eWEEK EDITORS

As the tech economy food chain gets further strained, many industry trade shows are scrambling to survive. More than a few have gone to that Great Convention Center in the Sky, leaving tech marketers with fewer places to hawk their wares. Both Compaq Computer and Dell Computer canceled their major user conferences last month, citing […]

On April 1, 1990, David Waitzman proposed what may have been the first experimental standard for wireless Internet Protocol (IP) networks. The proposal, contained in a memo titled Request for Comments (RFC): 1149 (www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1149.txt?number=1149), outlines a mechanism for transmitting IP data packets on avian carriers; in other words, taping printouts of individual packets to carrier […]

I will probably be the last person in North America to acquire a personal digital assistant. But Im clearly bucking the trend. Many people are increasingly relying on PDAs, palmtops, two-way text pagers and Internet-ready cell phones to do business and to keep in touch with friends and family. Theyre becoming de rigueur in many […]

Broadband Lament Pardon me while I wipe away a tear of sympathy for big tech company chieftains who cant get broadband service at home. It was nary two weeks ago that Qwest Communications International CEO Joe Nacchio, who splits time between his home in New Jersey and a hotel room near his companys Denver headquarters, […]

Interest in the once-hot market for Internet access on airplanes is losing altitude. Rockwell Collins has ceased investing in In-Flight Network, its airplane Internet access joint venture with News Corp., citing slower than anticipated market development. Industry observers have also cooled their expectations. “Some people might be interested in it if it were free and […]

Cash Deal Cisco Systems will sell more than 500 high-speed routers to China Telecom that will be used to build out the companys national Internet backbone. Cisco, heavily criticized for providing so-called vendor financing for similar deals in the past, says it will not underwrite the $100 million equipment sale. Vote of Confidence Nokia says […]

Crooks looking to unload stolen goods are increasingly turning to eBay to find buyers and reap some quick cash. In the past few years, police have busted at least three major fencing rings on eBay in which burglars and thieves from Boston, Chicago and Jackson, Mich., used the online auction marketplace to sell thousands of […]

The rich are different. So are Web sites that sell to the rich. Just ask Bob Paquin, who, as chief operating officer of Blue Nile Inc., last year sold $50 million in diamonds online by figuring out how to build a site that appeals to the well-to-do. What does Paquin know about selling to the […]

The Blair Witch Project may not have been a masterpiece of cinematography, but its Web sites success at generating a tidal wave of excitement for the 1999 movie has become a Hollywood legend. Movie studios have had a hard time emulating Blair Witchs special sauce for online promotion, which featured “evidence” relating to the mysterious […]

Attending the recent conference sponsored by the Universal Wireless Communications Consortium, which supports the Time Division Multiple Access technology used by operators such as AT&T Wireless and Cingular Wireless, was like sitting death watch for the standard. But not a tear was shed. As in past years, this UWCC conference lacked substance. I suspect that, […]

802.11b wireless LANs finally have reached a point where we can safely say, “deploy them.” The best markets are retail, transportation and education, places where the end users are on the move—such as mobile classrooms and logistics. And you can look for the old buildings out there, where wiring is a problem because of asbestos […]

All of the above. Each of them has its own place, and each of them can make you money. Ricochet has been popular with its users for years and its technology works well, but its business case is enough to give any reseller pause. OmniSky is slow but reliable, and has a broader reach than […]