Ryan Naraine

Looking to jumpstart the U.S. market for mobile audio-on-demand content, Seattle-based RealNetworks has inked a deal with Sprint to shuttle audio streams to Sprint’s PCS Vision subscribers. RealNetworks, which is already streaming live baseball broadcasts to cellphones nationwide, said it would deliver breaking news, market reports, sports highlights and weather forecasts to users of Sprint’s […]

Financial services firm Merrill Lynch has confirmed a company-wide ban on the use of third-party e-mail by its 50,000 employees, citing security and regulatory requirements. A spokesperson for the New York-based brokerage house told internetnews.com the company would block e-mail access to all third-party ISP providers. The move effectively bans employees from using AOL, Yahoo, […]

Two of the biggest names in the wireless PDA convergence space moved a step closer to merging Friday with an announcement from Milpitas, Calif.-based Palm that the antitrust waiting period for its purchase of Handspring had expired. The expiration of the waiting period required by the Hart-Scott-Rodino Anti-Trust Improvements Act clears the way for the […]

The non-profit Apache Software Foundation (ASF) has announced the incubation of a new project (tentatively codenamed ‘Apache Geronimo’) to develop an open source, Apache-licensed implementation of the J2EE specification. The ASF, which maintains the widely deployed Apache HTTP Server Project, has issued a call for developers to join in the incubation of the Geronimo project. […]

Web search powerhouse Google offered a glimpse into its plans for the popular Google News aggregation portal, rolling out a beta version of an e-mail notification service that allows personalized delivery of breaking news stories. The Google News Alerts service, cooked up within the Google Labs unit, lets users specify keywords that are likely to […]

As mobile device maker Research in Motion rushed to put a positive spin on Tuesday’s penalty phase of its patent infringement case with NTP, analysts are warning that the ongoing brouhaha could chase enterprise customers away. In a stunning decision, U.S. District Judge James Spencer ruled that Research in Motion must stop selling its flagship […]

RealNetworks’ tug-of-war with Microsoft for digital media delivery dominance hit a new gear Wednesday with the launch of the Helix Player project — an open source media player for the Linux, Unix and Solaris platforms. The Seattle-based RealNetworks said its proprietary RealAudio and RealVideo binaries would be added to the Helix Player to allow Linux […]

With the downturn in the PC sales market showing no signs of letting up, Gateway is pushing ahead with plans to diversify into the consumer space, introducing a lightweight MP3 player — about the size of a pack of gum — that offers USB storage and voice-recording capabilities. Just months after closing 76 retail stores […]

Graphics chipmaker Nvidia Corp. on Monday announced a major expansion into the wireless sector with a $70 million deal to acquire handheld graphics chip specialist MediaQ. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based Nvidia, which commands the market for high-definition 2-D and 3-D graphics processors, said the all-cash deal would extend its platform reach and speed up its […]

Software giant Microsoft on Friday announced it would immediately rejigger its licensing terms to smooth the way for competitors to use its code to make server products that interoperate with its flagship Windows OS. The licensing concessions, which was part of an antitrust settlement with the U.S. government, goes into effect immediately, the company said, […]

Just weeks after inking a multi-million dollar deal to make Microsoft its primary software provider, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has joined the drive to ensure security patches are applied to vulnerable IT systems. The agency increased the alert level on an advisory originally issued by Microsoft on July 16 for a security vulnerability […]

Teen-focused direct marketing specialist Alloy on Thursday announced a major push into the offline retail business with a $50 million bid to acquire New York-based clothing retailer Delias Corp. . Alloy, which has been on an acquisition binge in recent months, plans to shell out about 93 cents per share for all of Delias’ outstanding […]