Bob Liu

I find it amusing that the Consumer Electronics Show occurred just days before a landmark ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that keeps modern media content (anything created after 1923) locked up and kept away from the public domain until roughly the year 2018. Just days before this decision, hardware companies great and small were […]

Intel Corp. eked out marginally higher sales and profits thanks largely to record volumes from its Architecture business, which includes the Pentium 4 Hyper-Threading processor and the newly rebranded Centrino, which has begun revenue shipments. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company said profits from operations (excluding acquisition-related costs) rose 7 percent to 16 cents a share, […]

UnitedLinux Tuesday said IBM and AMD have, in effect, joined the consortium responsible for developing the enterprise-class operating system. IBM and AMD have become the first companies to be named as Technology Partners, giving them responsibilities including participation in the UnitedLinux Technical Advisory Board and its committees, pre-release access to UnitedLinux deliverables, the right to […]

On the surface, the agreement between the consumer electronics industry and cable multiple service operators (MSOs) will have very little impact on the roll out of digital television (DTV) in the next few months. But, upon closer examination, the entire business model governing the television and cable industries will likely be transformed over the next […]

While AOL Time Warner has tried a number of ways to fix the problems plaguing the America Online division, it still hasn’t changed the fundamental way it approaches its business. And that might be crippling AOL more than any problem like accounting irregularities, lower ad revenue, flat subscription rates or sagging broadband initiatives. For AOL […]

With at least three independent surveys indicating that consumers will spend less on gifts this holiday season, the need to maximize dollars is driving shoppers online to e-tailing websites in droves. Amazon on Friday reported that customers worldwide have already ordered more than 24 million items for the period of Nov. 1-28, according to its […]

For most of the year, the fate of Asia Global Crossing remained uncertain. But for the first time since its beleaguered majority-owned parent Global Crossing Ltd. declared bankruptcy in January, Asia Global Crossing finally has formed a game plan to ensure its long-term viability. Asia Global Crossing Ltd. late Sunday announced that it has signed […]

Who are we supposed to believe? Over the last few days, we’ve gotten more mixed signals from the so-called industry leaders that are supposed to give us direction based on their vast expertise. But about the only thing we can conclude is these so called “leaders” of industry and innovation haven’t the foggiest notion when […]

Hewlett-Packard on Monday disclosed that Michael D. Capellas, the former top official of Compaq Computer, will leave his post as president of the company and as a member of the HP board to pursue other career opportunities. The surprising move comes six months after completion of the milestone HP/Compaq merger, a deal that unified Capellas […]

The People’s Republic of China is emerging as one of the world’s strongholds for the Linux operating system. According to a new report from Evans Data, nearly two-thirds of those Chinese developers that were surveyed (65 percent) expect to write an application for Linux in the next year. Close to half (44 percent) have already […]

China is well on its way to becoming the world’s second-largest PC market after a leading Japanese trade association slashed its forecast for domestic PC sales this year. And companies from Dell Computer to IBM stand to make considerable inroads in the Chinese market. But despite the potential gains of foreign competitors, there is no […]

Software behemoth Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday announced that it agreed to acquire Vicinity Corp., a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based innovator and integrator of location-based services, in a cash transaction valued at approximately $96 million. The key reason for Microsoft’s interest is Vicinitiy’s portfolio of technology-based solutions that allow businesses and governments to find available products and services […]