E-Commerce

Google Chairman Eric Schmidt and VP of commerce Stephanie Tilenius have announced the launch of Google Offers' beta program, which will kick off in Portland, Ore., starting on Wednesday. The very first Google Offer will be for a Portland local favorite, Floyd's Coffee. Those with coupons will pay $3...

The development and adoption of e-commerce strategies for established businesses has become a given over the past few years. It seems appropriate to say that we have crossed a line where the question of, "Should a business have an e-commerce strategy?" has been replaced with, "When will a business h...

An end to Sony's PlayStation woes is presumably in sight: The company has announced it will restore full functionality to the PlayStation Store by the end of this week. That includes in-game commerce, the ability for players to redeem vouchers and codes, and full functionality of Music Unlimited as...

The official vision of the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace is a government-coordinated, private-sector initiative to increase the security of the Internet. In their words: "Individuals and organizations utilize secure, efficient, easy-to-use, and interoperable identity solutio...

PayPal and its parent eBay have filed a lawsuit against Google over mobile payments, in the wake of Google's announcement Thursday of its new e-wallet services. The suit personally names two Google executives as defendants. It also names another 50 defendants as "John Does," meaning the plaintiff do...

Mobile-connected devices allow users to browse where desktop computers can't go, thus increasing the amount of online connectivity for many consumers. This could make a major difference in how marketers choose to reach consumers online. A Nielson report released last week details just how customers ...

Amazon has reached a momentum milestone: Its customers are purchasing more Kindle books than print books -- hardcover and paperback combined. This day was clearly coming. In July 2010, Kindle book sales surpassed hardcover sales. By December of that year, Kindle books overtook paperback books, beco...

If the Internet is the equivalent of our solar system, then Netflix would be Jupiter, its largest planet. That, at least, is the imagery that Sandvine evokes in its latest report, "Global Internet Phenomena Spotlight." Netflix has ascended to the No. 1 Internet traffic spot, the firm found, accounti...

There was a time when businesses names were simply picked out of a hat, literally, and often very successfully. Later, the complexity of the marketplace boosted the name lists to such huge quantities that they had to use larger drums. This is how most business names came about, and on that note, the...

Google has set aside a cool half-billion dollars to cover any penalties related to AdWords postings for illegal drugs. The search giant reportedly is nearing a settlement with the DoJ in a criminal investigation into allegations it made hundreds of millions of dollars by accepting ads from online ph...

No doubt you've heard the term "Net neutrality." Proponents and opponents have much to say on this topic. However, many Internet users don't even know what it means, or how it will affect them. What is Net neutrality? "Net neutrality" is short for "network neutrality" or "Internet neutrality." The c...

You may not know it, unless a friend or relative has had treatment for breast cancer, but it is the little things that can kill you during recovery -- or at least make you very sick. Little things as in commercial brands of toothpaste or mouthwash. A patient undergoing chemotherapy must use medicina...

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced Tuesday that Bing will become the default search engine and mapping application on Research In Motion's BlackBerry platform. Ballmer unveiled news of the team-up during an apparently unexpected appearance at the BlackBerry World conference, being held in Florida...

Online video has come a long way in a short period of time. In the last year alone, the use of video on websites has moved from an interesting anomaly to a critical feature that boosts search engine result standings, increases stickiness and improves conversion rates. The number of companies making ...

A long list of companies -- including big names such as Amazon, Dish Network, Wal-Mart, Best Buy and YouTube -- appear to be gearing up to enter the online video rental business. Of course, they all have visions of eventually overtaking the current market leader Netflix. It makes sense. Streaming vi...