Sam Gustin

Just over 100 years ago, the sociologist Max Weber wrote his seminal book, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, in which he portrayed the pursuit of profit as virtuous and described work as a kind of religious duty. The attainment of wealth was seen as the fruit of...

Comcast, the nation's largest cable company, and General Electric, the giant industrial conglomerate, are finalizing an agreement that would create a new media titan anchored by NBC Universal. The deal would instantly remake the entertainment industry landscape. Negotiations are "moving in the right direction" but are not complete, sources...

Somebody get the SEC on the phone, stat! Oh wait, they were closed Wednesday for Veterans Day.

Suspicious activity in the options market for 3Com (COMS) raised concerns late Wednesday that news of computer and printer maker Hewlett-Packard's (HPQ) $2.7 billion purchase of the networking company was leaked before...

The single House Republican who voted for the Democrats' health-care legislation is a first-term congressman from a strongly Democratic -- and very poor -- district comprising most of New Orleans. Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao's vote is significant, not because it was politically motivated -- and it was -- but...

Intel, the world's largest microchip maker, said Thursday it has agreed to pay $1.25 billion to Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), its much smaller archrival, to settle an epic legal dispute with AMD that had its origins in the mid-'80s. Although Intel (INTC) itself admits the settlement doesn't require it...

Hey, Wall Streeters: Fed up with your job trading now-worthless derivatives? Angry at The System for not recognizing systemic risk? Annoyed that your corporate Yankees box got yanked? Perhaps you should consider a career change. The University of California-Santa Cruz is looking for someone to fill what can truly be...

The decision by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder (pictured) to prosecute self-proclaimed 9/11-mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed in New York set off a major debate Friday over whether the move makes legal and practical sense.

Mohammed will face a jury trial in federal court in the Southern District of New...

Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican, introduced a bill late Thursday that would short-circuit the FCC's ability to enforce its proposed open Internet rules. In a press release, McCain said the new rules will "stifle innovation, in turn slowing our economic turnaround and further depressing an already anemic job...

It was as if the news media had enough and just couldn't take it anymore. After weeks of grinding coverage of the health care debate, bad news from Afghanistan and the bizarre antics of various political leaders, much of the mainstream news media seemed to come unhinged on Thursday...

Avast, ye hearties! Congress is about to get invaded by a pirate, if Stephen Collings has his way. Collings, 25, a Nashville-based design engineer, hopes to become the first U.S. Representative endorsed by the U.S. Pirate Party, which seeks to reform copyright laws and use technology to empower civic...

Are you a T-Mobile customer who's lost all your data thanks to the recent epic failure of Microsoft's computer systems? Well, there may be hope. After one of the most embarrassing episodes in recent tech history -- when it looked like over a million T-Mobile customers had lost their...

Despite what a handful of lawmakers may say, the dispute between Google (GOOG) and AT&T (T) over the search giant's Google Voice application is not so much about fairness or rural access as it is about steamy phone sex and piles of money. These lawmakers, including Steve Buyer, an...

The annual trade show of CTIA - The Wireless Association has been going on for only a few hours, and already the San Diego event's theme is clear: This is Google's wireless coming-out party, and FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is leading cheers. With a series of high-profile deals, Google...

Michael Vick, the former Atlanta Falcons star quarterback convicted of killing dogs for sport and profit, may not have gotten his old Nike contract back, but he is following the well-worn path of former child stars, celebrity heiresses and Z-list actors.

Yes, Michael Vick has gotten his own reality...

Just hours after its Verizon Wireless (VZ) announced a major deal Tuesday to sell new phones equipped with Google's (GOOG) Android mobile operating system, its arch-rival AT&T (T) said it would reverse its restrictions on voice-over-Internet calls. Apple iPhone users will now be able to use Internet-calling applications like...

Sen. Al Franken started his career as a comedian, but he's dead serious about the issue of net neutrality. Appearing Monday at the Future of Music policy summit at Georgetown University in Washington, the Minnesota Democrat delivered an impassioned defense of net neutrality: the idea that broadband providers should...

Federal regulators are virtually certain to scrutinize any substantial pairing of cable leader Comcast (CMSCA) and content behemoth NBC Universal, the two media giants at the center of a frenzy of merger speculation, according to antitrust experts. If consummated, the mega-media merger would combine NBC Universal's vast stable of...

Nike has sacked Philadelphia Eagles backup quarterback Michael Vick, contradicting the player's agent who said on Wednesday that the shoe giant had re-signed him. "Nike does not have a contractual relationship with Michael Vick," Nike said in a statement issued Thursday. Vick was released from prison in May after...

Faced with the global menace of digital piracy, some of the largest entertainment companies in the world have banded together to beg the Obama administration to help their industries, which they claim are under assault by digital brigands. Among them are AT&T (T), CBS Corporation, Microsoft (MSFT), News Corp....

Comcast (CMCSA), the nation's largest cable company, is reportedly in talks to buy NBC Universal, the entertainment giant, from General Electric (GE) in a blockbuster deal that -- if true -- would reverberate throughout the media world. Comcast, which has been on the hunt for a content-rich media company,...