Ben Charny

There are fresh signs that Google is preparing an online payment service, code-named Google Wallet, that would compete with Internet stalwarts eBay and PayPal. GoogleRumors, a Web log (blog), recently reported that a computer file Google uses to scour the Internet to stock its Web site database now has a “purchases” category. Moreover, several other […]

BERKELEY, Calif.—Yahoo Inc. has opened a research facility a few miles north of here to collaborate with professors, graduate students and undergrads from the University of California, Berkeley. The research facility holds about 30 computer sciences graduate students and professors, all studying the social aspects of the digital age, using Yahoos audience of 400 million […]

A new Internet search engine, dubbed “Congoo,” gives people a free look at news articles that normally need a subscription to view. But when it launches in November, Congoo could be in for a year of searching dangerously. Someone using Congoo to search for, say, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan, receives links to articles […]

MSN and Yahoo Messenger will be glued together, forming the worlds largest instant messaging community at some 275 million combined users, the services companies announced on Wednesday. In this era of IM viruses and concerns over privacy, both Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. pledged to keep consumer security and privacy first and foremost as they […]

Several new Internet search companies have chosen to specialize in a particular subject matter rather than go toe-to-toe with full-featured search giants like Yahoo Inc., Google Inc. and MSN. The startups aim to prove a clever company can still find room in an industry despite the huge shadow cast by market giants Google, Yahoo, MSN […]

In a potential blow to Microsoft, Netscape Communications Netscape Internet browser will be included inside every new Hewlett-Packard and Compaq computer sold starting early next year, Netscape said last week. The arrangement allows for those buying new HP or Compaq consumer PCs to choose Netscape as their default Web browser and to start the Web […]

Online auctioneer eBay Inc. announced Monday that it plans to buy VeriSign Inc.s payment gateway business for $370 million, as it looks to further secure transactions by eBay users. A payment gateway is used to instantly authorize and manage online transactions. That division of VeriSign, an online security specialist based in Mountain View, Calif., took […]

Imagine if librarians organized book collections based on a 14-word description of each title. The results, no doubt, would leave much room for improvement. Thats loosely the case for the growing number of features for finding Podcasts, which are very much in the vein of radio shows but are downloaded any time from the Internet. […]

Network operator Cogent said Friday that rival Level 3 “has taken the necessary actions” to once again carry its customers Internet traffic, a sign that days old service disruptions for a significant number of Internet users are over, for now. As been reported, Level 3 Communications, a major Internet network operator, has since Wednesday refused […]

Search king Google on Friday unveiled Google Reader, its entrance into the news feed reading business. Google Reader, like other news feed readers before it, displays updates from a variety of Internet-based subscription sources, and shows the results on one Web page. It eliminates the need to continually visit each individual Web site for updates. […]

Some consumers feeling the impact of a spat between two major Internet network operators are asking for government intervention, but so far theres no substantive move by lawmakers or utility regulators to step into the fray. As significant numbers of businesses and consumers found out in the last few days, Level 3 Communications, a major […]

An Internet security specialist says a new threat forces computers to install faked Google software, which then goes phishing. Phishing is where e-mails, IM (instant messages) or Web sites parody a legitimate company, and try to get users to provide personal information or financial account numbers and passwords. The latest cases involve bogus Google software […]