Articles by Keith Regan

eBay said Monday it had signed a multiyear pact with Google to have the search giant deliver ads, including click-to-call functionality, for its auction and e-commerce sites outside the United States The contract calls for Google to do at international sites what Yahoo earlier this year won the right to do at eBay's domestic site -- deliver context...

CBS is hoping an innovative approach will ignite excitement in its fall TV lineup. The television network is planning to use Bluetooth technology to beam clips of the new shows from billboards to the mobile devices of passersby Starting in September, billboards located in New York City's Grand Central Station will feature an invitation for commute...

Sony's reputation suffered another hit on Thursday whenApple Computer recalled 1.8 million notebook batteries manufactured by the consumer electronics giant Shares of Sony were down in Friday trading on news of the second major recall in just over two weeks. Apple's move followedDell's Aug. 14 recall of up to 4 million lithium-ion batteries contain...

AOL became the latest Internet player to move aggressively into the movie download space Thursday, saying it would make full-length features from a number of Hollywood studios available through the AOL Video portion of its Web portal The company said partnerships with 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Universal Pictures, and Warne...

IBM is making yet another splashy acquisition, this time in the data security arena. The computing giant will pay US$1.3 billion to acquire Internet Security Systems, it announced Wednesday The deal, which values ISS at $28 per share in cash -- an 8 percent premium over the previous day's closing price -- gives IBM access to that firm's software, a...

In a move that could spark a price war in the emerging video download marketplace, Guba Tuesday slashed prices for purchasing and renting newly released films and television show episodes Guba cut prices on new release movies from US$19.99 to $9.99, said it would make older movies from its catalog available for $4.99 instead of $9.99, and reduced p...

Two employees were fired and a top executive has voluntarily left AOL, the direct result of the public disclosure of millions of supposedly private search records AOL said Chief Technology Officer Maureen Govern is leaving the company and reports suggested that two other employees were dismissed. One was the researcher who put the data onto the Web...

Infineon Technologies said Monday it had landed an order for millions of data storage chips from the U.S. government, which will be featured in a new generation of electronic passports The exact size of the contract was not disclosed, but Infineon said it received a "multimillion piece purchase order" for the chips, which are designed to help speed...

In a first for the evolving home movie industry, Paramount Pictures said it would release "Mission: Impossible III" in three formats at once later this fall, including the two formats competing to claim dominance in the high-definition DVD space Paramount said "M:I-3" will be out Oct. 30 in standard DVD format as well as both Blu-ray and HD DVD for...

BetOnSports.com, the UK-based online gaming site whose CEO faces accusations of fraud, has shut down its U.S. operations. The site has become a flashpoint in the online gambling debate since the charges were initially filed almost a month ago A note on the company's Web site says the firm made the decision, in light of court papers filed in the U...

Viacom's MTV Networks continued to make aggressive moves into the Web space, saying Wednesday it would buy Atom Entertainment, known for its gaming and short films sites, for US$200 million MTV Networks said the buy is an extension of the company's "multiplatform strategy of building an engaging universe of music, gaming, entertainment, news and in...

Making its third software acquisition in a week, IBM said Thursday it would buy enterprise content management provider FileNet for US$1.6 billion in cash Big Blue said it would use the FileNet technology to round out its "Information on Demand" efforts, which it launched earlier this year. The move also is expected to help IBM answer competitive th...

Sprint Nextel plans to invest up to US$3 billion over the next two years to build a fourth-generationwireless network based on the WiMax wireless broadband standard, the company announced Tuesday Sprint believes that by embracing the emerging WiMax standard, it can be the first to market with an ultra high-speed wireless network designed to provide...

Making a bid for a greater share of the digital music space, mobile phone giant Nokia said Tuesday it had reached an agreement to buy music distributor Loudeye in a deal worth US$60 million Finland-based Nokia said it would pay $4.50 per share for Loudeye, more than twice what the stock was worth at the close of trading Monday....

In the Web search world at least, the rich may continue to get richer.Google said late Monday it had signed a US$900 million deal to become the exclusive search provider for social networking giantMySpace.com and other Web properties owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, beating out its major rivals in the process MySpace has been seeking a search p...

For technology dependent companies, risk comes in many forms. While the traditional information security risks are often the first that spring to mind, businesses with extensive collections of software face additional risks, especially when those applications become numerous In an exclusive interview with the E-Commerce Times, Guy Hoffman, chief ex...

Google said it has no intention of entering the digital music space, squelching mounting speculation that it would use its role as a search player to become a competitor to Apple's iTunes Music Store and other music download offerings With numerous initiatives feeding rumors that it would enter the retail music download arena in the near term, Goog...

Moving to further assert its role as a distributor of video on the Web, Google said Monday it had reached an agreement to deliver video clips and shows from Viacom's MTV Networks to users, along with video advertising Google and MTV Networks described the partnership as a test of "an innovative video distribution model that will serve consumers, We...

Apple said it has discovered additional irregularities in the past granting of employee stock options and as a result will likely be forced to restate some past earnings, including those as recent as the second quarter of this year The move and the resulting restatement will delay Apple's formal quarterly report to the SEC for its most recent quart...

Philips Electronics said Thursday it had reached an agreement to sell a majority stake in its semiconductor business to a group of private equity firms for US$4.4 billion Philips said the sale would enable it to focus on its core business of producing consumer and industrial electronics devices....