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Overstock.com is a retail site that, similar to Amazon.com, sells products in just about any consumer category, from clothes to electronics to home goods to furniture. Not surprisingly, it hid a major skid last fall when the U.S. economy went into seizure. "We were growing 27 percent through the first part of the year," CEO Patrick Byrne told the ...

Overstock.com is a retail site that, similar to Amazon.com, sells products in just about any consumer category, from clothes to electronics to home goods to furniture. Not surprisingly, it hid a major skid last fall when the U.S. economy went into seizure. "We were growing 27 percent through the first part of the year," CEO Patrick Byrne told the ...

Increasing contact center efficiency has always been a clear path to cutting costs, regardless of economic conditions. Increasing productivity and doing more with existing resources are now more important than ever, but cutting call center costs does not have to result in poorer customer service Unfortunately, many contact center professionals in t...

Part 1 of this two-part series discusses ways to transition into Linux without leaving Windows behind all at once Six months ago, I began a self-imposed experiment to see if I couldsurvive leaving Windows XP behind. After all, despite its flaws anddecade-old technology, the aging Microsoft OS had served me well. However,I decided to skip Windows 7 ...

For those interested in longevity, July was a good news month. Recently published research in the journal Science shows that caloric restriction helps monkeys live longer and healthier, while a parallel study demonstrated the possibility that a drug could mimic this process. Clearly, new technologies aimed at lengthening and improving human health...

Microsoft's been working hard to build a positive buzz around the release to manufacturing (RTM) of Windows 7, but there remain a few flies in the ointment Many enterprises may decide to wait until the first service pack comes out in about six months before moving to Windows 7. Also, complaints have already been popping up on the Windows Team Blog ...

Amazon is making its biggest acquisition yet, having inked an agreement to acquire online shoe retailer Zappos for close to US$900 million in stock and cash. Under the terms of the agreement, Amazon will acquire Zappos shares in exchange for approximately 10 million shares of Amazon common stock, valued at approximately $807 million. It will also provide Zappos employees with $40 million in cash and restricted stock units. The deal is expected to close this fall...

Cloud computing and Software as a Service (SaaS) have emerged as the hot new technology trends in 2009. Companies from Microsoft to Big Blue to Oracle have announced their intentions to move away from their lucrative and proprietary models to address this fundamental shift in how software is delivered. The shift is not just hype: Microsoft reporte...

It has been a year since the city of San Francisco was held hostage because a city network administrator, Terry Childs, allegedly locked down the city's IT system through a privileged account. Yet today, even with the heightened awareness created by this headline incident, companies continue to struggle, as evidenced by the Fannie Mae and Quantum Technology Partners cases, to protect access to their key systems and resources and reduce the risk of data breaches. Why? ...

If you want to splash around in Google Wave right now -- the search giant's new real-time communication/collaboration tool that received plenty of tech press hype during a May unveiling -- then you have to be a developer with access to the API (application programming interface). However, that will change on Sept. 30, when Google will let 100,000 curious users take Wave for a test swim...

A report issued jointly by The Partnership for Public Service and consultants Booz Allen Hamilton asserts the U.S. federal government is, in essence, not prepared to cope with cyberattacks The problem boils down to a lack of enough skilled people, government administrative quagmire, outmoded approaches, and deficiencies in communication....

Yahoo is reportedly on the brink of acquiring Xoopit, a Firefox extension that lets users share content from their email accounts with social networks. Xoopit works with both Gmail and Yahoo Mail. It can send photos, videos, Web addresses, attachments and links to photo-sharing sites like Flickr or Picasa Xoopit will be acquired for US$20 million, ...

Maintaining the network. Ensuring remote users have access to resources. Updating virus definitions. Troubleshooting email problems. Any number of IT issues can arise on a daily basis. So does it make sense for small businesses to hire a full-time IT staffer or outsource their IT needs? That depends. Weighing the pros and cons in both scena...

What a summer for remembrances. Forty years ago, a couple of people landed on the moon, and a half-million of them landed on Max Yasgur's farm in upstate New York for the Woodstock festival. [*correction] That might sound like ancient history, but of course without the space program, who knows where the technology industry would be today. The pe...

If you want to reach Jim Walden by email, you'll have to ping him atwork. Three months ago, he ditched his personal emailaccount because he was concerned about the security implications. Walden knows security. He's currently the cochair of the white collar practice at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and once served as chief of the computer crimes and inte...

Barnes & Noble is taking another stab at the e-book market with its announcement on Monday that it is launching a new store for e-literature The bookstore will offer e-books on the Plastic Logic e-reader device. Customers can also read their purchases using proprietary eReader software for the iPhone and iPod touch, BlackBerry smartphones and Windo...

Barnes & Noble is taking another stab at the e-book market with its announcement on Monday that it is launching a new store for e-literature The bookstore will offer e-books on the Plastic Logic e-reader device. Customers can also read their purchases using proprietary eReader software for the iPhone and iPod touch, BlackBerry smartphones and Windo...

Barnes & Noble is taking another stab at the e-book market with its announcement on Monday that it is launching a new store for e-literature The bookstore will offer e-books on the Plastic Logic e-reader device. Customers can also read their purchases using proprietary eReader software for the iPhone and iPod touch, BlackBerry smartphones and Windo...

Third-party applications and customization features take center stage on Yahoo's new homepage as the company rolled out the beta version of its redesign for U.S. users Tuesday Actually, "center stage" isn't quite accurate; the long list of colorful icons for Facebook, MySpace, eBay and HotJobs, along with Yahoo's homegrown services like Mail and Me...

Last month, the E-Commerce Times published a two-part series on the tax controversies being fought around the U.S. by online travel companies (OTCs) such as Expedia, Hotels.com, Orbitz, Pricelineand Travelocity. Part 1 describes the e-commerce tax landscape and delves into the reasons all players are not equal.Part 2 explores some of the court cas...