Articles by Chet Dembeck

Online brokers are the focal point of a 95-page report that was just issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) In the report, the SEC pointed out instances where online brokers may become subject to the same suitability rules that now govern their brick-and-mortar counterparts.

When the federal judge in the Microsoft antitrust trial appointed Chief Judge Richard Posner, of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago, Illinois, to mediate talks aimed at resolving the case, many experts were caught by surprise By naming a mediator, Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson sent the subtle but clear signal that he expects the government and Mi...

Online bookseller Alibris has agreed to plead guilty and pay a $250,000 (US$) fine in order to retire federal charges that it intercepted Amazon.com internal e-mails and possessed unauthorized password files While the plea and fine may seem insignificant when compared with other recent court settlements, this case could possibly have implications o...

Online computer e-tailer egghead.com announced today that its shareholders have approved a $400 million (US$) merger with auction and surplus site Onsale, Inc The merger comes as companies such as Buy.com, Outpost.com and Amazon.com are aggressively expanding their offerings and encroaching upon the two companies' market share. Under the circumstan...

In an effort to eliminate confusion over its strategic path, Excite@Home Corp. will establish a tracking stock for its Internet media assets The action will separate the Redwood City, California-based company's Internet portal assets from its subscription service, which offers high-speed Internet access over cable-TV systems. A separate board of di...

Last week, when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled that local telephone companies would be required to share their wires with rival data providers, the telephone company CEOs let out a collective wail "There is no need for corporate welfare that gives one sector of a very competitive industry an unnecessary advantage," said Bruce Pos...

America Online and interactive entertainment software company Electronic Arts announced a five-year strategic alliance today to create and deliver online games and interactive entertainment content for all AOL properties Under the terms of the agreement, Electronic Arts will guarantee AOL $81 million (US$) and be exclusively responsible for content...

Earlier this week, Microsoft Corp. all but conceded defeat in its much-publicized instant messaging battle with America Online by announcing that it will no longer attempt to make its IM software communicate with AOL's Since July, the Redmond, Washington-based software giant has been trying to penetrate the lucrative instant messaging market by lin...

Tradition met technology today as Amazon.com and Sotheby's Holdings, Inc. launched sothebys.amazon.com, a new online auction site that is jointly backed by the international art auctioneer and the top U.S. e-tailer This move comes only five months after Amazon pumped about $45 million (US$) into Sotheby's through stock purchases. The London-based a...

Toys "R" Us has a problem. Its Web site, which has been a lightning rod for controversy ever since the company's Internet division was formed, has been overwhelmed with traffic In fact, to keep the site from crashing, it has been reported that the Paramus, New Jersey-based toy giant is actually putting a limit on how many people can visit the site ...

According to a new report by research firm Datamonitor, e-tailers that fail to utilize Web-enabled live customer service operations could lose $3.2 billion (US$) in sales this holiday season Datamonitor's research found that the key to growing e-commerce profits for online merchants is to maintain customer loyalty by offering live online customer s...

Ever since Microsoft was declared a monopoly by U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson a couple of weeks ago, the remedy game has become the most popular pastime among legal experts and pundits There is no doubt about the excitement of the high-stakes drama being played out before our very eyes, as the entire world speculates about what the fi...

A new report released today by the Los Altos, California-based Internet Research Group shows that 25 million American households will be using the Internet to pay bills by the year 2003 Although online check writing and bill payment has been available to consumers for more than a decade, the report says that Web technology, new spending by banks an...

If the actions of Microsoft CEO Bill Gates are any indication as to whether there is life after being declared a monopoly by U.S. Federal Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, the answer is an emphatic "yes." Not only did Microsoft announce a blockbuster deal with Tandy Corp.'s Radio Shack that will allow the software giant to hawk its online service to m...

E.piphany, Inc., a manufacturer of software that analyzes customers' buying habits, announced today that it has agreed to acquire RightPoint, Inc., for about $392 million (US$) in stock This acquisition is the first made by E.piphany since its phenomenally successful September IPO. Yesterday, shares of the company fell $5.87 to $112.50.

Leading online computer seller Dell Computer Corp. announced today that it has launched a global redesign of its Web site, adding new features aimed at making interactions easier and more tailored to individual customers' needs Dell's refined e-commerce site will now allow customers to buy products, search for information, and seek support based on...

For decades, Allstate Corp. has reminded its policyholders that they are in good hands with their Allstate agents It seems now that a few of those hands are getting tied.

A new report from Forrester Research, Inc. is projecting that WingspanBank.com, the six month-old Internet banking venture of Bank One Corp. (NYSE: ONE), is about to stall "Its parent companies' financial difficulties and internal politics will debilitate Wingspan -- and make it a cautionary example of what not to do when spawning a dot-com subsidi...

Earlier this week, privacy advocates testified before the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and asked it to stop Web sites from tracking and compiling the visits of their users Additionally, these advocates demanded that the FTC devise a way to protect Web surfers from unwanted intrusions on their privacy like the one that RealNetworks, Inc. admitted t...

In an apparent attempt to counter America Online's recent brick-and-mortar alliances, Microsoft announced yesterday that it has signed a five-year pact with Tandy Corp.'s Radio Shack to deliver online service to consumers through the chain's 7,000 outlets According to Microsoft, the companies will establish a "store within a store" network across t...