The Securities and Exchange Commission suspended securities trading of 35 companies yesterday for their spammy ways. Entitled "Operation Spamalot," the SEC is targeting these companies because of artificial inflation of stock prices caused by spam campaigns.

Growing consumer disappointment with Windows Vista, coupled with the need of major businesses and government agencies to begin assessing long-term computing needs, seems to be forcing IT professionals to consider non-Microsoft alternatives for their operating system and office suite applications.

With just a shade under 50 submissions for the first round of the Usability Makeover Series, I had a hard time with the selection process. I ended up selecting Twiddy Outer Banks Rentals because I could tell they had already put a lot of effort into establishing user trust and usability. I think with a few tweaks the site could go from medium usable to extremely usable.

What? I had more than one story about integrations and such, and that was easily the worst title I could think of. Who would have thought there was a way to include “stuff” in a title four times, and have it vaguely make sense?

A handful (ok, two handfuls) of tactics could separate the lackluster domain from the one that enables its owner to brag about business.

Close to 25 billion media streams were shown in 2006, according to a new report by Accustream iMedia Research. The study focused on all entertainment and media sites, including ad-supported and subscription services. It did not include user-generated video.

Verizon wasn’t able to milk almost $200 million and 19 percent royalties from Vonage, but the troubled VoIP provider will have to fork over some cash for being in violation of three Verizon patents, a jury said yesterday.

A Trojan that arrives by email targets potential car buyers at eBay Motors, and attempts to closely imitate a legitimate auction.

In terms of Social Networking, MySpace is the king of the virtual mountain. Even more than boasting its status as the premiere social site online, MySpace also touts the title of the most visited site on the Internet. With such a massive audience tuned in, MySpace continues to look for ways to increase the time on site for its users.

For some of us, there’s nothing better than a good map…well, there are some things better that decent, modest folks won’t mention…which is why we squeal (not me, I don’t squeal) with delight as we watch online mapping services get better over time.

Maybe that’s because maps are reminders that there is much, much more out there than what you’ve seen…

When facing the potential need of SEO services in order to take the next step toward ranking higher in the search engines, a company should have a specific list of criteria in mind in order to distinguish the less than reputable firms from the ones who have legitimate value to offer the customer.

Online consumers are planning on emptying their pockets this year and spending $10 billion on home audio products, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. The $10 billion covers speakers, receivers, media servers and other home audio products.

The projections are based on the Consumer Electronics Association’s "2007 Audio Purchasing Study" which was designed to evaluate online consumers habits in purchasing home audio products such as Home-Theater-In-A Box (HTIB) systems, component A/V receivers and speakers.

The Yahoo of yesterday afternoon resembles the My Yahoo people should start seeing more of this afternoon. Today’s My Yahoo may be Yahoo tomorrow. Challenging, isn’t it?

If you were trying to fly in or out of the North East U.S. a few weeks ago you’ll no doubt remember the problem JetBlue was having in keeping flights in the air and on schedule.

The problems started with an ice storm that naturally led to flights being grounded, but once air travel resumed JetBlue found itself lagging in getting their operation running again. We all know things happen and in this case JetBlue dropped the ball. However their response to the situation is more telling about the company than the temporary problems they faced.

Finding good leaders, I mean the really good leaders, is not easy. John Maxwell, in his book Developing the Leaders Around You gives us a few pointers on what to look for when looking for a good leader.

Positiveness: The ability to work with and see people and situations in a positive way.

Servanthood: The willingness to submit, play team ball, and follow the leader.

Growth Potential: A hunger for personal growth and development; the ability to keep growing as the job expands.