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The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to hear a case that centers on text-messaging privacy policies for employees in the workplace. The Court could reinforce employees' rights, prompting employers to issue ever more stringent policies on workplace communications, including stepped-up monitoring in order to maintain their right to view such messages.

Oracle has pledged it will not assert copyright claims over MySQL and that it will extend terms and conditions of existing commercial licenses of the database for five years in the hope that the European Commission will approve its US$7.4 billion pending acquisition of Sun Microsystems. ...

Despite plunging revenues due to the resistance of European regulators to its pending acquisition by Oracle, Sun Microsystems has rolled out enhancements to three key products in its Java platform: ...

Vevo, an online music video site seeded with close to 15,000 videos from 5,000 artists, has launched. Unlike other online video sites -- Joost, for example -- Vevo is launching with impressive backers: Google and Universal Music Group, its original founders; Sony Music Entertainment, which joined later this year; and AT&T, which is providing advertising support. Abu Dhabi Media also signed on as a backer, making an impressive US$300 million financial contribution to the project this summer. The latest participant to join Vevo is EMI Music.

Yahoo has joined the growing number of companies updating their privacy policies with new tools to better manage the data that is collected about consumers. ...

Verizon Wireless and AT&T may have settled their differences over Verizon's advertising messages in the courtroom, but there is little sign Verizon is pulling its punches elsewhere. ...

It's official: Comcast has engineered what appears to be the biggest media joint venture of the year -- a multibillion-dollar merger that will combine General Electric's NBC Universal with Comcast's own cable networks ...

Taking on one of Google's most popular Web applications, Microsoft introduced a beta for Bing Maps that incorporates improved imagery, 3-D photographs and street views using tools made possible by its Silverlight technology. ...

Part 1 of this two-part series takes a look at some of the early signs that a home networking revolution might be under way: how consumers are beginning to move beyond WiFi ...

Millions of Windows users could potentially be affected by a computer glitch that results in a "black screen of death" after a security update is made, UK security firm Prevx reported in a blog post ...

Amazon's e-reader device, the Kindle, experienced its best sales month ever in November, according to the company, which made the announcement even before Cyber Monday purchases were tallied. ...

Fifty-nine U.S. senators are asking European antitrust regulators to conclude their review of the Oracle acquisition of Sun Microsystems. The move, led by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, is an unusual one for the U.S. legislative body. ...

By now many of us -- even some of us who once couldn't program the clock in the VCR -- have installed a WiFi router somewhere in our homes to use a laptop on the front porch or in the back den. If you fall in this group, congratulations. Whether you know it or not, you have joined the home network revolution. ...

Google is amping up its display ad capabilities with the acquisition of startupTeracent, which has developed machine-learning algorithms that can create and customize an ad in real-time, based on user preferences and other characteristics. ...

Google has rolled out a new version of its free Google Maps Navigation application that's compatible with smartphones running the Android 1.6 operating system, such as T-Mobile's myTouch 3G and its G1. When the app was introduced last month in beta, it could only be used by smartphones running Android 2.0, the latest version of the OS, such as Verizon's Droid...

Roku is making additional types of content available via its set-top players with the introduction of the Roku Channel Store. Participants so far include Pandora, Facebook Photos, Revision3, Mediafly, TWiT, blip.tv, Flickr, FrameChannel, Motionbox and MobileTribe ...

The early indicators that Windows 7 is doing well seem to be piling up. CEO Steve Ballmer gave that perception a boost at the company's annual shareholders meeting on Thursday, announcing that Microsoft "has already sold twice as many units of Windows 7 than any other operating system ever launched in a comparable time." ...

It's fitting that the last stop on my tour of travel-planning Web sites for the E-Commerce Times was American Airlines. The site illustrates all of the problems that spurred this special look at travel sites in the first place. ...

Salesforce.com is marrying its cloud computing bona fides with its growing expertise in collaboration in Salesforce Chatter, a new application and development platform. The company introduced the product at its Dreamforce tradeshow and conference under way in San Francisco. ...

The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee has released a report slamming the online business practices of three direct marketing companies -- Affinion, Vertrue and Webloyalty -- along with hundreds of online Web sites and retailers that participate in these practices. Many of the participating retailers are well-known brand names, such asClassmates.com, Hotwire and 1-800-Flowers.com.