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Latest by Geoff Duncan

U.S. Reclaims Title as Top IT Country

The latest Networked Readiness Index from the World Economic Forum moved the U.S. from the number five to number one country in information and communications technology.

Blizzard Sued for Nixing Fan Warcraft Guide

An eBay seller has sued Blizzard Entertainment for halting sales of his unofficial World of Warcraft gaming guide.

FTC Hands Spammer Record $900K Fine

The Federal Trade Commission has fined San Francisco's JumpStart Technologies $900,000 for sending free movie ticket spam disguised as personal email.

Palm Celebrates Pilot’s Tenth Anniversary

Palm introduced its first Pilot ten years ago, ushering in a new era of computer-linked PDAs and indecipherable graffiti.

IDC: Vista Delay Won’t Hurt PC Sales

According to IDC, the delay of Windows Vista will only have a slight impact on PC sales, which it still expects to grow by just over 10 percent a year through 2008.

Cable Operators Mull Remote Storage DVRs

Reports say Time Warner and Cablevision are considering "remote storage" DVR-like capabilities - without a DVR.

New York AG Sues Gratis Over Personal Info

New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer has sued Gratis Internet for selling confidential information obtained via offers for free CDs, DVDs, iPods, and games.

Microsoft Delays Consumer Office until 2007

Microsoft says it's on track to finish up the next version of Microsoft Office in October, but is going to hold it back from consumers until Windows Vista is released in January.

Study: Broadband Users Tap into News

A study from the Pew Internet & American Life project finds that home users with broadband connections are more likely than dial-up users to go online for news.

Shadow of the Colossus Wins Best Game Award

Sony's adventure game "Shadow of the Colossus' took home the Best Game of 2005 award at this week's Game Developers Conference.

Robots Come to Their Senses via Evolution

WowWee Robotics plans to integrate two technologies from Evolution Robotics, giving its consumer robots visual recognition and positional awareness capabilities.

Dell Takes Orders for $10K XPS 600 Game Box

Looking for a high end gaming system? Dell is now taking orders for a limited number of XPS 600 Renegade systems, starting at $9,930.

Yahoo Launches U.S. VOIP-to-Phone Service

Yahoo's launching its VOIP "Phone Out" service in the U.S., enabling Yahoo Instant Messaging users to place calls from their computers to mobile phone and landlines.

Half U.S. Net Users Buy From Opt-in Email?

A new survey from Lyris finds that over half U.S. Internet users make purchases from opt-in commercial email messages, and 44 percent purchase via online ads. You believe that?

China: 111 Million Internet Users in 2005

Ireland's Research and Markets says China had 111 million Internet users in 2005, making it second only to the U.S. in total net users.

Akimbo, MovieLink to Get Personalized

Internet video services Akimbo and MovieLink have inked deals with ChoiceStream to provide personalized recommendations.

Nokia: Phones Will Kill MP3, Video Cams

In an interview with the Financial Times, a Nokia executive predicts mobile phones will kill markets for portable music players and portable video cameras.

Google Launches Beta Finance Site

Now Google's playing the market: check out Google Finance, a new beta service which combined financial news, stock quotes, and targeted searches.

Lenovo Unveils Dual Core 3000 N100 Notebook

Lenovo's taken the wraps off its new 3000 N100 notebook, a widescreen, dual-core notebook aimed at businesses and IT departments on a budget.

Dell Plans to Double Indian Workforce

The world's leading PC maker says it plans to double its workforce in India over the next three years, although it announced no plans to manufacture systems in India.

DOJ Won’t Get Google Search Queries

A judge's ruling makes Google one-for-two in its battle with the DOJ: it must turn over site URLs, but not users' search queries.

First Sony Blu-Ray Player Due in July

Sony plans to begin selling its $1,000 BDP-S1 Blu-Ray disk player in July with Blu-Ray equipped Sony computers getting to market about the same time.

Three Warner HD DVD Titles Due April 18

Warner has announced its first three HD DVD titles will go on sale April 18, with 17 more titles to follow.

Windows XP Booted on Intel Macs

A $13,000 challenge to dual boot Windows XP and Mac OS X on Apple's new Intel-based Macintosh computers has been met. Question is: does it matter?

Has the .com Domain Lost Its Luster?

A survey from Lexicon Branding finds consumers don't make much of a distinction between long-sought ".com" domains and domains ending in ".net" or ".biz."

Camera, GPS, New Software Coming to PSP

Sony says three software updates are planned for its Playstation Portable gaming units, and add-on cameras and GPS units will appear later this year.

AOL and Warner Launch In2TV

AOL and Warner Bros. launched In2TV, billed as the first broadband television network and featuring "classic" television programming.

Judge Likely to Order Google Data Turnover

In court, the Department of Justice scaled back its data demands from Google, and the judge said he's inclined to make Google hand over some search records.

No Playstation 3 Until November

Delays finalizing copy-protection technology for the PS3's Blu-Ray disk drive push the release of Sony's next-generation gaming platform to the end of 2006.

Windows Live to Offer Parental Monitoring

Microsoft says Windows Live will help parents monitor and control what their kids are doing online.

TiVo’s KidZone Will Find Childrens’ Shows

TiVo's new KidZone feature provides a restricted area where parents can control programming available to their kids, but TiVos will soon seek out and record tagged children's shows.

France to Crack Open Apple, Microsoft DRM?

A proposed law under consideration by the French parliament would enable consumers to legally transfer protected digital content to other formats.

HD DVD Launch Looking Fuzzy

This month's launch of the next-generation HD DVD format looks like it'll be hindered by a paucity of players and an utter lack of titles.

Google, DOJ Argue Over Search Data Today

Google and the Department of Justice face off in court today regarding the DOJ's subpoena for Google search data.

Tech-Savvy Consumers Looking to IPTV

A new survey finds tech-savvy consumers in the U.S. are beginning to look toward IPTV as an alternative to satellite and cable television offerings.

Podcasts Grew Fivefold in 2005

A new report from Ireland's Research and Markets suggest podcasts may reach 80 million people by 2010.

Cingular, T-Mobile Get RAZR Burn

Wireless operators Cingular and T-Mobile have temporarily halted sales of Motorola's popular RAZR phone due to a glitch which causes shutdowns and dropped calls.

McAfee Update Deletes Important Files

Although the problem's been fixed, last week a McAfee virus definition update caused the antivirus product to quarantine or delete Windows applications and other important files.