Archive

The decentralization of software and services has greatly changed the way businesses need to approach and appeal to their customers' whims. Before, software vendors could work with distributors to get their boxes onto shelves and into customers' hands -- but when was the last time you went to Fry's ...

Some Netflix customers found themselves without service on Christmas Eve -- an unpardonable lapse on a day when many are snuggled in their homes and eager for entertainment. The streaming video provider has caught its fair share of flak for the outage -- but it was not solely to blame for its servic...

More bibliophiles are turning to e-books rather than their paper forebears for their reading consumption. The percentage of people who read e-books in the past year jumped from 16 percent to 23 percent, according to a study by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project. As tablet...

One of the features of Amazon Prime, in addition to free two-day shipping, is access to free video content. To sweeten the deal, Amazon is using its Amazon Studios division to produce original content: The company has ordered six pilots for original series, which will become available on Prime Insta...

How much do federal agencies need to spend on data center consolidation investments now, in order to save money later? It could be quite a lot. The U.S. Department of Labor, for example, figures that $60 million or so will do the trick in meeting its data center consolidation goals. Last month, DOL ...

Google is heading into the new year with a new set of enterprise customers, the result of moves made this year to revamp its cloud-based productivity applications. For years, Google has been infiltrating areas beyond its core search business. This was the first year it was able to make real headway ...

Instagram's recent changes to its terms of service have led one user to file a proposed class action lawsuit against the company, alleging breach of contract and other violations. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco last week by California user Lucy Funes, claims that Instagram's...

Online advertising spending hit a record $9.26 billion in the third quarter of 2012, an 18 percent increase over the same period last year. The IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report for the third quarter of 2012, released last week by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers, ...

The Consumer Electronics Show kicks off Jan. 8 in Las Vegas, and it looks like it will be another big success. So what will be hot during this year's show? There are plenty of new ideas that will wow you. Let's take a quick peek at what we can expect. Gary Shapiro, CEO of the Consumer Electronics As...

How can classic retail, the brick-and-mortar physical stores dotting our neighborhoods, compete with the likes of Amazon and Zappos? Can real-world retail survive e-commerce? And if it can, what's the trick? How do retailers intend to meet this growing threat? We're now seeing something insidious t...

Remember Charlie? YouTube isn't just about cat videos and basement productions anymore. Charlie's a big boy now, and YouTube has been growing up too. The site has evolved into a full-fledged social media platform, and entertainment companies and other businesses have begun to take note. "In a world ...

More than just a marketing gimmick, gamification has the potential to inject new life into a variety of industries and broaden the appeal of many new and existing offerings. The term "gamification" describes the use of game mechanics, such as challenges, achievements and rewards, to drive certain co...

Edison Junior is issuing the largest Kickstarter refund ever after it couldn't secure the use of Apple's new Lightning dock technology for its universal charging gadget. The company set out to create a portable charging station, called the "Pop." The minimalist device was supposed to support ports f...

RIM delivered a mixed bag of news in its latest quarterly earnings, prompting the phone maker's stock to drop on Thursday by some 17 percent. The so-so report reignited fears that RIM will remain a marginal company, even if its upcoming BlackBerry 10 OS is a blockbuster success. In some respects, th...

It's no secret that business-to-business buyers have come to expect the same ease and convenience of online buying they enjoy for personal shopping experiences when it comes to making corporate purchases. With Forrester Research conservatively estimating nearly $560 billion in B2B e-commerce transac...