Mozilla Corp.'s barebones R&D operation has unveiled a technology prototype that would add social networking features to Firefox.

Qualcomm Inc. threatened to forbid Nokia Corp. from using its patents forever, the strongest blow yet in the ongoing battle between the mobile technology companies.

Google Inc. has commented on a new software tool it released in China this week, although it did not address allegations that the software bears more than a passing resemblance to a rival's product.

Any lingering image of Hewlett-Packard Co. as a stodgy company was dispelled Wednesday night in San Francisco as the company called "Game On" in its bid for a piece of the online gaming industry.

In a move to bolster its pending refresh of the Centrino wireless notebook package, Intel Corp. said Wednesday it would add vPro IT management to the bundle, which PC vendors are scheduled to begin selling by June.

Google Inc. plans to invest US$600 million in a new data center in South Carolina, the state government said on Wednesday.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) has begun shipping two 3GHz versions of its dual-core Opteron chip to server vendors, continuing a battle over multicore processing power with Intel Corp., the company said Wednesday.

The European Commission's complaint against Apple Inc. and the major record labels over a possible violation of European rules on cross-border trade has served to highlight the inconsistencies in how music is released and priced online.

The owner of a blog dedicated to software patches has posted online more than 100 fixes he said are expected to be included in Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1), Microsoft Corp.'s first major update to its latest Windows client OS.

EMI Group has announced a plan to sell its music through online retailers without copy protection technologies, a significant move that should give consumers greater freedom in the way they can listen to music purchased online.

It takes a long time for hospitals to see a return on IT investments, according to a report released this week, which may explain why the industry has long been seen as a laggard in technology spending.

Tom Shea, writing in these pages 25 years ago, had it almost right. His article "Subscribe to Magazines with your Microcomputer" in January 1983 described Publishers Aide -- a "magazine subscription fulfillment" company that planned to let home computer users "key ... in a code" to access subscription data from the company's IBM mainframe.

The newest version of Minimo, the Mozilla mobile browser, became available this week in the midst of changes within the Minimo project that make its future uncertain.

If you receive an e-mail offering a download of Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2, delete it. A new virus is making the rounds that comes disguised as a test version of Microsoft Corp.'s current Web browser.

Database problems at the Bacs clearing system have left up to 400,000 people in the U.K. awaiting their salary payments.

New services available on YouTube could reflect growing influence of its parent company Google Inc.

Larry Sanger's answer to Wikipedia is a new online encyclopedia called Citizendium, which was launched to the public on Tuesday.

The once high-flying microprocessor company Transmeta Corp. is now facing delisting from the Nasdaq Stock Market due to its low stock price.

Adobe Systems Inc. on Tuesday said it had completely revamped its tools suite for high-end graphics and Web designers by combining, for the first time, products from the former Macromedia and its own portfolio.

You may not realize it, but YouTube has more to offer than stupid kids hurting themselves in stupid stunts and talent skits of questionable talent. In fact, it seems to have just about everything else -- including hilarious parodies, spoofs and jokes related to IT and computers.