Kenneth Corbin

We may not be out of the woods yet, but the recent holiday shopping season offered some encouraging signs of recovery for online retailers. Online data provider comScore is out with a new report highlighting some of the bright spots of the season, but also warns that growth will still be only modest this year […]

It’s become a familiar pattern. A popular Web company rolls out a new application that tailors features to individuals’ information, and the offering becomes shrouded in privacy concerns. Rinse, lather, repeat. Enter Google’s Buzz. Critics have leaped on the service for the default sharing settings that would make people’s favorite Gmail contacts publicly available. eSecurity […]

Troubled social network MySpace is once again reshuffling its executive lineup, with chief executive Owen Van Natta stepping down after less than a year in the top spot. News Corp., MySpace’s corporate parent, said late Wednesday that Van Natta would leave the company, to be replaced by Mike Jones and Jason Hirschhorn, who will serve […]

Google doesn’t want to wait for telecoms and wireless providers to eventually deliver high-speed connections to consumers so it’s going to do it itself. Enterprise Networking Planet elaborates on the search giant’s plan to bring 1-gigabit-per-second connectivity to at least 50,000 people in the near future. Google, a frequent opponent of Internet service providers in […]

RealNetworks and MTV have confirmed plans to spin off their joint digital music play Rhapsody into an independent company in a deal expected to close in the first quarter of 2010. The restructuring will see RealNetworks (NASDAQ: RNWK) shed its majority stake and operating role in the money-losing music subscription service as it looks to […]

Yahoo’s taken a lot of heat over the past couple years, but it’s hanging tough in the display-adverting market. A new report from the Web data shop comScore recapping the online media story of 2009 shows just how sizable a lead the Web pioneer enjoys in the segment, as well as the rise of social […]

For Google, Super Bowl Sunday was something of a departure. In the third quarter of the game, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) aired a nearly full-minute ad promoting its search engine, marking one of the few television appearances for the company that rarely advertises and its first spot during a Super Bowl. At it happens, the ad, […]

The CEO of Boxee, the software startup that connects Internet video with the TV set, has shot back at the head of NBC, who testified yesterday before a House subcommittee that Boxee had illegally appropriated content from Hulu last year. Boxee’s Avner Ronen sees it a little different. “I’d like to set the record straight […]

Facebook has begun rolling out a site-wide redesign, shuffling the layout of its home page in an effort to simplify the navigation and give prominent placement to some of the most popular features. The company also marked its sixth anniversary on Thursday, marking the occasion with the announcement that it expects to sign up its […]

Authorities at the Department of Justice have told a federal court that they have significant concerns about Google’s landmark agreement with authors and publishers to create a sprawling digital library, warning that even after a substantial revision, the settlement represents a dramatic departure from copyright precedent. The Justice Department filed its comments with the U.S. […]

Today kicked off the congressional inquiry into the mega-merger between Comcast and NBC Universal. The chief executives of both companies were on hand to defend the union, but some lawmakers expressed serious reservations. Chief among them: How will the merger reshape the online video market? And what is the impact on net neutrality? Or copyright […]

In the wake of Google’s revelations about a cyber attack targeting Chinese human rights activists, a top Senate Democrat is renewing his investigation into the practices of U.S. tech companies operating in China. Dick Durbin (Ill.), the assistant Senate majority leader, has sent letters of inquiry to 30 leading Internet and IT firms, including Facebook, […]