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U.S. automakers have hit a number of regulatory roadblocks to selling cars directly over the Internet, but Ford Motor Company and Toyota are crossing the border to implement a test program that will enable shoppers in three Canadian regions to purchase cars online Ford is offering only three of its most popular vehicles online: Taurus, Windstar and...

Nine airlines announced Thursday that they are banding together to launch a new online travel exchange for the Asia-Pacific region in the fourth quarter of this year The airlines involved are Cathay Pacific Airways, China Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas Airways, Royal Brunei Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand, Ansett Australia, and A...

CDNow, Inc., the cash-strapped online music retailer, said Thursday it is in talks with a number of potential investors in its quest for survival, but so far has not solidified a deal The embattled e-tailer's announcement is the latest in a series of updates the company has issued to offer reassurance that it expects to bolster its shaky economic p...

This year alone, U.S. firms will pay $20 billion (US$) to consultants for design and construction of e-commerce Web sites, even though -- according to Forrester Research -- none of the big-name e-commerce integrators can actually deliver the type of across-the-board expertise needed to get an e-tailer up and running These findings may be surprising...

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that settlements have been reached in deceptive advertising cases brought against Buy.com, Value America and brick-and-click retailer Office Depot According to the FTC, ads run by the three companies offering "free" and "low-cost" computers were misleading because the promotions required purchase of...

IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced Wednesday that it is investing over $1 billion (US$) to develop and promote its core Internet middleware technology, the IBM WebSphere software platform The infrastructure software helps companies at each stage of e-business development: from startup, to supply chain management, to high volume Web transactions. Middleware ...

Not long ago, U.S. Vice President Al Gore took some serious ribbing for suggesting he played a major role in developing the World Wide Web. Now some of the same type of ridicule should be aimed at British Telecom for its pursuit of hyperlink patent royalties British Telecommunications plc (BT) has rung up the folks at America Online, Microsoft, Ear...

Bracing for massive e-commerce growth, Chinese government officials are preparing a regulatory framework to govern the industry and lay out guidelines on taxation, advertising, content, and other key areas According to published reports, a senior Chinese Information Ministry figure said this week that officials are currently drawing up rules govern...

According to data from Framingham, Massachusetts-based research firm IDC, online jewelry sales will grow from $77 million (US$) in 1999 to over $1 billion in 2004 and outpace the growth of consumer e-commerce as a whole The report, "A Diamond in the Rough: U.S. Online Fine Jewelry Market Forecast and Analysis, 1999-2004," says several factors are c...

RealNetworks (Nasdaq: RNWK) announced Wednesday that it has forged an alliance with Nokia (NYSE: NOK) to distribute multimedia content to cell phones and other mobile devices Nokia, one of the largest mobile terminal manufacturers in the world, will implement RealNetworks' RealPlayer technology in its EPOC-based communicators and smart phones, maki...

In an effort to add community dynamics to its e-mail offerings, Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) announced Wednesday that it will pay about $434 million (US$) in an all-stock transaction to acquire free group e-mail service eGroups. The eGroups acquisition will also boost the new Corporate Yahoo! enterprise service that was unveiled Monday Yahoo! agreed to is...

According to analysts at Chase H&Q and US Bancorp Piper Jaffray, general stock market jitters have resulted in a larger-than-expected drop in trading volume and could have a negative impact on second quarter results On Wednesday, Chase analyst Gregory Smith and US Bancorp's Stephen Franco lowered their revenue estimates for E*Trade Group, Inc. (Nas...

Six major airline companies are reportedly banding together to challenge name-your-price pioneer Priceline.com for dominance in the discount air travel marketplace The participating airline companies are: United Airlines, American Airlines, Northwest Airlines Corp., Continental Airlines, Inc., U.S. Airways Group, Inc. and America West Airlines, acc...

Companies that sell goods and services over the Internet are responsible for almost 5,400 lost jobs since December 1999, according to a report from Chicago, Illinois-based employment company Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc According to the survey, 1,263 of the jobs were lost from a total of 17 dot-coms during June. The jobs lost since December co...

While delivering a keynote address at PC Expo on Wednesday, Amazon.com Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos blasted a recent analyst report that the mammoth e-tailer might soon run out of cash The report contributed to a sharp sell-off last Friday, sinking the stock to 33 7/8 -- or less than a third of its all time high of $113 (US$).

In an effort to boost demand for its microprocessors, motherboards and networking products beyond the PC market, Intel announced Tuesday that it plans to spend $100 million (US$) over the next year to open 15 e-business centers throughout the world The new "Intel Solution Centers" will provide hardware, software, lab-testing equipment, and engineer...

Compaq Computer Corp. (NYSE: CPQ) announced Tuesday that it will partner with PacifiCare Health Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: PHSY) to develop a new Internet company that will focus on welcoming seniors into the digital age The new entitity, to be called SeniorCo, will be an expansion of PacifiCare's existing Senior.com.

Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq NM: ORCL) admitted Tuesday to hiring a detective firm to investigate groups that came out in public support of Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq NM: MSFT) during its antitrust battle with the U.S. government The admission, released in a prepared statement by the world's second-largest software firm, confirmed that the company hired Inves...

Recently, when the U.S. Congress passed a bill giving digital signatures the same legal weight as old-fashioned pen-and-ink signatures, the concept of a paperless world once again reared its intriguing head After all, the likes of Palm and Handspring are mustering every bit of energy possible to relieve the average person of their paper organizer, ...

The "Global New E-Economy Index," a cyber atlas that maps the technological vitality of 47 nations based on five digital economy factors, was published Tuesday by IT research firm Meta Group According to study author Howard Rubin, Ph.D., "Traditional, industrial-age measures of production and performance have lost relevance in the information age.