Stories by Jennifer DiSabatino

Talk About Your Handheld Security

How do you absolutely protect a notebook computer from hackers? One way is with a biometric Type II PCMCIA card (shown) with a pop-out fingerprint sensor. The Ethenticator MS 3000 can eliminate the need for passwords, the company says, by allowing access to Windows applications or Web forms only if a user's fingerprint matches a stored image. The card is now shipping for $199 from Lake Forest, Calif.-based Ethentica Inc. (www.ethentica.com).

Disney Offers to Buy Toysmart.com Customer List

On the heels of a federal lawsuit against Toysmart.com Inc., The Walt Disney Co. offered to buy the customer list of the failed toy e-retailer to maintain the privacy of the Web site's customers.

Oracle's second in charge calls it quits

Analysts have expressed surprise at the sudden resignation of Ray Lane, president and COO of Oracle saying this will increase pressure on the company in Wall Street.

E-Mail Probe Triggers Firings

As part of an ongoing corporate crackdown, employees and contractors at pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. this week faced discipline, including dismissal, for inappropriate e-mail and Internet usage.

Oracle Faced with Loss of President

Oracle Corp. lost its second-in-command this week when President and Chief Operating Officer Ray Lane resigned. The high-profile executive will retain his position on the board of directors, however, the company said.

Web Host's Outage Crashes Sites

More than 1,000 Web sites were taken off-line or slowed over the past two weeks as a result of problems in the Vienna, Virginia, data center of Internet hosting firm Verio Inc.

Router Problems at Verio Waylay Web Sites

More than 1,000 companies this week experienced slow performance and other problems on their Web sites because of troubles that Internet hosting firm Verio Inc. had with a router at its data center in Vienna, Virginia.

Oracle, Lucent Team on B-to-B Billing

Oracle Corp. and Lucent Technologies Inc. Software Products Group are moving into the business-to-business billing market with a combined offering intended for the telecommunications and energy utilities industries.

Microsoft Announces C#, Submits Standards Proposal

Microsoft Corp. today formally announced its C# graphical programming language and said it's working with ECMA, an international standardization body based in Geneva, to create a standard specification aimed at letting multiple software vendors deliver the new language and supporting tools.

Oracle Said to Do About-Face on Working with ASPs

Oracle Corp. is starting to warm up to application service providers (ASPs), seven months after CEO Larry Ellison said he would allow third parties to host the company's business applications "over my dead body."

MS/DOJ: Second state court dismisses suit against MS

A Nevada judge this week dismissed a class-action lawsuit against Microsoft that sought damages for what the plaintiffs claimed are inflated prices charged by the software vendor because of its control of the desktop operating system market, making it two down and 135 to go for Microsoft in similar suits spurred by the US government's antitrust case.

Second State Court Dismisses Suit Against MS

A Nevada judge this week dismissed a class-action lawsuit against Microsoft Corp. that sought damages for what the plaintiffs claimed are inflated prices charged by the software vendor because of its control of the desktop operating system market, making it two down and 135 to go for Microsoft in similar suits spurred by the U.S. government's antitrust case.

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