Articles by Keith Regan

Backing off earlier suggestions that antitrust concerns in the European Union could delay the launch of its next-generation Windows platform, Microsoft said Friday it would launch Windows Vista in Europe on schedule Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer personally told EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes late Thursday that Microsoft planned to launch th...

Intel is facing a sweeping patent infringement suit from a far-smaller competitor. Transmeta is alleging that the chip giant infringed on 10 of its patents Transmeta claims Intel knowingly infringed on technology protected by U.S. patents covering things such as computer architecture and power efficiency. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company clai...

Despite the Justice Department's blessing of AT&T's US$79 billion buyout of BellSouth -- the largest in a wave of mergers to alter the telecom industry over the past two years -- the deal may yet face a political battle In the wake of the deal's approval on antitrust grounds Wednesday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) delayed a planned v...

Despite the Justice Department's blessing of AT&T's US$79 billion buyout of BellSouth -- the largest in a wave of mergers to alter the telecom industry over the past two years -- the deal may yet face a political battle In the wake of the deal's approval on antitrust grounds Wednesday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) delayed a planned v...

Despite the Justice Department's blessing of AT&T's US$79 billion buyout of BellSouth -- the largest in a wave of mergers to alter the telecom industry over the past two years -- the deal may yet face a political battle In the wake of the deal's approval on antitrust grounds Wednesday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) delayed a planned v...

Data security giant McAfee said Wednesday it has fired its president and accepted the resignation of its CEO after an internal investigation into stock options accounting turned up problems that will require extensive restatement of past earnings CEO George Samenuk, who also held the position of chairman, said his decision to retire after six years...

Google's US$1.65 billion purchase of video-sharing siteYouTube -- made official late Monday after several days of speculation -- could dramatically alter the playing field for competing Internet giants The YouTube acquisition is being hailed as a bold thrust that could turn two weaknesses in the Google empire -- video distribution and social networ...

In the latest sign of shifts in how established media companies view free online video sharing, YouTube Monday announced content distribution deals with two record labels and a major U.S. TV network CBS said it would use YouTube to distribute short clips of its shows and those from its premium cable channel Showtime Networks, as well as its basic c...

Search giant Google is reportedly close to a deal to purchase video sharing site YouTube for an estimated US$1.6 billion Neither company would comment Monday on published reports that suggested the two sides are deep into talks about a YouTube acquisition, one that would dramatically alter the online video landscape by giving Google a well-establis...

The founder of popular social networking site MySpace.com is claiming the site is worth 100 times what it sold for last year and is prodding federal agencies to probe the sale of the company to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp News Corp. purchased MySpace last year for US$580 million. Founder Brad Greenspan now says the site is worth at least $20 billion...

After months of back-and-forth negotiations, the United States and the European Union have reached an agreement on the sharing of data pertaining to airline passengers flying to the U.S. from Europe The new agreement gives more U.S. government agencies access to data collected by European agencies, including the name, address and credit card inform...

By now, it's understood that technology has forever changed the advertising and marketing industries. The range of choices consumers now have for consuming media -- and the accompanying marketing messages -- has forced marketers to rethink entire branding strategies One way to look at the change is that today, the consumer has become the brand mana...

Leading electronics retailer Best Buy said Thursday it would partner with MP3 player maker SanDisk and RealNetworks to create and promote a subscription and buy-to-own music service. The collaboration is the latest effort to dethrone Apple from the top of the digital music market The Best Buy Digital Music Store uses RealNetworks' Rhapsody service...

The California Attorney General's office late Wednesday charged former Hewlett-Packard Chairwoman Patricia Dunn, a second high-ranking HP executive and three others with felony fraud and conspiracy in the wake of a controversial internal investigation launched to determine the source of board leaks to the media Dunn was charged along with former HP...

Japan's Fujitsu became the latest PC maker forced to recall Sony-made batteries in some of its notebook computers. Meanwhile, Hewlett-Packard said its laptops appear to be unaffected by the overheating and fire problems that have led to the recall of some 7 million batteries worldwide Fujitsu joined a growing legion of PC makers who have recalled ...

Microsoft said Tuesday it had formally appealed a US$357 million fine levied against it by regulators from the European Union, who say the software giant failed to comply with earlier sanctions meant to create a more competitive software marketplace Microsoft had indicated it would appeal the fine shortly after it was handed down in July and formal...

As the number of PC makers recalling notebook computers loaded with its batteries continues to grow, Sony is now facing accusations that it knew the batteries were susceptible to overheating and possibly catching fire but failed to sufficiently study the problem A Japanese newspaper, the Yomiuri Shimbun, said Tuesday that Sony first became aware th...

Two of the biggest remaining Web-based gambling sites began to back out of the U.S. market Monday after Congress passed legislation over the weekend aimed at cutting off the flow of money to Internet casinos and sports betting parlors Both PartyGaming.com and 888 Holdings said they would start winding down operations, presumably timing their shutdo...

Semiconductor sales hit record levels in August, with US$20.5 billion worth of the chips being sold worldwide, according to a report released Monday The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) said semiconductor sales rose 10.5 percent in August compared to a year ago, when sales hit $18.6 billion. Sales were also up month-to-month, rising 2.1 per...

Yahoo scored another victory in its battle with Google Thursday when Hewlett-Packard said it would pre-install the Web portal's search engine tools on its desktop and notebook computers The deal gives Yahoo access to prime real estate inside the machines from the world's No. 2 PC maker by volume, and comes close to matching an earlier deal struck b...