Microsoft Corp. is accelerating the development of the next version of its Windows client OS and plans to test a feature-complete version by early next year, a lead on the Windows Vista development team said Tuesday.
 
However, Microsoft is not planning to have a second beta of Vista available before

Companies that provide Internet-based phone service may find themselves disconnected from new customers after missing a government deadline to provide reliable emergency 911 service.

The Federal Communications Commission gave the companies 120 days to comply with its order requiring enhanced 911, or E911, in all their markets. The deadline to show the

For the past 20 years Microsoft has been pushing its Office productivity suite, which is a major reason why it has become so entrenched in the business environment. Each time an alternative has shown up, the software giant typically has adapted to these competitive threats by shifting its focus with ease.

However,

Cell phones are rapidly replacing wired lines for calls within the U.S., but high charges have kept people from using them much for international calls. MobileSphere, a wireless communications vendor, is working to change that. The company rolled out software and services for cell-phone operators and wireless carriers today that it says lets them

While it's true that great products like Apple's iPod will sometimes sell themselves, most companies must work very hard to pursue and keep business. This is especially true in industries like information technology and consulting, where revenues are entirely dependent on customer relationships. Companies that can't find and keep customers can shrivel up fairly

MANHASSET, N.Y. — Motorola Inc. and Skyworks Solutions Inc. have agreed to produce complete Edge radios based on Skyworks’ Helios DigRF Radio solution.

The chipset will be designed to support next-generation mobile handsets featuring high-speed Web browsing, music downloads and streaming video.

DigRF Edge requires just 10 external components to implement a

Sober.x, the year's biggest worm outbreak, showed little signs of slowing Monday, a security company reported.

One in every 14 e-mail messages passing through the filters of U.K.-based Sophos carried the Sober payload, with the worm accounting for 85 percent of all malicious code detected.

The sheer rate at which

ESPN has finally launched its Mobile ESPN cellular service by quietly starting to take orders from its Web site late last week.
 
ESPN announced the service earlier this year and is using cellular spectrum it is acquiring from Sprint. That makes ESPN a so-called mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). The service

Although Internet domain names may be getting longer or more complex as Web sites creatively squeeze into the crowded ".com" address space, most single-letter names like "a.com" and "b.com" remain unused. That may soon change as the Internet's key oversight agency considers lifting restrictions on the simplest of names.
 
In

Online holiday shopping is poised for another record year, analysts say, though much of the double-digit percentage gain is expected to come from the same deep discounts and promotions driving traditional retail sales this season.
 
With 59 million Americans expected to shop online on Monday, analysts said high gas prices,