Ringtones' requiem

Customized cellphone rings are so 2004. But the music industry has a new source of revenue – it's all about the ringback tone.

Remember the ringtone? Just two years ago consumers were spending $1 billion a year on song snippets for their cellphones. Established musical acts recorded ringtone versions of their songs, and some composers set out to write tunes that had hooks and melodies that would lend themselves to tones. MORE

A dark horse emerges in web conferencing

With ownership of the SMB market, is Citrix Online a threat to Cisco?

Hoopla around Google Wave service, launched publicly in September, has brought resurgence to the idea of unified communications -- a single platform that integrates voice, email, fax (really!), chat, and web conferencing. Long a dream of the telecommunications industry, unified communications is gaining some buzz among corporate tech teams as a possible tool for enhancing employee productivity.

As tech MORE

The best holiday iPhone apps

Check out some of our favorite picks that will let you keep track of your spending and eating — and help you make a drink or two.

The holiday season can be stressful: the shopping, the spending, even the parties can be incredibly stressful.

Luckily, all you Apple (AAPL) iPhone users have more than 100,000 apps to help your holiday season go a little smoother. Yes, there's the obvious "Better Christmas List" MORE

Touch technology: A round-up

Touch technology help non-tech industries improve business, efficiency, and their bottom lines.

We all oohed and aahed when Apple's (AAPL) iPhone came out because of how cool it was, especially its multi-touch capability that let us flick through photos and "pinch" and expand photos and websites.

Now, with Microsoft (MSFT) Windows 7 specially formatted for touch capabilities, and everyone from manufacturers to hotels touting their tough capabilities, we know human contact MORE

PubMatic CEO: Long live print media!

Rajeev Goel, CEO of upstart PubMatic, thinks his company can help print publishers recapture advertising revenue from their glory days.

Print media is dead! Yawn.

You'd think media analysts and bloggers would find another catchphrase. This executioner's call is as tired as Jon and Kate's tabloid tussles.

So when Rajeev Goel, co-founder and CEO of PubMatic, told me that not only would print publications survive, but he knew how they could, he definitely got MORE

Tiny computer tussle: HP vs. Acer

Who'll win over consumers this holiday season? We test-drive the newest netbooks and notebooks.

This Christmas expect small computer overload -- so many options, so little time (and money).  All the major computer manufacturers are coming out with lightweight 'net-connected laptops, and they're banking on big sales: The researchers at IDC expect some 160 million notebook computers to sell worldwide by the end of the year.

But which company will come out MORE

The best new gadgets for business

Our correspondent goes to a geekfest and reports back on five new tools you need now.

I was in gadgetry heaven.

The Pepcom Holiday Spectacular in New York Thursday night was buzzing -- and it wasn't just the sensation of mobile devices on vibrate mode.

With 80 companies -- from Hewlett-Packard (HPQ)  to Samsung -- showing off their goods for the holiday season, the room pulsated with enthusiasm, competitiveness and innovation. It was MORE

Digital music: The battle rages on

Squabbles over the rates and rights online radio should pay highlights a fundamental problem: the music industry is broken.

The music industry has become that annoying dysfunctional family you  don't want to hang out with. Think Everybody Loves Raymond, but not funny.

The latest episode: infighting among online radio stations, artists and labels over royalty rates and who should pay what to whom and for how much.

For two years, Internet radio webcasters MORE

Staying connected

Let's face it, landlines are out.

The sale of home phones is expected to fall again this year and next — just like it has for the past four years. In 2005, more than 55,000 home phone units were sold, totaling about $1.14 billion. Compare that to next year's projected sales of a measly $369 million, according to the Consumer Electronic Association.

Consumers have been dropping their landline for years now — MORE

Swooning over AT&T's new project

Car TV service CruiseCast is promising -- if only it didn't make us carsick.

I started regretting the Chef Boyardee mini pasta and meatballs I ate for lunch around the time we were making our third turn in midtown Manhattan. I tried not to reveal my discomfort, instead nodding studiously as Winston Guillory Jr., the president of RaySat Broadcasting Corp, showed me yet another feature of CruiseCast, and in-car television service MORE