Jon Van

Covad Communications Group Inc. is the latest firm to join the voice over Internet protocol party by launching service this week in Chicago and 41 other markets across the country....

There's no end of pitches seeking money brought to you by the Internet. Some even may be legit. In February, for example, the Chicago-based National PTA held an online silent...

Bar codes, those thin, black and white markers that decorate packages of everything from toothpaste to motor oil, turned 30 last month. Celebrations were fairly quiet. Though bar codes help...

Acting under a federal mandate, drugmakers will soon supply bar code information on labels to enable hospitals to double-check that patients are given the proper medication. Using portable bar code...

A power failure at Chicago's 911 center snarled emergency calls Thursday afternoon, creating delays for callers and slowing the dispatch of police and firefighters to those in need. Operators could...

While a high-speed wireless network connection, known as Wi-Fi, may be a great convenience, it can also pose a security threat. A system set up in an office building can...

Electronic eyes, ears and noses are finding their way into nooks and crannies few would suspect. But keeping track of all that data is more than some organizations can handle....

Like a lot of enterprises, the University of Chicago Hospitals entered the Internet age in casual fashion. A student at the university with a penchant for computers devised a Web...

Relatively speaking, Internet telephony doesn't amount to much more than spitting in the ocean when it comes to voice communications. Only a small percentage of the nation's voice traffic originates...

After years of talk and hoopla, high-definition television may be about to take off as a mass-market product. At least that's the expectation of Mark Kersey, who has launched a...