InternetNews Staff

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates asked Congress on Wednesday for more visas for skilled professionals, echoing arguments often made by many in the tech sector. Gates told the U.S. House of Representatives’ Science and Technology Committee that the 65,000 H-1B visas allotted for professional workers annually was inadequate, pointing out the 2007 quota was filled on […]

Microsoft said on Wednesday it agreed to acquire virtualization technology firm Kidaro for an undisclosed sum. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) said Kidaro’s technology would be incorporated into its desktop virtualization product, which allows companies to deliver over an Internet network a “virtual” computer desktop different from the software running on the local machine. Desktop virtualization allows […]

One of Apple’s popular iPod Nano media players gave off sparks while being recharged in Japan in January, Japan’s trade ministry said, prompting a safety investigation. No one was hurt in the incident, and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is looking into the cause and checking whether there have been similar cases, an official from the Ministry […]

YouTube, the popular video-sharing site owned by Google (GOOG), is giving away tools that let Web developers tap the underlying database functions of YouTube, in effect allowing users to build their own YouTubes. The Silicon Valley–based video-sharing site said on Wednesday that it is providing wholesale access to YouTube’s extensive video library, global audience, and […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Congress may have to stop broadband Internet providers from charging content providers higher fees for priority access to the Internet, a senior House of Representatives Democrat said on Tuesday. “I am concerned that if Congress stands by and does nothing, we will soon find ourselves living in a world where those who […]

Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) said on Tuesday it has created Web-based software designed to help salespeople win more business, its latest attempt to overtake its smaller rival that leads in the field, Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM ). The new programs from the world’s No. 2 publicly held software company add browser-based technologies and customization to run on […]

Product: Canary Wireless Digital Hotspotter HS-20 URL: www.canarywireless.com Price: $59.95 Pros: Simple, informative, quick and reliable; saves time and hassle for road warriors. Cons: One extra thing to carry, limited battery life. Anyone who is on the road a lot is likely to have plenty of experience trying to find a suitable access point by […]

Google won unconditional approval from the European Commission on Tuesday to buy Web advertising firm DoubleClick for $3.1 billion, despite objections from rivals and privacy advocates. The approval after an in-depth investigation by European competition officials follows clearance from U.S. antitrust authorities received late last year. The European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, said […]

Top contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, NYSE: TSM) and two other Taiwan chipmakers began work on Tuesday on new plants for a T$450 billion ($14.7 billion) complex that TSMC said is part of a long-term commitment to investing in the island. The TSMC facility at the Hsinchu Science Park will include an advanced […]

LOS ANGELES — Files containing confidential data on about 5,000 employees at MTV Networks were illegally accessed by someone outside the company, the network told employees on Friday in a memo obtained by Reuters. When asked for comment on the contents of the memo, MTV said in a statement that the security breach occurred after […]

NEW YORK — Rupert Murdoch said on Monday his News Corp. (NYSE:NEWS) would not get into a fight with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) over Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO), confirming what most industry and Wall Street observers suspected. Murdoch’s company has been in talks with Yahoo over a transaction to combine News Corp’s MySpace Internet social network and other Internet […]

MILAN — Any takeover bid for peripherals maker Logitech International by Microsoft would be “an operation without sense,” Logitech’s chairman was quoted as saying in an Italian newspaper on Sunday. Shares in Switzerland-based Logitech rose in January based on speculation Microsoft would launch a takeover bid. Analysts dismissed rumors of an $8 billion takeover bid […]