Matt Hines

WALTHAM, Mass.—Information technology is playing a greater role than ever before in aiding older generations to stay informed, expand their professional skills and share health care information with others, but some fundamental issues involving ease of use and security keep many people from embracing new tools, experts said Monday. At the Aging by Design conference […]

NEW YORK—If you listen to the people tasked with building new ways to market and deliver digital content to consumers, theyll tell you that were on the cusp of a multimedia revolution. With Apple Computer Inc. selling network TV shows on iTunes, Verizon Communications Inc. launching its fiber optic television service, and Microsoft Corp. partnering […]

NEW YORK—Microsoft Corp.s emerging strategy around establishing its Xbox 360 video game console as a central element of consumers home entertainment systems found favor with many observers at the DigitalLife conference here on Friday. The software giant showed off the next-generation console to a packed room of media members, industry watchers and teenage gamers. It […]

A new report released by Internet statisticians Nielsen NetRatings contends that educational and reference-oriented sites are experiencing a dramatic increase in traffic, and currently reach nearly one-third of all Web users. The New York-based research outfit said that educational destinations such as Wikipedia, Yahoo Education and eHow have seen a 22 percent jump in unique […]

Handheld maker Palm Inc. launched its latest personal digital assistants on Wednesday, introducing a Wi-Fi-ready device known as the TX and its cheapest color model yet, the Z22. As part of the launch, Palm shortened its traditional naming conventions, morphing its Tungsten brand into the TX and shifting to the Z brand, which was previously […]

Microsoft Corp. and RealNetworks Inc. announced a settlement in their long-running antitrust suit Tuesday, with the two companies agreeing to collaborate in the multimedia software and content space. Under the terms of the deal, through which the companies said they have settled all antitrust litigation worldwide, Microsoft agreed to pay Real $460 million in cash […]

Yahoo Inc. introduced a beta version of its podcast search tool on Monday, further demonstrating the growing demand for the radio show style audio clips designed for consumption on computers and wireless devices. Dubbed as Yahoo Podcasts, the service promises to allow people to find, play and rate the audio programs which cover religion, sports […]

Some mobile device experts are questioning whether Sonys new Memory Stick Micro format will expand beyond the companys own products, and whether the firms device storage technologies will eventually lose their appeal with customers. On Thursday, Tokyo-based Sony Corp. and its longtime partner SanDisk Corp. rolled out the specifications for Memory Stick Micro, a tiny […]

CAMBRIDGE—Would you like to know if the person on the other end of your mobile phone conversation is lying to you? You might be surprised to know that the technology needed to determine such a thing is already being tested on humans, and thats just the beginning, according to the people most closely involved with […]

Hewlett-Packard Co. on Tuesday launched a handful of iPaq handhelds running on Microsoft Corp.s latest Windows Mobile software, along with a new mobile printer. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company introduced one new line of PDA (personal digital assistant), dubbed the HP iPaq rx1950 series Pocket PC, and several upgraded models in its iPaq hx2000 series. […]