Matthew Hicks

Google Inc. on Thursday is expanding the ability for advertisers to target their search-based ads to specific locations, both in the United States and internationally. Google will announce that advertisers in its AdWords program can target any area in the world by providing a specific address or latitude and longitude points. In eight specific countries, […]

After posting another quarter of poor earnings, Sun Microsystems Inc. faces more pressure than ever from both shareholders and IT customers to prove that it can recover the position it once held as a prospering computer company, technology analysts said on Thursday. While Sun has begun taking many of the right strategic and business operations […]

Amazon.com Inc. on Wednesday continued its drive into the search market as newly-created subsidiary A9.com Inc. launched a beta version of its search site. The A9.com beta draws its Web search results from Google Inc. but adds its own twists in presenting them. It focuses on personalization features that let users view their search histories […]

Google Inc. is planning to change its policy governing the use of trademarks in the keywords that trigger its sponsored listings, stoking the debate over where the lines should be drawn in the use of trademarks in search-based advertising. Google on Thursday began sending e-mails about the policy change to advertisers and trademark holders who […]

While Microsoft Corp. has reached a $440 million settlement with InterTrust Technologies Corp. around digital rights management patents, it is far from clearing the slate of patent-infringement claims against it. Microsoft, the worlds largest software maker, remains a major patent target. It is battling between 30 and 35 ongoing patent cases that cover everything from […]

Social-networking technology is making new connections as small players in the field experiment with ways to integrate it with wireless and collaboration technologies. New York-based Dodgeball.com this week unveiled a beta version of a service that merges social networking with mobile phone text-messaging, so friends can discover each others whereabouts. And social networking service ItsNotWhatYouKnow.com […]

RealNetworks Inc. on Wednesday released the latest version of its digital media player with support for all of the major Internet media formats, including those from competitors Microsoft Corp. and Apple Computer Inc. RealNetworks of Seattle first announced RealPlayer 10 for Windows in January and said it would include support for playing music purchased through […]

Intellectual property and patents are at the heart of the $1.6 billion settlement between Sun Microsystems Inc. and Microsoft Corp., with more than half of Microsofts payments to Sun coming from patent disputes involving Java technology. While the settlement announced on Friday ends Suns antitrust litigation against Microsoft, it also ends a dispute over infringement […]

In a move furthering the reach of Web conferencing, WebEx Communications Inc. announced Thursday that it has integrated its online meeting service with a major telephony vendors IP communications platform. WebEx has tied its MediaTone Network into Siemens Information and Communication Networks Groups OpenScape, its Session Initiation Protocol-based unified communications software. The integration means that […]

SANTA CLARA, Calif.—While it may be making headlines, local search remains in its formative days as search engines and traditional yellow-pages companies figure out how to attract users while also snagging often-elusive local advertisers, panelists said Wednesday at a search conference here. Part of the challenge is striking the right balance between satisfying Web users […]

SANTA CLARA, Calif.—Two days after announcing the next version of its Windows CE embedded operating system, Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday revealed new voice-over-IP features for the release and unveiled a string of VOIP partners during the Spring 2004 VON Conference & Expo here. Windows CE 5.0, in beta now and due out this summer, will […]

SANTA CLARA, Calif.—A new breed of networking gear has been developed to shepherd and control the connection of multiple VOIP networks, but whether the functionality of these session border controllers will eventually move directly into other networking equipment stirred debate during the Spring 2004 VON Conference & Expo here Monday. Networking executives disagreed on the […]