Articles by Mary Hillebrand

What a giant 40-foot purple gorilla has to do with magazines remains to be seen, but the name of a new online magazine subscription service is at least memorable for those who grew up watching cartoons in the '70s GrapeApe.com, named for the aforementioned giant gorilla of Hanna Barbera's cartoon library, launched an online news stand this week wit...

As the U.S. Congress returned to work Monday, gun control legislation topped the House of Representatives' agenda. Several of the measures before the House could have an impact on a growing, though quiet, e-commerce sector: gun and ammo trafficking While the House this week takes up safety measures such as background checks and waiting periods for ...

Music stores have had them for years, and book-music-video-coffee-and-scones stores like Borders have also caught on. They are listening booths, a popular new way to hook audio buyers. So it makes sense that Amazon.com, whose Internet everything store competes with Borders and Borders.com, would follow suit online Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) opened its n...

With $30 million (US$) to back it up, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is talking TV as its latest target for e-commerce. The Redmond, Washington software giant is investing that money in Wink Communications, Inc. to encourage cable, broadcast and satellite TV viewers to shop while they channel surf Wink, the only interactive TV data service available in t...

When it comes to the U.S. government's approach to new businesses, the Internet is apparently no different from any other success story Seemingly everyone in government wants to have a hand in its development. With Capitol Hill's tide of Internet-related bills and resolutions swelling and the Federal Trade Commission diving in with its own new Inte...

Quick, Robin! The Bat-phone! I've got to get on the Internet! With plans to put the cool gadgets in the comic strip world into the hands of mere mortals, Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) announced deals this week to take Internet surfing and shopping beyond the PC.

The Internet is attracting a growing number of distance learning companies, presenting opportunities for both students and Internet stock hounds. Several public and private education-related companies this week announced plans to expand on the Internet, bringing a variety of services to the thousands of U.S. professionals needing more training Acco...

Borders.com parent Borders Group, Inc. (NYSE: BGP) plans to buy a stake in books on-demand publisher Sprout, Inc. in a move to distinguish itself and its online store from dominant competitors barnesandnoble.com and Amazon.com Borders agreed to take a minority interest in Sprout and will install Sprout's digital book production service in the Borde...

Though its bread and butter is online insurance quotes, Quotesmith.com is hoping stock quotes will help it complete its transition from an information site to an e-commerce site Quotesmith.com filed an initial public offering last week with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to raise as much as $80 million (US$) on an unspecified number of...

With online trading becoming more commonplace, investment services companies are looking for new ways to distinguish themselves from the trading crowd. E*Trade Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: EGRP) moved a step closer Tuesday with an agreement to buy Telebanc Financial Corp. (Nasdaq: TBFC) for a chunk of stock valued at $1.8 billion (US$) The Telebank deal is...

Hoping to Make up for its late entry into the increasingly crowded online trading world, Wall Street stalwart Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) announced today plans to offer an array of new personal financial services on the Internet. Coming next month are a selection of personalized services from Merrill Lynch financial consultants, and later this year the company will add self-directed Web investing...

The New York Times (NYSE: NYT) this week signaled its increasing focus on the online world by forming a separate business unit for its more than 50 Internet sites Some believe the company may eventually look to the exuberant Internet stock sector to raise funds to expand the unit. Known as the "gray lady" for its long and storied presence in print ...

The U.S. Postal Service recently completed tests of two new services to bring regular mail into the electronic world. The services present new ways for the post office to make money off both printed and electronic mail, though the government is pitching them as equally beneficial to businesses Post Office Online consists of two services -- Mailing ...

With less than 2 percent of the 7 million small companies in the United States doing business online, Rep. Jim Talent (R-Missouri) is looking for ways to increase those ranks. Chairman of the House Committee on Small Business, Talent pledged at an e-commerce hearing yesterday to take a closer look at specific barriers to increasing Internet competition for small businesses...

Some of the biggest names in shopping, including New York City flagships Bloomingdale's and Macy's, are putting their names behind WeddingChannel.com's new online/offline bridal registry service. The site will combine WeddingChannel.com's own online registry with two online registries and a half dozen in-store registries Federated Department Stores, Inc. operates...

Investment house Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. Monday became the first business to merge an online trading service with an Internet portal and search engine, joining with Excite, Inc. to launch MySchwab The move is designed to differentiate Schwab's investing site from the dozens of others trying to lure online traders.

1-800-FLOWERS took its online flower shop public Friday, filing an initial public offering with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to raise $150 million (US$) The money would augment a private placement offering of preferred stock that closed this month, netting the company $102.6 million. Investors in that stock include Internet-focused i...

Lycos, Inc. announced a two-for-one split of its stock this week just as the price of its shares skyrocketed on news of an unusually strong third quarter Driven by news that the company has overtaken Yahoo! as the most visited search engine on the Internet, Lycos (NASDAQ: LCOS) stock soared Tuesday and Wednesday to an 8 percent gain.

With nearly 2 million online shoppers visiting America Online (NYSE: AOL) for the first time in the second quarter, the Internet portal and online service company has decided it is time to remodel its stores. The company announced yesterday it will launch a new shopping service this summer called Shop@AOL Leading the effort is Patrick Gates, who jo...

Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) is expanding into the online grocery market with an announcement this week that it has taken a "significant minority interest" in HomeGrocer.com Amazon agreed to pay the grocery delivery service $42.5 million (US$) for a 35 percent stake in the company. Amazon is the Internet's top book, music and video retailer, stocking ...