Spotlight Features

It's opening day in many Major League Baseball stadiums today, and in addition to wondering who's throwing out the first pitch, how much the beer will cost, and whether that rookie shortstop can hit the curveball, competitive and committed fans of this great sport are grappling with another burning ...

As the recent BlackBerry case focused the world's eyes on the arcane field of patents, I was reminded of the 1999 Amazon.com "one click" case, which caused so many to condemn the U.S. patent system. At that time, critics called the system "broken" and a "disincentive to innovation." Now, the system ...

The hype surrounding machine-to-machine communications -- known by the acronym M2M -- is surpassed only by the expense of network transport and the "exorbitant process" of integrating M2M modules into the machines they will monitor. Cellular networks are the most likely the M2M enabler, according to...

Have you been to Europe lately? If so, when you've crossed borders you've noticed that you no longer have to go through passport control and get your passport examined, then stamped. You can travel throughout the European Union just as you can travel throughout the United States, unimpeded by border...

Google AdWords is the most commonly used lead generation tool in many small and medium businesses. Layer in small and medium vendors of CRM's many varieties of applications, and the dependency on precise targeting for lead generation becomes even more important, due to the highly targeted messaging...

This week, the Federal Election Commission voted to exempt much political communication on the Internet from the provisions of the McCain-Feingold finance law. This action is a partial win on free-speech rights, but bad news on government control of the Internet. A few years ago, the FEC issued reg...

Some 25 million households in the nation have a wireless network, and that number is growing. So, too, is the number of home networks without a lick of security on them, according to a report released last week by ABI Research in Oyster Bay, N.Y. That's because, for most consumers, activating the se...

Businesspeople and consumers are becoming more reliant on handheld devices for the obvious conveniences they offer. "We are starting to see users do more with their handheld devices than simply check e-mail," noted Jack Gold, a principal with market research firm J. Gold Associates. "Increasingly, t...

Could Apple's troubles in Europe get any worse? It's on the wrong end of a lawsuit from The Beatles in the UK, who say iTunes breaks a $26 million settlement under which Apple Computer agreed to stay away from the music business; there's a distinct possibility Apple's digital rights management techn...

You know that half the money you are spending on Internet advertising is wasted -- you just aren't sure which half. You've read about Web analytics and have played with the free tools that come from your Web hosting solution, but you realize you need more. The only problem is, there are more than 60...