Articles by Jay Lyman

Wireless carriers and the United States government are looking to block individuals from obtaining, exposing and selling mobile phone calling records On Wednesday, Senator Charles Schumer (D-New York) introduced legislation aimed at curbing the practice. The Consumer Telephone Records Protection Act of 2006 would create felony criminal penalties fo...

Mobile PCs are becoming more competitive with their desktop cousins, thanks to larger hard-drive capacities. New perpendicular recording technology has allowedSeagate to sink a 160-GB drive, dubbed "Momentus," into the notebook form factor Seagate's 2.5-inch disc drive is closing the performance gap between desktops and notebook PCs, the company sa...

Buzz continues to grow around the prospect of watching television, movies and other valuable video programming on mobile phones and personal handheld devices, but it is still too soon to tell whether a solid marketplace will emerge for these services, considering the small screen size, bandwidth needs and likely costs involved Although no one reall...

Wireless carriers including Sprint and Verizon and a slew of enthusiastic advertisers are poised to boost their efforts to market to mobile phone users this spring, prompting many to contemplate the annoyance factor of what could result in more ringing, banner ads on handsets and targeted text messages However, industry observers agree that with so...

European leaders' call for European competition to U.S. search and software giants such as Google, MSN and Yahoo is now being answered by some of the continent's largest media and technology companies, which are reportedly collaborating on a multinational, multimedia search project French President Jacques Chirac recently referred to the need for s...

The Federal Communications Commission is planning to auction wireless spectrum to allow in-flight voice and data high-speed Internet connectivity services on U.S. airlines for the first time While Verizon (NYSE: VZ) has already been providing in-flight phone services via its FCC-allocated wireless spectrum, the plan represents the first use of wire...

While the number of worldwide handsets shipped is expected to grow in 2006, revenue from handsets will decrease for the first time in years, research firm iSuppli is predicting ISuppli blamed lower handset costs, based on cheaper processors and more efficient designs, for the anticipated decline, indicating that the number of new cell phone devices...

Hardware, software, networking, electronics and other tech companies announced this week a collaborative effort to support and promote IEEE 802 Ethernet technology The Ethernet Alliance -- whose members include Sun Microsystems, 3Com, Agere, Pioneer and Samsung -- said its purpose will be to support and expand Ethernet technology, including IEEE 8...

Competing and co-opted technology companies are headed full steam for a fight over the next generation of high-definition DVD discs, but the first true faceoff of HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs will be in the latest gaming consoles from Microsoft and Sony These gaming devices, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation3, not only come with competing HD-DVD and Blu-ray...

IT certifications evoke expectations of both software and systems administration skillsets, but jokes abound about how little knowledge so-and-so with such-and-such a certificate has One thing is clear: Although Microsoft Windows andCisco certifications continue to be the biggest, the importance ofLinux certifications is on the rise. Linux occupies...

Forget the mobile phone, car makers and technology companies are teaming to rev up more advanced distractions in the automobile, including video games, displays, refrigerators, BBQ grills and more Much of the latest road trip technology is on display this week at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, where Nissan featured its new U...

Verizon will soon launch V Cast Music, a new service that will enable wireless customers to download tunes to their mobile phones and PCs, the company said at this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas The V Cast service, which follows similar offerings from wireless rivals Cingular and Sprint, will provide over-the-air music downloads to p...

Developments at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week suggested that the ongoing battle between the competing Blu-ray and HD-DVD next-generation, high-definition DVD formats could become a long, unproductive war Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates upped the ante, declaring in his keynote address that theXbox 360 game console will fea...

Anti-spam software provider Mailshell and bulk e-mailer Lyris may not be a likely duo, but the two companies are working together to boost the validity of spam filtering and at the same time allow delivery of messages that might not be considered spam by some recipients Their solution -- which allows users to evaluate e-mail senders based on their ...

The recent addition of ABC, ESPN and other Disney-owned properties to Apple's iTunes media service is just the latest move in the studio's aggressive push to increase digital delivery of its valuable content Disney's willingness to make its content available the way consumers want it -- particularly via Apple's iPod -- bodes well for the company's ...

AfterIntel announced its new "Leap Ahead" branding effort to go along with its Viiv technology, it was inevitable that chip contenderAMD would soon parade its own digital entertainment initiative. AMD did so at this week's Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas, touting its "Live" offering, which already has the support of STMicroelectronics and other technology partners, including Alienware, ATI, Broadcom, Motorola, Nvidia and VIA...

Radio super personality Howard Stern's move to Sirius satellite radio may be a barometer of the new entertainment medium's likelihood to gain mainstream acceptance. While the move is inarguably significant, satellite radio still faces stiff challenges -- including the popularity of Apple's iPods and an upsurge in entertainment programming for mobile phones...

Motorola clearly intends to try again at a cell phone music device, this time turning to its own new iRadio service and parting ways withApple, its partner last year on the largely unsuccessful ROKR phone-MP3 player handset. Motorola also has partnered with Oakley on a pair of ROKR shades Motorola's announcement, which came as tech industry giants ...

It is one of those technologies that has been predicted to explode in popularity, only to be relegated to moderate growth, and while there are still doubts, some indicate that mobile CRM may finally make its move in 2006 There are still some issues of securing mobile access to customer data, shipping and stock information, as well as vendor and com...

France's parliamentary lower house has approved a law that would make the downloading of unlicensed music and movies from peer-to-peer (P2P) services legal with a monthly royalty fee of about US$8 per user While the law is far from final, it evoked sharp criticism from the French music and film industry, which complained the unlimited downloading o...