Stories by: Margret Johnston

Hewlett-Packard (HP) and business-process automation software provider webMethods have announced an alliance to codevelop software aimed at improving business interactions on the Internet by finding and correcting problems in application connectivity.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has published the Modularisation of XHTML (extensible hypertext markup language) specification as a W3C recommendation, the consortium said Tuesday.

Compaq Computer announced yesterday the creation of a new unit representing a shift in its approach to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) from one that is product-centric to an approach that is more focused on business development, the company said.

In a direct challenge to the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a new domain-name registry on Monday announced it has begun selling an additional 20 top-level domains (TLDs), including .kids, .travel and .xxx, for $US25 a year.

Total revenue from worldwide sales of equipment and material used to make semiconductors nearly doubled in 2000, according to data released on Thursday by an industry association.

Iomega on Friday announced plans to begin selling CompactFlash and SmartMedia cards under the Iomega brand name for use in the portable storage market.

A year and one day after America Online (AOL) made known its surprise plans to buy Time Warner, federal regulators have given the merger the go-ahead, but not without conditions that affect Internet service providers (ISPs) and the companies that provide instant messaging (IM) technology.

Microsoft on Tuesday made a number of announcements regarding its streaming software, including the beta launch of Windows Media Audio and Video 8, as five other companies said they have formed an alliance to foster standards for media streaming over IP (Internet Protocol).

Iridium Satellite, which last week won a two-year, $US72 million contract to provide secure wireless communications to thousands of government employees, has completed the acquisition of the operating assets of the former Iridium organisation and its subsidiaries, the company announced yesterday.

Desktop PC design appears to be on its way toward some major changes, with size and colour being critical in determining the success of the design, a study released by International Data Corporation concludes.