Articles by Mary Hillebrand

With a new program from PenOp, a digital signature software developer, palm-top organizer owners can sign their names on the screens of their organizers and transmit those signatures over the Internet as legally binding approval on electronic documents PenOp's PocketSign is reportedly the first electronic handwritten signature capture program for p...

In a concerted effort to keep pace with its rivals and establish a presence in the Latin American market, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) has announced a joint venture agreement with Mexico's largest telecommunications company to create a portal for Spanish-speaking consumers in Latin and North America The software giant, which has been struggling to esta...

Pay TV programmer Showtime Networks' SHO.com will launch the first live boxing pay-per-view event on the Internet October 23rd, putting up five different camera angles of the Mike Tyson vs. Orlin Norris bout from Las Vegas, Nevada The 12-round championship bout will also have multiple audio feeds, allowing viewers to choose which view they want to ...

In its first move to capitalize on its purchase of Ameritech Corp., SBC Communications, Inc. opened its checkbook today for a $6 billion (US$) expansion into the high speed Internet service provider business Lining up to become SBC's first Internet guinea pigs are IBM Corp. and E*Trade, who will use the new, faster Internet service to help employe...

In an effort to "capitalize on the emerging Internet economy and electronic commerce," Thomson Consumer Electronics, Inc. announced yesterday that it is putting its RCA brand consumer electronics products on sale on the Internet and will ship orders directly from its warehouses to consumers RCA, one of the top U.S. consumer electronics companies, p...

In a precursor to its integration into the NBC Internet conglomerate, Xoom.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: XMCM) announced a deal yesterday with FreeShop.com (Nasdaq: FSHP) to create a section on its site for FreeShop's varied offerings Xoom.com, one of the Web's top 10 properties with more than 10.4 million visitors, is slated to merge with CNET and NBC's join...

As it prepares for its third public meeting on electronic commerce and Internet taxes, the Advisory Commission On Electronic Commerce is again asking the public for suggestions on how to make state and local tax collectors happy without stifling the Internet's growth The group, formed by a Congressional mandate in June, conducted a similar public i...

UK car manufacturer and General Motors unit Vauxhall Motors announced today that it will add an online buying service to its Web site November 1st and become the first automaker to sell new vehicles directly on the Internet Vauxhall will employ its network of dealers throughout England to deliver the new cars, but the dealers will not have to do an...

Broadscape.com is attempting to carve a niche in the electronic marketing landscape by offering free 19-inch color monitors to the first 100,000 consumers who request one and agree to watch advertisements on the screen whenever they use the Internet Broadscape.com's new monitor has software built in to display ad messaging frames across the bottom ...

Myplay, Inc., backed by a $5 million (US$) bankroll from private investors, has launched a site that gives digital music fans access to their favorite tracks without having to carry the music with them Myplay provides Internet-based storage of digital music for access via any device that can be connected to the Web. Web surfers can now use not only...

In a new report released this week, Hambrecht & Quist (NYSE: HQ) Electronic Brokerage Research Analyst Gregory Smith warns online trading companies that the industry's rapid growth, along with the surge of online retailing as a whole, presents "both windfalls and headaches." In "The Electronic Brokerage Industry -- Fasten Your Seatbelts," Smith arg...

Microsoft Corp., which has relied upon online consumer information resource Ask Jeeves(Nasdaq: ASKJ) to help consumers with Windows 98, announced today that it will now use the service to cover other products as well "This is all about customers getting the answers they need to be successful," said Microsoft's Director of Online Support, Denise Run...

Bell Atlantic and top modem maker 3Com Corp. (Nasdaq: COMS) have forged an alliance to sell high-speed Internet access to consumers. The new Infospeed networking service will allow Bell Atlantic customers to use a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) with a new 3Com modem for the first time Infospeed is part of a race by Bell Atlantic and other U.S. local...

IBM and AT&T announced today that they will join forces to develop, market and distribute end-to-end e-commerce packages for small and mid-sized companies The world's largest computer maker and the world's largest telecommunications provider launched the "technology alliance" to reduce the complexity of developing e-commerce Web sites. The turnkey ...

Despite the fact that consumer fear of online credit card use is waning, e-commerce support company MerchantOnline.com is urging e-tailers to make their sites more debit-card friendly with its new MOLpay system MOLpay is geared toward those consumers who want to do the majority of their shopping on the Web. To use the system, shoppers must attach a...

Infoseek Corp. (Nasdaq: SEEK) and The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) added auctions to their GO Network Internet portal Wednesday, becoming the fourth of the top six Internet domains to host its own auction service Yahoo!, America Online and MSN.com, the top three domains ranked by Media Metrix, have led the auction charge, while Yahoo!'s Geocities an...

IBM and AT&T announced today that they will join forces to develop, market and distribute end-to-end e-commerce packages for small and mid-sized companies The world's largest computer maker and the world's largest telecommunications provider launched the "technology alliance" to reduce the complexity of developing e-commerce Web sites. The turnkey ...

American Express (NYSE: AXP) announced today that it will expand its online trading presence by launching a new online brokerage. The new American Express Brokerage, set to debut later this fall, will combine online investment and financial planning tools with access to financial advisors Ruediger Adolf, senior vice president for strategic planning...

In yet another effort to translate a common brick-and-mortar retail concept to cyberspace, Spun.com unveiled a new site yesterday that will provide Internet surfers with a market to buy, sell and trade CDs Like its real-world counterparts, Spun.com pays for used CDs based on demand for each specific title. Therefore, the price Spun.com will pay var...

In an effort to outduel the U.S. Post Office and FedEx for the steadily-growing number of Internet sales shipments, United Parcel Service will introduce free "fenced" Internet service next year that will permit companies without Web access to utilize its online services The shipping giant, which receives more than a million package tracking request...