Thor Olavsrud

With analysts concerned that the events of Sept. 11 will delay the recovery of the PC market, investor attention has also been turning to Microsoft Corp. . Goldman Sachs & Co. reduced estimates on the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant and 20 other software companies on Sept. 17, “recognizing that the tragedy of Sept. 11 would […]

AT&T’s Chief Executive Officer Mike Armstrong is reportedly in talks with BellSouth about a merger of equals, according to BusinessWeek. The magazine said AT&T sent President David Dorman to BellSouth in mid-September with the offer: AT&T will spin off AT&T Broadband and then merge its remaining telecom businesses with BellSouth, giving the combined company the […]

Sun Microsystems and 32 well-known, industry-leading companies raised their standard Wednesday in what is rapidly shaping up to be the Internet’s newest battle ground: authentication systems. The most noted industry leader that was excluded from the new consortium, though, was Microsoft Corp., which last week fired the first salvo when it put out a call […]

The impact of the events of Sept. 11 on the computer industry and its previously forecasted recovery early next year are beginning to come into focus, and Goldman Sachs & Co. suggested Wednesday that it will now likely be late in 2002 before the recovery appears. “Following the events of Sept. 11, it seems likely […]

Redwood City, Calif.-based Shutterfly Inc. Tuesday put the finishing touches on a deal with Microsoft Corp. which will see the firm’s digital photography service incorporated with Microsoft’s new Windows XP operating system. Shutterfly said the deal will give customers a new option for viewing, editing and ordering prints of their digital images. “Windows XP makes […]

AOL Time Warner Inc. Monday warned cash earnings per share will be lower than previous expectations due to the attacks of Sept. 11, in addition to the advertising market slowdown. The company said 2001 results would be affected by the advertising market’s continuing decline and additional expenses incurred by news-gathering operations and costs in its […]

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Monday moved to allocate frequency bands below 3GHz to support the introduction of Advanced Wireless services, including 3G services, in the U.S. The decision follows an open meeting held in August to attempt to sort out the prickly issue of how to allocate additional spectrum for 3G. Congress has mandated […]

Working on the assumption that customers are sold on applications and not technology — and that customers know their needs best — networking giant Cisco Systems Inc. Monday launched a community Web site that aims to connect its IP telephony services customers with independent XML developers that can create a wide array of productivity-enhancing business […]

Looking to make the wireless Web a more stimulating experience for its customers, Sprint Corp. Monday licensed the Blazer Web browser developed by Palm arch-rival Handspring Inc. . Blazer supports access to content marked up in HTML, WML (WAP) and cHTML. The browser supports color graphics, bookmarks and personalization. Sprint said it has been optimized […]

Microsoft Corp. Friday confirmed that it has begun manufacturing its new Xbox game console in Guadalajara, Mexico, and said definitively that it will launch the new platform in North America on Nov. 15. “Put a great big ‘X’ on Nov. 15,” said Robbie Bach, chief Xbox officer at Microsoft. “Xbox is the one worth waiting […]

Microsoft Corp. put out a call for the creation of a “federated” authentication system Thursday, saying it plans to open its Passport authentication system to interoperate with enterprises, network and other service operators to deliver universal single sign-in spanning multiple organizations and services. In layman’s terms, the move is designed to spur the development of […]

Online mortgage vendors appear to have taken the Federal Reserve’s 50 basis point interest rate cut Monday to heart, hoping it will drive consumers to buy a home or refinance a mortgage. At least two firms — LendingTree Inc. and American Mortgage Holdings — are turning to portal sites to help capture consumer eyeballs. Online […]