Articles by Vivian Wagner

This story was originally published on Jun. 1, 2012, and is brought to you today as part of our Best of ECT News series Engaging the customer has always been fundamental to doing good business. It's just that now that engagement often starts in digital, social media realms....

It's not enough to have just a website, or just social media profiles. Businesses need to have both, and the traffic needs to flow seamlessly between them Numerica Credit Union was looking for a way to offer customers a useful tool on its Facebook page while driving traffic from Facebook to its site. When Shastic offered it a chance to test drive C...

A few years ago, Dave Getty and his wife went on a road trip through Texas. They didn't bring a laptop, so they relied solely on their smartphones to surf the Web. They quickly realized how important it is for sites to be mobile-friendly. "It was an eye-opening experience," Getty, a spokesperson for One World Hosting, told the E-Commerce Times.

When Google withdrew from China, it didn't send out a press release or hold a press conference. Instead, it announced the news on its corporate blog. This move proved to be a "milestone event for corporate blogging," said Lou Hoffman, CEO of The Hoffman Agency "Even though the Google corporate blog mainly covers Google-centric issues, they offer fr...

Microsoft Hardware on Monday unveiled several new mobile-friendly keyboards and mice designed specifically for use with its forthcoming Windows 8 and tablets: the Wedge Touch Mouse, the Wedge Mobile Keyboard, the Sculpt Touch Mouse, and the Sculpt Mobile Keyboard. On Oct. 26, when Windows 8 becomes officially available, Microsoft will also be rele...

Social media sites are all about having conversations, and that's true for businesses as well as individuals. The trick for businesses is knowing how and when to engage in these conversations -- and how to keep up with them. Like any conversation, listening is important, and it's one way that businesses can begin to engage their customers.

On Facebook's earnings call Thursday, Mark Zuckerberg seemed to deny that the company would be developing its own branded smartphone, presumably an effort to put to rest growing speculation -- mostly attributed to unnamed sources -- about a Facebook phone under development at HTC Building a smartphone, said Zuckerberg on the call, "wouldn't really...

Shana and Len Bentivegna started their online store, Organic Pet Boutique, as a result of pet food scares and their concern for the safety of their two Shih Tzus, Milo and Ceasar. "After discovering organic and natural pet food was the only safe alternative, we decided to go online to purchase their food," Len Bentivegna told the E-Commerce Times....

A new trade group called "The Internet Association" has been formed to represent the interests of large Internet companies. It will begin operating in September, with Michael Beckerman, a former adviser to the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives' Energy and Commerce Committee, serving as its president Though Beckerman has not yet confirm...

WORX, a power tool company, has a unique Pinterest board: one devoted entirely to tools that aid in zombie defense. The WORX JawSaw, for instance, has a pin that tells consumers to "accessorize before they rise, and protect yourself now!" The board's sense of humor makes it especially effective on the social pinning site, according to Tamara Littl...

A survey of more than 3,600 Appcelerator Titanium developers has revealed that they would rather develop mobile apps for iOS than for Android iOS led Android by 16 percent in the Appcelerator/IDC Q2 2012 Mobile Developer Report. Fifty-three percent of the respondents believed that iOS was winning in enterprise app development, whereas only 37 perc...

Every time people post an update, "like" a page, or otherwise engage with social media, their movements are tracked, followed and recorded. For businesses, this data is a gold mine of information about consumer thinking, preferences and opinions "Businesses should view social media as a treasure trove of data and insights that can virtually impact ...

The Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law met on Wednesday to discuss the promise and pitfalls of facial recognition technology. Led by its chair, U.S. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., the committee questioned privacy advocates as well as representatives of the FBI, the Federal Trade Commission and Facebook, about how the technology is being used and what privacy issues it raises.

It's not enough to have just a website, or just social media profiles. Businesses need to have both -- and the traffic needs to flow seamlessly between them Numerica Credit Union was looking for a way to offer customers a useful tool on its Facebook page while driving traffic from Facebook to its site. When Shastic offered it a chance to test drive...

Microsoft unveiled the new versions of its Office suite and and Office 365 subscription-based service on Monday The updated Office has an intuitive design that makes it touch- and stylus-compatible, and usable across a variety of devices running Windows, including tablets and smartphones.

Making use of sleek black gloves, sophisticated sensors, a microcontroller and a smartphone, students from the Ukraine have created a device that translates sign language into speech Called "Enable Talk," the system won first place in the software design category at Microsoft's 10th annual Imagine Cup, held this year in Sydney, Australia.

In response to increasingly aggressive ads in free mobile apps, mobile security firm Lookout on Monday released guidelines to protect consumer privacy and security and promote responsibility among advertisers The guidelines offer mobile ad providers information about how to target advertising, while at the same time adhering to principles of priva...

Financial site Adaptu serves people in all stages of life, from young people just establishing themselves, getting married and buying a home, to more mature investors planning for their children's educations or their own retirement dreams "Some of these people are open to talking about their financial troubles or dreams in public, while others like...

Anywhere from 250,000 to 500,000 computers worldwide may lose Web access Monday morning if their users don't manage to remove malware called "DNSChanger" from their machines A massive public information campaign has been undertaken over the last several months to inform people about the virus and how to remove it, but thousands of computers remain...

Based on the underperformance of its online services division, Microsoft announced Monday that it would be taking a write-down of US$6.2 billion.The non-cash, non-tax-deductible income statement charge for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2012 is for the "impairment of goodwill" related primarily to its 2007 $6.3 billion acquisition of aQuantive, Microsoft said.