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In the wake of massive denial-of-service attacks on the Internet's DNS root servers, the likelihood of an attack that could crash the Internet -- and bring e-commerce to a screeching halt -- seems far greater than it once did. Every 24 hours of Internet downtime theoretically could mean more than $1...

Compared with a year earlier, e-commerce retail sales in this year's third quarter skyrocketed to their highest dollar value since reporting began in 1999, according to a new U.S. Department of Commerce survey. The survey of 11,000 stores showed that sales, not adjusted for seasonal, holiday and tra...

IT pay has been hammered by the reversal of stock option fortunes, increased overseas outsourcing and the dismal economy in general, but experts say technology workers can still command a decent salary in some fields without becoming a CIO. Giga Information Group vice president Craig Symons told New...

AOL has begun selling prepaid Internet access cards and offering more online content, providing a glimpse into parent company AOL Time Warner's strategic plans for jump-starting growth at its online unit. The prepaid cards are already for sale at Western Union and Target stores and will be available...

Wall Street has battered tech stocks for more than a year, so one might think the Nasdaq would be littered with bargains. But recent gains in the tech sector have wiped away many of the best opportunities. "Few [stocks] are undervalued. We had that huge snapback, and now they're all grossly overvalu...

As the battle for online revenue extends into 2002's shortened holiday-shopping season, some e-commerce firms may be considering whether to post uncensored reviews of the products they sell, as Amazon does. To be sure, it is a risky proposition -- e-tailers risk losing product sales by having negati...

IBM has announced it will invest $1 billion to provide customers with access to a team of 200 research consultants, who will split their time between pure research and working with customers on real-life computing and business problems. "IT research has to change along with the industry," IBM senior...

In his first appearance since the announcement of the landmark Microsoft antitrust settlement, CEO Steve Ballmer told an audience last week that the software giant is striving to fulfill the provisions of the settlement decree. Of course, it remains to be seen how the company actually will conduct b...

In what may be its most direct competitive move yet against e-tail giant Amazon.com, eBay has announced plans to consolidate its electronics listings into a single online store and to offer free shipping on some purchases. The free shipping move is likely a nod to the fact that Amazon recently exten...

WiFi, a technology that enables wireless Web access at speeds many times faster than a standard dial-up connection, is cropping up in coffee shops, airports and hotels. But despite WiFi's increasing convenience, m-commerce, once seen as a promising way to sell goods, is unlikely to be a boon for ret...

In its first advertising push since its May 2002 merger with Compaq, and on the heels of president Michael Capellas' departure, computer and peripherals maker Hewlett-Packard has unveiled a new campaign to refocus its identity away from its printing and imaging reputation. The campaign, which will c...

In some ways, it is easier than ever to build an e-commerce site. As technology has matured, its price has fallen. However, the growing need to integrate a site's business operations -- such as ordering, sales and call center functions -- has raised the bar, even as the number of e-commerce technolo...

Two new reports suggest online holiday shopping has gotten an early start this year, possibly paving the way for a strong fourth quarter. Nielsen//NetRatings said online shopping activity spiked 12 percent during the week ended November 3rd, with traffic particularly heavy in typical holiday categor...

Number two semiconductor manufacturer AMD has announced it will lay off 2,000 people, or 15 percent of its global workforce, in an attempt to break even in the coming year. A thousand employees will be notified immediately in the United States, Europe and Asia, and the remaining 1,000 will be laid ...

As the U.S. economy continues to traverse shaky ground, companies are asking more of their IT departments. The root of the problem is that many companies, large and small, have pressing IT needs that are not about to disappear -- but they also have far less capital than they once did. The question i...