Articles by Nora Macaluso

America Online (Nasdaq: AOL) said Wednesday it will launch a free portal aimed at helping millions of small businesses get online and use the Web for advertising, selling and gathering information Offered through AOL subsidiary Netscape, Netbusiness will be made available across a host of AOL-owned sites, including Netscape's Netcenter, AOL's WorkP...

Online advertisers who want to reach children are shifting their focus to parents, according to a report released Monday by AdRelevance, a division of Internet statistics firm Media Metrix (Nasdaq: MMXI) Online ads aimed at families rose 96 percent between May and August, while ads targeted specifically at kids fell 56 percent, the report said. The...

According to a study from Jupiter Communications, fewer than 20 percent of online retailers use eye-catching programs and plug-ins like Java and Flash to help consumers browse their Web sites, thus preventing users from getting the most out of those sites As a result, companies could eventually find themselves losing customers as competitors take a...

Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) launched a service Wednesday that provides free, real-time stock quotes over the Internet through a set of agreements with three electronic communication networks (ECN) Yahoo! said it is teaming up with Instinet, Island and Archipelago to provide the quotes, which include before- and after-market data, as well as volume a...

U.S. businesses widened their lead over their European competitors in the e-commerce arena last year, though there are signs that European companies hold advantages that could turn things around, according to a new survey from Andersen Consulting In 1999, U.S. companies generated 67 percent of global business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce revenue an...

GoTo.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: GOTO) will provide search services for users of America Online (NYSE: AOL) as part of an expanded agreement announced Tuesday by the two firms The $50 million (US$), multi-year alliance builds on existing arrangements GoTo.com has with AOL's Netscape and CompuServe affiliates, the companies said.

America Online, Inc. (NYSE: AOL) announced Thursday that it has purchased Quack.com, a company with technology that enables consumers to access Internet information by using voice commands over a regular telephone AOL called the acquisition an important step in advancing its "AOL Anywhere" strategy, giving its members access to e-mail, news, traffi...

Internet tutoring service Tutornet.com Group, Inc. (OTC: TTNP.OB) lied about its financial condition in regulatory filings and in a letter to shareholders published on its Web site, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said in a complaint filed Wednesday The SEC said it sued the Reston, Virginia-based Tutornet and its chief executive o...

Online retailers are cutting costs and paying more attention to how they spend their marketing dollars, according to a quarterly survey released Wednesday by the Boston Consulting Group and Shop.org As a result of this shift, the survey found, customer acquisition costs fell in the second quarter, as order conversion and loyalty rates rose.

Ailing online pharmacy PlanetRx.com Inc. (Nasdaq: PLRX) said Monday it will relocate its corporate headquarters from South San Francisco, California to Memphis, Tennessee as part of a plan to cut expenses and reduce cash burn PlanetRx, which has been looking for ways to raise cash, opened a 175,000-square-foot distribution center in Memphis in May....

According to a new study by NFO Interactive, consumers who buy products online often keep items they might otherwise return because they do not want to pay fees to return the shipments About one-fifth of online shoppers said they have kept products purchased online in order to avoid the fees, the Greenwich, Connecticut-based firm said.

UK-based online auctioneer QXL (Nasdaq: QXLC) will go ahead with its planned acquisition of Germany's Ricardo.de AG, the companies said Friday, after agreeing on a lower price to reflect a decline in Ricardo shares and financial performance since the deal was first announced in May Ricardo shareholders will get 34 QXL ordinary shares for each of th...

Online grocer Streamline.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: SLNE) has warned that it will likely run out of money unless it receives new financing within "several weeks." The company, which has been looking for a partner or investor since May, said that while it is "actively pursuing financing alternatives," there are no definitive agreements on funding.

Two U.S. companies Tuesday announced plans to enter the growing Japanese e-commerce market, with online travel service Travelocity.com (Nasdaq: TVLY) forming a partnership to sell travel products and services, and Office Depot, Inc. (NYSE: ODP) setting up a subsidiary Web site The Fort Worth, Texas-based Travelocity said it is joining Japan Airline...

Industry giant IBM (NYSE: IBM) and e-commerce software company Kana Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: KANA) announced plans Wednesday to help companies that do business on the Internet improve their customer service The deal, which reportedly could be worth as much as $1 billion (US$) per year in revenue for the two companies, comes as evidence mounts t...

As capital continues to evaporate for many an Internet retailer, BlueLight.com announced Monday that it will receive $80 million (US$) in second round financing from initial investors Kmart Corp. (NYSE: KM) and Softbank, Inc BlueLight said it will use the capital to fund day-to-day operations, but company spokesperson Dave Karraker told the E-Comme...

A U.S. court denied a request Monday by Ticketmaster Online-Citysearch, Inc. (Nasdaq: TMCS) for a preliminary injunction against Tickets.com in a case that involves linking Web sites without express permission U.S. District Court Judge Harry L. Hupp acknowledged that Ticketmaster had other claims against Tickets.com, but set them aside for a later ...

Value America, Inc. (Nasdaq: VUSA), one of e-tailing's early high fliers, said Friday it has discontinued its retail operations, let go 185 employees and filed for bankruptcy protection so it can develop a business to help other companies sell products online The Charlottesville, Virginia-based company said it is seeking to restructure its operatio...

A federal court in New York has sentenced the first person to stand trial for operating an offshore gambling business that unlawfully accepts bets from Americans over the Internet U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa sentenced Jay Cohen, co-owner of Antigua-based World Sports Exchange, to 21 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release...

Large brick-and-mortar chain retailers are showing the strongest sales in a slow summer for online shopping, with women doing the bulk of the buying, according to statistics released Thursday by PC Data Online JCPenney.com, Sears.com, BestBuy.com, Staples.com and Spiegel.com advanced on the list of e-tail sales in July, though all reported "slight ...