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From MediaPost: These days, women and men go online in almost equal proportions, but what they do on the Web is another matter entirely. Men are more likely than women to check weather and news, download music, and get financial information; women are more likely to look for health and medical information, use e-mail, and–clichéd …
From PC World: The U.S. Congress will face a broad range of technology-related issues, including communications law reform and data-privacy issues, when it returns to work in 2006. The possibility of a data-breach notification law and a broadband-focused revamp of a decade-old telecommunications law made headlines in 2005, but tech vendors and trade groups are …
From the New York Times: On New Year’s Eve, don’t be surprised to witness more heartfelt celebrating than usual; 2005 was not a year noted for its tidings of good cheer, and plenty of people will be happy to see it go. Still, there were inspiring and gratifying success stories if you knew where to …
From Wired News: It was the year corporate and university data spills just kept coming, and the Supreme Court decided technology companies can be held responsible for the bad behavior of their users. Big firms lined up to help repressive governments; governments helped themselves to private phone calls and e-mail. A medical miracle transformed, overnight, …
From CNN: A 69-year-old grandmother has become the heroine of young video-game fans and the star of a Web log created by her grandson. Barbara St. Hilaire plays video games 10 hours a day and spends a good part of her Social Security check on games. St. Hilaire thinks the blog and media attention she’s …
From the New York Times: The war for control of the next-generation DVD is approaching a critical juncture: next week in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show, companies championing the two competing high-definition DVD standards – Blu-ray and HD-DVD – will unveil their lineups of new players and movie titles. There are growing signs, …
From Wired News: In the tech world, 2005 was a period of bold ideas and exciting breakthroughs — shadowed, at times, by devastating reversals. New software apps changed the way we looked at the world, while hardware got smaller, faster and more fun. On the net, blogs provided many of the most dramatic moments, sometimes …
From the New York Times: Ending a partnership that soured long ago, Microsoft and NBC announced yesterday that they would dissolve their joint ownership of the cable news channel MSNBC, with NBC taking control. NBC has completed a deal to assume majority control of the channel immediately, with an 82 percent stake, and it will …
From eWeek: Michele Neylon was once very happy with Urchin Software Corp., which provides a service to analyze Web site traffic. But ever since search giant Google Inc. bought Urchin in March, he’s changed his tune. His problem is with Google’s customer service. “If you choose to deal with Urchin in the Google era, you …
From Wired News: Computers may have gotten better at chess, but human players can still find chinks in their defense, the world chess champion says. Just don’t try to break them down psychologically. Ever since IBM’s Deep Blue beat Garry Kasparov — retired champion and reputedly the best player ever — in 1997, humans have …