The top antitrust official at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on Wednesday confirmed that the agency is investigating possible price-fixing in the electronic book industry. During a congressional hearing, Sharis Pozen, the DOJ’s acting antitrust chief, said her team was investigating ebook industry practices. Although publications including the Wall Street Journal had previously reported [...]

Microsoft is on a knife edge: It is developing a version of Windows that could ensure its continued success in the computer market — or it could completely cannibalize Microsoft’s profits and lead to the slow, painful, obsolescent death. Windows 8, when you cut to the chase, is a tablet-oriented, touch-first skin on top of Windows 7. [...]

Peter Wynn Thompson for The New York Times Any discussion of the challenge of trying to improve health care and curb costs with computer technology quickly turns to “silos.” Not the kind that store corn in Midwestern farms, obviously. Information technology in health care is as fragmented and balkanized as the health care system itself. [...]

The Department’s Trading Standards Service released the figure as part of a warning to consumers to watch out for the top five retail scams in the run-up to Christmas. Among the scams named are fake websites selling counterfeit goods, fake credit providers or online loan applications and “free trials” of beauty and slimming products for [...]

Back in the good old days, first-person shooters were for PC gamers only, and the titles were designed around the holy grail of gaming controllers: the keyboard and mouse. We didn’t need any of those flimsy analogue sticks or autoaim – and darn it, we liked it that way. Just give us a trusty ball [...]

Computerworld – If you’re contemplating the cost of a new Windows-based computer to catch up with SATA 3.0 hard drives, you might be able to get away with just a $49 investment rather than a complete PC overhaul. Apricorn’s Velocity Solo upgrade kit gives you access to SATA 3.0 hard drives and SSDs — all [...]

HM Models <!–See more photos in the gallery–> Popular clothing store HM has admitted that they use a computer generated body to display clothing on its website. Photos show the body in the same pose, but with different models’ heads or skin tones. KTLA reports that HM says it used the fake body to draw [...]

The Department’s Trading Standards Service released the figure as part of a warning to consumers to watch out for the top five retail scams in the run-up to Christmas. Among the scams named are fake websites selling counterfeit goods, fake credit providers or online loan applications and “free trials” of beauty and slimming products for [...]

Verbatim and Freecom are part of the same group of companies, but Verbatim generally seems to focus on the more affordable end of the market. Consequently, its 500GB Store ‘n Go drive lacks the eye-catching slimline design of the Freecom Sq drive and opts for a more conventional rectangular design that comes in at a [...]

Microsoft is gearing up to release the Windows 8 beta in February 2012, which will likely result in a final release near the end of that year. According to research firm IDC, however, the operating system might not prove a blockbuster across both tablets and traditional PCs. “Windows 8 will launch with split success,” IDC [...]