work in the web portal's Google Earth. Close to 500 photographs are included in the free program, as well as on a gadget made for the search ... company's customizable home page iGoogle. Accompanying the pictures are facts and figures about issues and challenges across the globe. (Source: google.com) Google Earth's innovative and highly popular program uses a layer system which allows users to see separate categories of data, such as roads, terrain, hotels, restaurants, and building information ... (view more)