Stories by: Elizabeth Heichler

The dramatic increase in compute power unleashed by multicore processors will enable applications that blend virtual representations of the real world with information that meets users' contextual needs, Microsoft's top researcher said at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Thursday.

U.S. jurisdictions using electronic voting systems this November would do well to implement routine post-election auditing and press for open-source software to help ensure fair votes in the future, said e-voting experts at the Technology Review EmTech conference on Thursday.

Yahoo Saturday night rejected a joint proposal from Microsoft and investor Carl Icahn that had called for a restructuring and the sale of Yahoo's search business to Microsoft. The Internet company that had fought Microsoft's hostile bid for months has now suggested that the Redmond, Washington, software giant make an offer to acquire all of Yahoo.

Developer conference outlines how eBay will move to a more accessible approach to online auctions

When John Swainson joined Computer Associates International (CA) nearly a year ago, he found a company reeling from three years of investigations into accounting practices that have resulted in numerous indictments and the upcoming trial of its former chief executive, Sanjay Kumar. President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Swainson, now in the second stage of a four-year plan to renew the company, spoke last week to a group of journalists from IDG on subjects including rebuilding customer relationships and CA's massive effort to retool its own IT systems.

Oracle's US$5.85 billion purchase of Siebel Systems announced last week is a bold move that may catapult the voracious software giant to the head of the CRM class and squarely into IBM's megavendor league.

Oracle stands to gain not only industry-leading CRM functionality but also additional clout as one of the handful of IT giants left standing in an increasingly consolidated industry through its planned acquisition of Siebel Systems for US$5.85 billion, analysts said. Meanwhile, Siebel customers appear to be cautiously optimistic about the impact of the news on their technology investments.

Technology managers seeking to reap the benefits of storage virtualisation are at a crossroads, and two storage industry powerhouses, IBM and EMC, want to take them in very different directions. On Wednesday IBM trumpeted some new customers who are trying its way, and reviewed its case with analysts and press about why other IT departments should do the same.

Sorting out the buzzword of the day from those technologies that will make a difference to one's business requires a well-defined process and criteria, according to a couple of IS executives speaking at Wednesday's CIO Symposium, sponsored by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management.

Sporadic chants of "Offshore the CEO!" punctuated a grey Tuesday morning in the US, as about two dozen picketers representing a group of current and former IBM employees welcomed attendees to the company's annual meeting.

When Yahoo rolls out a new e-commerce offering in the third quarter of 2003, small-business owner Lynne Bingham predicts that at least one of the promised enhancements is going to be "huge" for customers like her.