Articles by Walaika Haskins

Takeover talks between Electronic Arts (EA) and Take-Two have come to an end, the two video game software companies announced Sunday. The news comes some seven months after EA made its initial unsolicited offer to purchase the "Grand Theft Auto" developer for US$26 per share, a deal that would have brought Take-Two's shareholders about $2 billion....

The gains that have made 2008 a blockbuster year for the video game market continued in August; however, the rate of sales showed signs of slowing down for the month. Overall sales growth was held to single digits for the first time since 2006, according to numbers released Friday from market research firm NPD August industry sales remained strong ...

Normally, when Google releases a new application, I'm right there standing in line to be one of the first to try it. However, that was not the case with Google's latest effort, Chrome. ...

Nokia shook up the smartphone marketplace Wednesday with news that it will expand the range of devices supporting Microsoft's Exchange ActiveSync, the software maker's corporate e-mail application, to all Nokia devices running the S60 Symbian operating system That will stretch the number of devices which include the Mail for Exchange feature by an ...

Smartphone maker Research In Motion (RIM) is flipping the script with the latest iteration of the BlackBerry Pearl. RIM showed off the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 smartphone Wednesday at the CTIA Wireless fall trade show in San Francisco. It is the first device from RIM built on the clamshell form factor.

In an announcement that could pique the interest of hard-charging road warriors, HP on Monday claimed that its new HP EliteBook 6930p notebook computer is capable of up to 24 hours of continuous operation on a single battery charge By way of perspective, HP offered this scenario: A full day's worth of battery life means business users can continuou...

As the tech media and blogosphere focused their spotlights on the announcements coming out of Apple's "let's rock," press event on Tuesday, Microsoft risked being lost in the chatter. The company chose Monday to reveal details about upcoming changes to its Zune digital media player. Among the new features for the Zune are improved WiFi, radio tagg...

In a recent survey of its customers running Microsoft's Windows operating systems,Devil Mountain Software found that roughly one-third of enterprises that purchased a New PC with Windows Vista pre-installed downgraded to Windows XP Major businesses have not deployed Microsoft's latest OS due to compatibility issues and its reputation as a resource ...

With a host of software and manufacturing partners in tow, Microsoft held its "Get Virtual Now" launch event Monday. It was the official coming-out party for the much talked-about Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V technology, and also served as the occasion for announcing the upcoming availability of System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 and Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008. The just-released Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 also shared the spotlight, along with a raft of programs and solutions from Microsoft partners...

As massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs) such as "World of Warcraft" (WoW) and virtual worlds such as Linden Labs' Second Life continue to attract millions of users, they have also begun to attract cybercriminals, according to a recent report from ESET, a software security vendor "Criminals follow the money trail, regardless if ...

The final countdown to Sunday's North American release of Electronic Arts' long-delayed and highly anticipated "Spore" has begun. Fans in Europe will get their first crack at it on Friday. Spore will be available at retailers or via pre-download in the U.S. and Canada, selling for US$49.95 The baby of Will Wright, creator of "The Sims" -- the best-...

As the video game industry begins to ramp up for the holiday season, Microsoft announced Wednesday that it has cut the price of its line of Xbox 360 gaming consoles. The new pricing, which goes into effect Friday, starts at US$199 for the low-end console, the Xbox 360 Arcade model, down from $279 For consumers, the golden price for a gaming platfor...

HP announced a slew of new products on Wednesday designed to make the deployment of a virtualized solution a greater value for businesses. More than 8 out of 10 companies have implemented virtualization projects, but most anticipate that just 25 percent of their IT environment will be virtualized by 2010, according to HP-sponsored research HP's vir...

The digital video recorder (DVR) has become a must-have appliance, according to a survey released by NDS, a digital pay TV technology solution provider. More than 70 percent of consumers who currently own a DVR told surveyors that they could not live without it. Researchers queried more than 1,000 DVR owners in Australia, Italy, the UK and the U.S

Just days before the release of the much delayed and long-anticipated "Spore" -- the latest endeavor of "The Sims" creator Will Wright -- gaming publisher Electronic Arts has enlisted the help of some Hollywood and technology heavyweights EA will add the celebrity critters to the Sporepedia, a catalog of all the creatures users have created and pub...

Part 1 of this two-part feature examines how fuel cell technology works and reviews the applications that have already been developed or are being researched using fuel cells. Part 2 looks at one of the most promising applications -- hydrogen fuel cell-powered cars -- and the problems holding back the technology As energy prices -- crude oil, gasol...

Sony will launch a new version of its PlayStation Portable (PSP) this fall in Japan, the company announced Tuesday. The PSP-3000, which Sony debuted in August, features a new high contrast LCD screen and built-in microphone The revamped handheld gaming device also offers twice the memory of previous models, 4 GB, and boasts improved graphics. Sony ...

When HD-DVD maker Toshiba conceded the high-definition DVD format war in February, Blu-ray's backers may have hoped that sales of the Sony-championed format would see a big boost. However, while Blu-ray may have triumphed over HD-DVD, sales for the device have not exactly skyrocketed An April 30 report from The NPD Group, a U.S. sales tracking firm...

The hottest gadgets of today will look old and tired a year from now. Sellers of mobile handsets, smartphones, MP3 players, gaming consoles, camcorders, digital cameras and laptops constantly push the latest and greatest technology, leaving yesterday's choice items in the dust Then there's the fact that this stuff is pretty easily broken....

Rumors of a second-generation Kindle from Amazon.com before 2009 have been greatly exaggerated, Amazon said Friday Although many fans of the e-book reader have been abuzz this week with rumors that Amazon.com planned to release an updated version of its Kindle, the retail giant will not, in fact, have a new device out before the new year, according...