Articles by Keith Regan

In a setback to Google's efforts to fend off a copyright infringement suit stemming from its ambitious plan to create digital copies of millions of books, rivalsearch engineYahoo has declined to provide information about its own book digitization efforts Neither Yahoo nor Google would comment, but reports suggest Yahoo refused to cooperate with Goo...

From the apparently sudden arrival of Web-based video distribution options to the growing sophistication of TV-like advertising online and the social networking phenomenon, theInternet drew attention and dollars away from newspapers, TV and radio in 2006 This coming of age did not take place overnight. Web-based video has been discussed and planned...

Wal-Mart said Tuesday it would soon launch a downloadable video service, a move that could hasten the demise of the traditional DVD and help catapult the retailer into the center of the video-on-demand marketplace The discount retail giant, which already ranks as the largest seller of DVDs in the world, unveiled plans to launch a download-on-demand...

Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker, on Tuesday cut its short-term profit forecast and said it expected slower growth overall heading into 2007 During its annual Capital Market Days event for industry and stock market analysts in Amsterdam, Finland-based Nokia rolled out a series of forecasts for its own growth and for the overall mobile ...

Shares of Palm dropped sharply Tuesday after the hand-held device maker said its quarterly revenue would come in well below earlier expectations Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Palm said it now expects revenue of US$390 million to $395 million for its second quarter, which ends later this week. That is compared to earlier guidance, issued in late September...

With the Web industry watching closely as it tries to navigate the treacherous waters of online copyright law, Google is facing a lawsuit from a French company that says the search engine did more than just help users find an online copy of its film Paris-based Flach Film is alleging copyright violations, saying Google helped distribute "The World ...

Cyber Monday, the recently nicknamed kick-off to the online shopping season, arrived to heavy fanfare Monday and appeared to be greeted by millions of eager and ready-to-buy shoppers, many of whom got the ball rolling early by jumping online last week Cyber Monday was largely invented by the online retail industry to match Black Friday -- the day a...

By all accounts, the e-commerce sector is poised for another blockbuster holiday season, with forecasters calling for another year of double-digit growth and sales of about US$27 billion for the fourth quarter, according to Forrester Research Most retailers are already well underway with plans to capitalize on that growth, putting in motion plans c...

Dell released its delayed third quarter results Tuesday, posting a stronger-than-expected profit, but again warning that the financials could change depending upon the outcome of both internal and external probes into past accounting practices The Round Rock, Texas-based PC maker said it earned US$677 million, or 30 cents per share, well outpacing ...

In the retail world, Black Friday has long been a red-letter day on the calendar. The Friday after Thanksgiving, while not always the busiest shopping day of the year, is notable for kicking off the mad dash toward the finish line of the holiday season In the world of e-commerce, Cyber Monday has quickly become its own virtual landmark. The Monday ...

Gift-givers with deep pockets who want to impress those on their holiday lists may have another luxury item to consider along with jewelry and plasma televisions: For the first time, a single share of Google stock now costs more than US$500 Shares of the search giant's stock broke the $500 mark early Tuesday, making the company one of the most valu...

A startup launching this week aims to bring mobile e-mail -- now mainly ensconced in the enterprise with technology such as the Research In Motion (RIM) BlackBerry -- to the average consumer by promising to deliver e-mail and instant messages to traditional mobile phones Berggi has been operating in stealth mode for several months and claims to hav...

Yahoo said Thursday it had agreed to buy Bix.com, a site that enables users to create online contests that others can judge as the portal bids to bolster its lineup of social networking offerings The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Yahoo said that Bix.com founder and CEO Mike Speiser -- also the co-founder of user-generated content ...

Hewlett-Packard reported a four-fold increase in profits for its fourth quarter on a more modest rise in sales, as the top PC maker turned in results that exceeded Wall Street forecasts In fact, the company's full fiscal year results showed it moving past IBM as the world's largest technology company in terms of revenue, with sales of US$91.7 billi...

Two private equity firms have agreed to buy Clear Channel Communications (NYSE: CCU) for US$18.7 billion, ending weeks of speculation about the sprawling radio network's fate, including rumors of interest from Google Clear Channel said Thursday it would be acquired by Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital Partners, two giant Boston-based equity a...

Dell shares fell Thursday after the computer maker said it would delay its quarterly earnings report and acknowledged that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) began a formal inquiry into the company's past accounting practices The announcement came at the last minute, as Dell was set to report earnings after the stock markets closed on Thu...

Regulators from the European Union (EU) say Microsoft continues to lag in its compliance with the conditions of its antitrust ruling and have again set a deadline for the software giant to make changes or face additional monetary penalties European Commissioner Neelie Kroes has given Microsoft until Nov. 23 to meet the requirement that it supply co...

Even the current upbeat forecasts for continued strong growth in estithe Internet advertising sector undermate its true potential because they fail to account for the impact of Web-based video ads, mobile Web ads and social networking opportunities, Yahoo CEO Terry Semel said Tuesday Speaking to an audience at the Internet Advertising Bureau's Enga...

Bidding to stake a claim in the move toward IPTV, TiVo Tuesday launched a series of upgrades meant to enable its digital video recorder (DVR) to be used as a central control panel from which viewers can receive and manage cable and broadband Internet video TiVo said its broadband strategy is meant to "put even more control in the hands of consumers...

Eyeing a growing interest in nuclear power as an environmentally friendly energy source, General Electric and Hitachi announced a partnership that will combine their nuclear power units The deal -- financial terms were not disclosed -- brings together two of the largest industrial and commercial companies in the world, with the common goal of devel...