Articles by Jack M. Germain

Consumers have a strong appetite for gift cards and gifting alcohol. But until now, they could not do both with a branded gift card. The market had none Beverage alcohol e-commerce platform company Thirstie on Tuesday announced the first-ever alcohol-branded gift cards with major liquor brands....

Cash flow concerns and fraud are going to be a menace to both retailers and consumers this holiday shopping season. One of the biggest shopping headaches this year will be a much earlier start to the chargeback cycles The chargeback period usually comes in January. This shopping season, it will likely arrive a lot earlier. Much sooner, in fact, tha...

Business leaders and employees disagree significantly on the future of work. The latest report on workplace trends nixes some previous accounts on the return to office concerns and assumptions about technology issues for remote workers A report by technology and business solutions firm NTT released Nov. 9 reveals a significant gap between what orga...

Online shoppers and e-commerce website operators face greater chances of becoming victims of cyber hacks as 2021 draws to a close. A list of technical and logistical problems stretching across multiple industries gives both shoppers and retailers reason to double efforts to avoid being hacked this year Two factors top the list: runaway inflation an...

Sometimes in the retail business, you do not know what you do not know. That knowledge gap can lead to sales projections that fall short and marketing strategies that fall flat Marketing and business communications company R.R. Donnelley & Sons (RRD) last month released a study that reveals that traditional marketing channels, including word of mou...

Open-source innovations and the Linux operating system continue to set complacency aside The Linux Foundation is ever-expanding its influence as it brings more developer projects under its banner, leaving no room for proprietary software to rule the computing world....

Business on Amazon is booming for accelerator and aggregator organizations that drive product and seller buyouts Doing business on Amazon is now very streamlined. Imagine building a business doing $10 million of revenue with no employees, physical store, or real estate. Some of the biggest success stories involve entrepreneurs with an idea for a pr...

Entrepreneurs might well be the latest heroes in cyberwarfare. Despite increasing odds of malicious attacks, SMB owners are forging ahead with a newfound sense of security Untangle's fourth annual SMB IT Security Report, released Oct. 7, shows that SMBs have adapted to a changing work environment, addressed an influx of cyberattacks, and defined th...

As a result of the current pandemic-induced supply chain disruptions and evolving consumer shopping habits, a growing number of retailers are considering shuttering storefronts and selling their selected inventory with internet-based direct-to-consumer (DTC) buying options. A better option is for retailers to rethink their current business models and consider how to future-proof their operations...

Today LinuxInsider introduces a bimonthly news column to summarize some of the Linux and open-source consumer and enterprise events scattered around the Linux Sphere Look forward to an assortment of topics that will keep Linux users and open-source supporters up to speed with new developments. We will cover items of interest for Linux desktop users...

Social media giant Facebook has a new name -- Meta. But the old name will remain the face on the digital conversation book CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday announced the company's name is changing to reflect its growing focus on the metaverse. But the social platform's users and detractors will not see much in the way of restructuring its operation....

Misconceptions and poor inventory are confusing potential electric vehicle (EV) buyers. Education and marketing are needed to repair those problems Online car-shopping marketplace Cars.com went virtual on Thursday to help shoppers explore electric vehicle ownership. The website maintains a charged collection of information on all things EV to corre...

A new Forrester survey commissioned by Capgemini, Salesforce, and MuleSoft reveals companies face the same recurring customer experience (CX) struggles. They lack an integrated single source of truth for customer data and are strapped with subpar personalization capabilities Forrester surveyed 426 directors and above in marketing, IT, and line-of-b...

Amazon heralded its shifting strategies to help sellers expand with new tools during its two-day Accelerate Seller Conference this week. The e-commerce giant announced its growing success with American small and medium-sized businesses empowerment this year, its glowing Sellers Report, and the results of its unique CRM tools for SMBs....

Everyday stress at work and home sometimes seems like a health issue you just have to tolerate. But doing nothing to relieve routine stress usually winds up causing sleep and illness problems as well. Now, a wellness technology company has a wearable device that just might bring more good vibes your way When Feelmore Labs approached me with an offe...

A new fraud ring called Proxy Phantom is using sophisticated credential-stuffing attack methods to take over customer accounts for U.S.-based e-commerce merchants The latest research from digital trust and safety firm Sift demonstrates fraudsters' relentless innovation and reinforces retailers' need to double down on fraud protection as the holiday...

Canonical on Thursday released Ubuntu 21.10, Impish Indri. The new version of its flagship OS has a heavy focus on cloud-native, AI/ML, and Ubuntu developers on Windows This is not a major distro upgrade. Rather, it is a holding action that is not a long-term release either. Nonetheless, Ubuntu 21.10 does play catch up with the latest Wayland impro...

While migration to the cloud is at an all-time high, so is the growth of ransomware peddlers. New research released last month shows the current spurt in ransomware attacks will last another two years The Veritas report, "The Vulnerability Lag," explores the ransomware risks resulting from accelerated digital transformation in the wake of the Covid...

Consumers would rather avoid brands than compromise personal data, according to new research. Brands that handle consumer data transparently and ethically, however, will be best positioned to navigate and engage with this cautious consumer base Shopper discontent with online retail sites is localizing to two major concerns. Spoiler alert: customer ...

New research shows enterprises pivoting to cloud-based containerized environments and software-defined storage. This trend is revolutionizing how businesses are shifting data management strategies Linux Foundation Research and SODA (Strategic Options Development and Analysis) Foundation on Tuesday released study results on new data and storage tren...