Articles by

My former life includes stints as an anchorman for local TV stations. At no time did my employment contracts state that I actually had to like my coanchors. I figured if I didn't, it would show on the air, and there wouldn't be any more contracts. A favorite guessing game I play since leaving the business: Do the anchors I'm watching look like the...

For people who may not be clear about the dangers of texting while walking, exercising or driving, the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) issued a warning this week advising avid texters to resist the urge to read or send messages when engaged in another activity Emergency room physicians are seeing an increasing number of injuries -- ...

Sun Microsystems continues to struggle The Santa Clara, Calif.-based server maker reported that earnings in the quarter ended June 30 fell nearly 74 percent to US$88 million, compared with earnings of $329 million during the same period a year ago. Quarterly revenue fell 1.4 percent to $3.78 billion, down from $3.83 billion during the same period i...

Forget about forgetfulness: IBM scientists have come up with a high-tech way to help you remember every name, face and phone number you encounter. The technology -- named "Pensieve," in a nod to the magical memory machine from the Harry Potter series -- uses data from your mobile devices to build and store connections from your day-to-day experiences...

Motorola performed better than analysts had expected in Q2, delivering net earnings of US$4 million on Thursday. Revenue was $8.1 billion, beating expectations by Wall Street analysts of $7.5 billion for the handset manufacturer Motorola's Home and Networks Mobility and Enterprise Mobility Solutions segments were among the best performing divisions...

Cuil, the new search engine created by a team that included a couple of former Google execs, launched this week. However, just a few hours after it went live, it seemed as though Cuil's dive into the search engine pool was more like a belly flop, judging by a sizable number of reports and reviews Cuil says it's capable of providing more relevant re...

A recent advertising campaign has eBay exhorting consumers to "Shop Victoriously," and, it's true, winning an online auction can be fun. My recent score -- vintage hand carders to process wool for spinning, won for a mere US$15 -- was a hoot. I got solid tools for an obscure craft at less than one-third the price they cost new. On the other hand, ...

So you're looking for medical advice. Would you: a) call your doctor, b) consult a medical journal or c) go to a wiki? Perhaps surprisingly, many people are beginning to go the wiki route. At least, they're starting with wikis, and maybe after that they're calling their doctors, reading journals, or otherwise getting second and third opinions. And...

Consumers have embraced digital media, primarily content such as music, photos and video. They generate their own content, transfer their analog data to digital formats, and download media from the Internet. The percentage of U.S. households with platforms for image and video capture, as well as music playback, has grown significantly in the past ...

If the Chinese government isn't careful, its forthcoming Beijing Olympics could rival the 1936 and 1968 Summer Games for infamy and a message that ultimately backfires on the host country That warning comes from human rights groups and Internet free speech advocacy organizations following news this week that Beijing would restrict Internet use for ...

Hope springs anew for the more than 500,000 "Scrabulous" fans mourning the demise of their beloved Facebook game. Jayant and Rajat Agarwalla have launched a "new" word game, "Wordscraper." The new game, which bears a striking resemblance to its banned predecessor, made its Facebook debut as early as Tuesday -- the same day "Scrabulous" was removed ...

Search engine giant Google is setting up a new venture capital arm and has hired William Maris, a 33-year-old former entrepreneur, to help coordinate the venture fund, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal Google "does not comment on market rumor or speculation" company spokesperson Andrew Pederson told the E-Commerce Times in an e-mail ...

Movie fans will soon have yet another way to get online content through their televisions. Netflix has signed a deal to offer video streaming through a new LG Blu-ray DVD player. The device marks Netflix' third online-to-TV partnership and will be the industry's first Blu-ray system to offer instant streaming The set-top box -- named the "LG BD300...

Storage vendor Fabrik has introduced an external hard drive with a manufacturing process focused on reducing its impact on the environment. Fabrik claims its SimpleTech [re]drive is the world's most eco-friendly hard drive....

Alfresco Software announced Thursday the availability of Alfresco Labs version 3, an open source alternative to Microsoft's enterprise content management (ECM) software SharePoint Formerly called "Alfresco Community," Alfresco Labs 3 offers users the first open source fully compatible SharePoint repository. With Alfresco Labs 3, companies can lever...

For the last few years, it's been easier to sack New England quarterback Tom Brady than to get the National Football League (NFL) thinking about a more progressive Internet strategy. "They've been very dictatorial about the amount of content you can put on your Web site," Gartner Digital Media Analyst Allen Weiner told the E-Commerce Times. Other sports leagues have run laps around the NFL with their digital offerings...

Beginning on Friday, Reuters can no longer use a critical piece of technology in its widely used Reuters Messaging Network, a court ruled Wednesday Instead, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York entered judgment in favor of FaceTime Communications, owner of the instant messaging (IM) technology, in its contract disp...

New directories are a valuable tool for Web sites that need that extra boost in search engine ranking or in their number of visitors. They make for a great way to increase Web exposure and expand your Web site's advertising. Since many of the top Web directories are quite expensive and take time to be edited, I have made a list of the benefits that can be acquired through new directories.

You just launched a new interactive ad campaign and corresponding landing page. You discussed the page design with your team. You know your customers. You've built out the landing page to meet their expectations and be consistent with the campaign. All done, right? Businesses undercut the potential success of their online campaigns all the time.

In this heated battle for the consumer dollar, retail marketers are looking to establish a personal and consistent relationship with shoppers through integrated customer loyalty programs that leverage traditional offline and emerging communications channels. Not surprisingly, it can be overwhelming for retailers to figure out where to start The suc...