Business

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has revealed it has been working with attorneys general in 29 states to enforce existing fraud laws against auction scammers. Known as "Operation Bidder Beware," the effort already has resulted in 57 criminal and civil actions. "Having state and federal agencies co...

At the one-year mark of the giant HP-Compaq merger, the combined company appears to be doing better than expected, Forrester analyst Rob Enderle told the E-Commerce Times, despite recent reports that HP has lost the top spot in the PC marketplace to Dell. But even though the merger gets a mostly cle...

Onetime Internet darling Akamai's stock hit a 52-week high Tuesday. At $2.75 per share, the price is hardly stratospheric. This dreary reality is a far cry from the days when the company first became closely identified with the infrastructure of the Net. However, even though Akamai's sizzle has cool...

Optimism that venture funding had ended its three-year freefall late last year was replaced with a cold dose of reality in the first quarter as venture capitalists kept purse strings drawn tight, pushing funding levels to a five-year low. Nationwide, venture investors sunk $3.8 billion into up-and-c...

Spammers, perhaps the most hated denizens of the Internet, are under siege as the U.S. Congress and courts step up the pressure to reduce junk e-mail volume. Private companies are taking action, too: AOL announced on April 15th that it was filing lawsuits against five individual senders of unsolicit...

Setting aside their natural competitive impulses, AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo have announced they will work together to fight the flood of unwanted commercial e-mail cluttering their customers' inboxes. The move comes as the FTC prepares to convene an anti-spam forum in Washington, D.C., and as propose...

On the road to launching a new e-business Web site, all companies budget for obvious costs -- planning, designing, registering and hosting the site -- but if you are not careful, hidden expenses could overwhelm you on the journey. How much does an e-commerce site really cost to launch and maintain? ...

Amazon.com has trimmed its fiscal losses, posted its first non-holiday quarter with more than $1 billion in sales, and raised its revenue forecast for full-year 2003, providing further grist for investors who seem increasingly optimistic about long-battered Internet stocks. The company's loss totale...

As Microsoft ramps up its Windows Server 2003 launch, enterprises large and small are trying to decide whether to upgrade to the new platform. Analysts interviewed for part 1 of this article agreed that, on the whole, the new OS is solid, stable and offers useful features. But "that doesn't mean the...

Adding another weapon to its technology arsenal in the ongoing search engine wars, Google has acquired privately held Applied Semantics, which sells targeted ad softare, for an undisclosed sum. One of Applied Semantics' longtime customers is Google competitor Overture. The acquisition comes on the h...

After much waiting and ample fanfare, Microsoft finally is launching its Windows Server 2003 platform -- and it may be the company's best-ever operating system, according to Forrester analyst Rob Enderle. "If it weren't for the economy, this thing would likely set sales records," he told the E-Comme...

In another step toward a more open approach to selling its software, Microsoft has agreed to change its licensing agreement, bringing itself into compliance with earlier court rulings and making it easier and cheaper for other firms to make compatible products. The changes will become available for ...

When it comes to choosing a database, size matters -- not so much the size of the database, but the size of the company. Whereas medium to large companies generally select a complex database and then task administrators and developers with building applications around it, small businesses usually ...

Even as AOL faces intense scrutiny surrounding an ongoing SEC investigation into possible revenue misstatements, the company is moving ahead with marketing initiatives designed to appeal to its members and partner retailers. One such event, a one-day sale April 16th that highlighted some of the ISP'...

Intel faces a tough environment, marked by renewed competition from rivals AMD and Transmeta, sluggish sales of PCs, and skyrocketing Pentium speeds for which no mortal can find a use. With the tech world focused on buying less costly gear, is the world's foremost chipmaker in the twilight of its re...