Articles by Mary Hillebrand

Bertelsman Music Group's BMG Direct, Inc. will now allow its customers to decide which songs belong together on a CD. Through an alliance with CustomDisc.com, BMG plans to offer custom-made CDs to the more than 9 million members of its Music Club The new customizing feature will start on September 30th, when BMG's mail-order customers will be able ...

According to the Software & Information Industry Association, more than half of the software being offered on Internet auction sites is pirated. After a six-day study by its anti-piracy division, the SIIA issued a "buyer beware" advisory Tuesday to protect online shoppers and software copyright holders from illegitimate sales The SIIA studied the t...

Online pharmacy PlanetRx.com announced today that it will acquire the e-commerce operations of Express Scripts, Inc.'s yourPharmacy.com. The deal will bring yourPharmacy's 36 million users to the site ...

Two new Web sites are bringing the $275 billion (US$) commercial printing industry to the Internet, changing the way orders and supplies will be distributed online Impresse Corp. lined up Hewlett-Packard Co. to jointly market and sell its new impresse.com commercial printing services to major corporations through HP's e-services program. Impresse.c

Online auctioneer eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) announced this week that it has added automobiles and everything car-related to its auction lineup. Additionally, a separate section called "The Showroom" will offer collector cars through an alliance with Kruse International, a large collectible auto firm eBay is the new official sponsor of Kruse's 29th annual...

In a response to the widening controversy over Internet sales taxes, representatives from across the United States opened debate on a proposal to simplify state sales taxes at a meeting of the National Governors Association in Atlanta, Georgia According to the NGA, the proposed plan will be one that "takes advantage of new software technology to re...

E-commerce security provider Entrust Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: ENTU) has entered into an agreement to secure e-Scotia.com, a newly established subsidiary of Canada-based Scotiabank. The pact comes on the heels of the recently-launched Entrust Secure Enabled E-Business (SEE) program, which was designed to help define security standards for firms that conduct business over the Internet...

In an attempt to make Internet users redefine their conception of a 'search service,' ReturnMe.com has launched an online lost and found for items misplaced in the wide, wide real world ReturnMe.com teams the power of the Internet with FedEx's delivery network. Items registered with the service are outfitted with an ID tag that provides a tracking ...

According to a new report from Forrester Research, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR), the "logistics chaos" of fulfilling online orders remains a serious liability to virtual retailers and the industry as a whole The early success experienced by online retailers -- as well as traditional businesses that have expanded onto the Internet -- will beget more difficul...

Just days after rolling out a new feature it hoped would give shoppers another reason to browse its online book shelves, Amazon.com yielded to complaints from some book buyers that their privacy had been invaded. The Internet's top bookseller will now revamp their 'Purchase Circles,' which were designed to steer online gift-buyers to selected book, music or video selections...

In an effort to close the technology gap between America's white and black citizens, U.S. Commerce Secretary William Daley publicly pledged to address the issue at a national conference this fall. D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams, who is black and a Dartmouth graduate, joined Daley in the announcement Washington, the center of the U.S. government, is "E...

America Online, Inc. (NYSE: AOL) has had a busy week in the fashion business, adding two new groups of stores to its Shop@AOL online mall. The largest deal, with Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS), is a three-year joint marketing and commerce agreement that will put the Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy on AOL's sites. In addition, AOL will add Cache, Inc.'s (Nasdaq: CACH) specialty women's clothing to its shopping lineup...

As 16 to 24 year-olds continue to emerge as a dominant e-commerce force, Student Advantage, Inc. and Embark.com have staked a claim to the Internet-savvy college market Student Advantage (Nasdaq: STAD), which recently formed a strategic alliance with Barnes & Noble's textbooks.com online retail site, markets a variety of products and membership ser...

In a move that will distribute "good toys" across its line of animated Internet properties, the Walt Disney Company's Buena Vista Internet Group (BVIG) announced Wednesday that it has acquired a controlling interest in toysmart.com Financial considerations were not disclosed, but some observers believe that BVIG has agreed to pay toysmart.com $20 m...

With fraud emerging as the number one threat to their industry, a group of e-commerce development companies are mounting a counter-attack. The new Internet Fraud Prevention Advisory Council, led by HNC Software, Inc. (Nasdaq: HNCS), has won widespread support as it attempts to eradicate consumer fears of buying and selling online IFPAC hopes to red...

In a move designed to help online shoppers sift through the abundance of products on the web, BuyWiz Inc. has launched a free "universal shopping cart" program. The software, which can be downloaded from the BuyWiz Web site, allows shoppers to collect items from a variety of different online stores and save that information in one place According t...

Although the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has backed off its plan to charge $1 ($US) for every domain name registered, Rep. Thomas Bliley (R-Virginia) continues to probe the group's finances and activities Bliley is Chairman of the House Commerce Committee and a representative from a state that houses several Internet bu...

In yet another response to the Internet sales boom, AbsoluteFuture.com (OTC Bulletin Board: AFTI) is working on a new program to handle product returns and, when necessary, dispose of them in an environmentally safe manner The company, based in Bellevue, Washington, develops proprietary Internet solutions for e-commerce companies, including Microso...

E-commerce payment technology developer CyberCash, Inc. (Nasdaq: CYCH) announced Friday that it has picked up another $15 million in equity investments through a private placement of stock and warrants. CyberCash plans to use the money for expansion, marketing, acquisitions and investments Rose Glen Capital International Investors, LDC is handling ...

Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) announced Friday that it is introducing a new feature which will enable shoppers' preferences to steer other online gift-buyers to a book, music or video selection Anonymous lists based on domain names and other geographic information divide purchases into various categories, showing the most popular items within a particu...