E-Commerce

If you're low on cash it doesn't mean you can't get what you want or need. "You can barter literally anything," said Karen Hoffman, who along with former business journalist Shera Dalin authored the new book The Art of Barter: How to Trade for Almost Anything. The book outlines how individuals and b...

Streaming video provider Hulu may be moving to a subscription model. That's according to a report in the Los Angeles Times and a host of online rumors. The plan, which reportedly would be rolled out at about $10 per month, would cover episodes of television shows older than the last five -- an archi...

Accountability is essential for any company that wants to be successful. Without it, there is no way to know whether what you're doing is working or could be done better. In the competitive world of Internet retailing, razor-thin margins and fickle consumers make it even more important to ensure ...

Facebook may be preparing to roll out a "universal Like button" that Web site owners can place on their pages to share content with other members of the social networking site, according to reports in two media outlets Monday. However, an even more significant rollout may still be in the offing, acc...

Roughly six months before it bought YouTube, did Google actually share the view of the online video site that other copyright owners had -- that it was a repository for illegally uploaded content? Does Viacom have a smoking gun against Google/YouTube, and does it come in the form of statements from ...

In the midst of a dispute with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over control of the airwaves, a group of broadcast companies announced a joint venture to develop a national mobile content service -- that is, "mobile TV." Including television broadcasting heavyweights such as NBC and Fox, ...

The FCC believes it has the authority to implement its National Broadband Plan -- a wide-ranging initiative that calls for nationwide Internet services, greater availability of wireless connectivity, and improved rural access to such services -- despite a recent court ruling that clouds the issue. T...

Seagate and Paramount Digital Entertainment have launched a limited promotion for a Seagate portable hard drive that has been on the market for about a year-and-a-half -- they are now offering it preloaded with Paramount movies. The 21 movies preloaded on the 500 GB FreeAgent Go can be viewed only a...

Twitter's No. 1 focus is now on revenue, and the social-networking Web site wants to reassure software developers that they will get a piece of the growing pie. At Twitter's first-ever conference for developers -- the Chirp conference being held in San Franscisco on Wednesday and Thursday -- the yo...

Google isn't the only entity taking an interest in Twitter's tweets. That most venerable of government institutions, the Library of Congress, announced Wednesday it will archive every single "what's happening?" update broadcast on the short message service since it opened for business in 2006. Grant...

After months of questions about how Twitter plans on making money, the short message service and social media phenomenon on Tuesday launched its first foray into advertising. However, in doing so, the company made it clear that traditional corporate interests would take a back seat to overall custom...

Twitter has made a number of moves in the past few days that have jangled the nerves of third-party developers who fear the micro-blogging site is about to make a big push into their territory. For starters, Twitter has acquired Atebits, the maker of Tweetie, a Twitter client for the iPhone. Twitter...

Comcast's federal circuit court victory over the Federal Communications Commission this week appears to have thrown a wide range of federal-level Internet plans into question. Only three weeks ago, the FCC announced its National Broadband Plan, with ambitious initiatives aimed at making high-speed ...

Egged on by the chairman of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, the Federal Trade Commission may be considering an effort to block Google's $750 million purchase of mobile advertising firm AdMob. The FTC reportedly is assembling a team of attorneys to h...

The expected spinoff of subscription music service Rhapsody from parent company RealNetworks has arrived, and it could be a good thing for both parent and child. The formal decoupling, announced in February, was completed March 31 but announced in a regulatory filing released on Tuesday. Real, which...