EBay Settles Suit Over Skype Sale

SAN FRANCISCO — EBay has formally settled the litigation around its sale of the Skype online calling service.

The founders of Skype, Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, will drop their lawsuits against the company and a consortium of buyers whose bid to purchase 65 percent of Skype was announced last month, according to an announcement released

Chinese Agencies Struggle Over World of Warcraft

BEIJING — It could almost be a snippet from a World of Warcraft game session — two competing titans, plotting against each other, swapping punches, embarked on a quest for a single prize that only the stronger of them will claim.

But this is not virtual reality.

Rivals to Challenge Microsoft Browser Settlement

BERLIN — Three rivals of Microsoft are seeking last-minute changes to its proposed settlement with European regulators that would give buyers of computers loaded with Windows the ability to choose a default browser other than the company’s Internet Explorer.

Cisco’s Results Offer More Hope to Tech Industry

Cisco Systems, the computer networking giant, supplied more evidence on Wednesday that technology sales were recovering along with the global economy.

Cisco is the latest large technology company to report better-than-expected quarterly profits, and it expressed optimism that the improving trend would continue.

End to a Fight Over Skype May Be Near

SAN FRANCISCO — The bitter battle over the future of the Internet calling service Skype appears to be nearing an end.

A resolution of the litigation surrounding the service, which is owned by eBay, could be

Cisco and EMC Form Venture to Serve Data Centers

Cisco Systems took another step to expand its computer hardware businesses on Tuesday by forming a broad partnership with EMC, a maker of storage equipment and software.

The two companies announced on Tuesday that they had created a joint venture called Acadia that would work to sell their data center equipment to businesses.

Google: You too could win millions in stock

Google is once again dangling incentives before engineers.

The company threw open its doors Monday to the engineering community Monday, announcing that it granted a Founders' Prize--"a multimillion-dollar stock bonus"--to the team that developed Google Chrome. "(The) future is shaped by small teams of creative

Apple goes after Windows 7 on Google

There are many ways of showing respect to those you don't actually respect.

So it's touching to see that Apple has not only produced a few "Get A Mac" ads to darken the hearts of those about to upgrade to Windows 7, but has also donned its Wellington boots, gone down on its knees, and offered a dig in the grubby world of search.

Despite Slump, Venture Firm Sets Up $575 Million Fund

SAN FRANCISCO — Even amid the contraction of the venture capital industry, which fertilizes the seeds of new technology start-ups, some firms are expanding.

On Monday, Greylock Partners, which has backed Facebook and LinkedIn, announced that it had put together a new $575 million fund,

Educational Video Games Mix Cool With Purpose

One of KC Phillips’s favorite video games is the Xbox shoot-’em-up Halo, because, he says, his dad taught him how to play it when he was younger.

Now 15 and a high school sophomore in Madison,

Nintendo president: 'The Wii has stalled'

Though it once appeared to be a tiny sales juggernaut, Nintendo's top-selling Wii console has struggled in 2009. In July, the Japanese publisher reported April-June revenues that slid 40 percent from a year prior to 253 billion yen ($2.81 billion). Nintendo didn't fare much better during its July-September quarter, saying Thursday that sales fell 34.5 percent to

Mozilla releases first beta of Firefox 3.6

Those keen to try out Mozilla's latest browser--and its new process to update the software more frequently--now can try Firefox 3.6 beta 1.

Among the features in the new version, according to Mike Beltzner, Mozilla's director of Firefox, and Mozilla evangelist

In China, Objections to Google’s Book Scans

BEIJING — A long-running dispute over Google’s efforts to digitize books has spread this month to China, where authors have banded together to demand that their works be protected from what they call unauthorized copying.

Everybody in the Pool of Green Innovation

A POPULAR children’s song has a refrain — “the more we get together the happier we’ll be” — that may sound like a simplistic formula for solving the complex challenges of climate change and sustainability. But if any area is ripe for sharing and collaboration among organizations, it’s green innovation.

Why Google Doesn’t Like Its Phone Bill

WHEN you call Grandma on her farm in Iowa, your long-distance phone company pays her local phone company an access fee. That’s fine. It’s much higher than elsewhere but few calls go to her and her neighbors, so the fees don’t add up quickly. And it’s a business-to-business transaction. You, the caller, aren’t even aware of the fees paid on your behalf.