Articles by Rob Spiegel

Electronic Arts could be on the verge of closing a deal to acquire casual game creator PopCap for a sum exceeding US$1 billion, according to a report in TechCrunch. The high price tag on the deal represents a big wager for EA -- the cost is 13 percent of the company's market cap. The move is a "hail mary" attempt by EA to break into social and mob...

With a market cap that has fallen from US$83 billion in 2008 to $13 billion currently -- an 82 percent decline -- rumors are popping up that RIM is ripe for takeover. The company may be an interesting target for firms like Microsoft and Dell, a representative from BMO Private Banking told Bloomberg. A potential buyer would get a smartphone maker t...

You may soon be able to get a designer Internet address -- e.g., you.yourname -- for a mere US$185,000 The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) board of directors has approved a plan to implement some of the biggest changes ever to the Internet's Domain Name System. The board approved a plan to allow an increase in the number...

Research In Motion released quarterly revenue estimates that were below expectations, lowered its earnings forecast, and announced it would be cutting jobs on Thursday, leading to a stock nosedive. The BlackBerry producer's shares tumbled to below US$28 on Friday -- the lowest level in nearly five years. Some of the company's major stockholders ar...

On Thursday, IBM rang the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange in celebration of 100 years since its founding. The company evolved from a pre-World War I alliance of firms manufacturing tabulating machines and clocks into a global computer giant that helped to usher in the modern age IBM boasts an impressive number of patents and has improve...

Pandora launched its initial public offering Tuesday evening, opening at US$16 per share. On Wednesday morning, the Internet radio's stock price opened at $20, then rose to $26, placing the company's value at $4.2 billion. Later on Wednesday, the price fell to $18.30. Despite Pandora's lack of profitability, the surge in its share price was expect...

Facebook is still on its way to 700 millions users, with 687 million actives at the start of June, according to a report by Inside Facebook, which provides analysis of the social networking giant. The trend in the last year shows a new-user influx from countries in the early stages of Facebook adoption, including India, Brazil and Egypt. Overall, ...

For 24 hours on Wednesday, 400-plus Internet companies including Google, Facebook and Microsoft teamed up for a large-scale production test of the next-gen Internet protocol, IPv6. Organized by the Internet Society to raise awareness of the need for a global transition to the new Internet protocol, the test enabled participants to gather data about possible glitches...

Nintendo unveiled its upcoming Wii U gaming console and controller on Tuesday at E3, and reactions have been mixed. Nintendo's stock fell 5 percent following the event -- to a level it has not seen since before the launch of the original Wii ...

Nintendo unveiled a new touchscreen controller for its upcoming Wii U gaming console at an E3 presentation Tuesday that was hosted by Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto, President Satoru Iwata, and Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. The new Wii U controller includes a microphone, face and trigger buttons, speakers, a gyroscope, a rumbl...

On the eve of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) Monday, Microsoft premiered a lineup of new games for the Xbox 360, including "Gears of War 3" and "Forza Motorsport 4." The company also debuted the trailer for "Halo 4" and unveiled the next installment of "Fable," by developer Peter Molyneux ...

Pop star Lady Gaga is joining with Google's Eric Schmidt to produce a new social media site called "Backplane," according to The New York Times. Tony Carter, Gaga's manager, is at the helm of the operation and is attracting capital from important backers. So far, the company has raised more than US$1 million from a group of investors including Tomorrow Ventures, headed by Google Chairman Eric Schmidt.

HP is trolling for partners as the computer giant attempts to build an ecosystem for webOS, the operating system it acquired last summer when it bought Palm for US$1.2 billion. CEO Leo Apotheker said that he sees webOS as a licensing opportunity. At All Things Digital's D9 conference on Wednesday, Apotheker noted that webOS is an outstanding opera...

Google Chairman Eric Schmidt and VP of commerce Stephanie Tilenius have announced the launch of Google Offers' beta program, which will kick off in Portland, Ore., starting on Wednesday. The very first Google Offer will be for a Portland local favorite, Floyd's Coffee. Those with coupons will pay US$3 for $10 worth of drinks. Google Offers functio...

Intel has unveiled details of its plans for the breed of super-thin, rapid-on, tablet-like laptops which it calls "Ultrabooks" at China's Computex Taipei 2011. The computer chip giant expects Ultrabooks to take over 40 percent of the laptop market within six to nine months. The new super-thin laptops run on Intel's Sandy Bridge processor. The mode...

Google has introduced a new tool to the social networking world using one of its strong suits: Gmail. In the next couple weeks, Google will debut a feature for Gmail called the "People Widget." The widget will appear to the right of messages and display information about contacts, including recent messages, shared documents, calendar events, statu...

Time to move over, Ballmer. Greenlight Capital President David Einhorn has reportedly called for Microsoft's CEO, Steve Ballmer, to step down. Einhorn spoke on the subject Wednesday at the Ira Sohn Investment Conference in New York City. Einhorn showed support for Microsoft in general, recommending the company's stock as a "buy" because the compan...

Social media game maker Zynga is reading itself to file for an initial public offering (IPO), according to a report in All Things Digital. The filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission could come as soon as this week, or next week at the latest, according to the report's sources. The rumor mill is running hot for social media IPOs, especially since LinkedIn's stock price more than doubled with its explosive IPO on May 19...

The breach of Sony's PlayStation Network will cost the company at least US$171 million according to the company's preliminary financial forecast released on Monday -- the latest predictions for its fiscal year ending March 2012. The total figure will likely grow. . . and grow. Sony has racked up expenses for the repair and resurrection of PSN, Qri...

Mobile-connected devices allow users to browse where desktop computers can't go, thus increasing the amount of online connectivity for many consumers. This could make a major difference in how marketers choose to reach consumers online A Nielson report released last week details just how customers use their tablets, smartphone and e-readers -- info...