E-Commerce

In advertising, the focus is on getting across a clear message to consumers. The Federal Trade Commission's message to advertisers in its staff report released Thursday regarding online consumer data collection was laser-like in its clarity: Get busy with protecting privacy, or the government will d...

Struggling Sirius XM Radio stock shot up nearly 30 percent to 7 cents per share in mid-day trading Thursday on rumors that a bidding war was about to ensue between rival satellite television players EchoStar and Liberty Media. EchoStar owns the Dish Network and Liberty Media owns a controlling inter...

IBM and Amazon Web Services have inked an agreement to offer Big Blue's software through Amazon's cloud offering. Over the next few months, software images for full production of some of IBM's most popular software will launch in beta. IBM, of course, has a well-established footprint in the cloud an...

Small businesses have been reluctant to spend precious resources on a marketing medium that traditionally has not delivered -- at least to them -- on its promise. That medium is search engine marketing. However, they will find it worthwhile to take another look at this particular tactic. A lot of lo...

For a long time, small businesses were reluctant to embrace the latest in search engine marketing and other online advertising tactics. The SEM industry was unable to deliver to this group of typically local-interest, cost-conscious companies what they wanted the most: a means to assess how their in...

You know Amazon's Kindle has arrived as a consumer electronics product -- and pop culture talking-point -- when Stephen King makes the electronic book reader a major character in one of his forthcoming works. King was on stage at New York's Morgan Library on Monday when Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos turned ...

Microsoft launched a beta version of a new celebrity gossip site Thursday called "Wonderwall.com." The new site is loaded with pictures of celebrities that visitors can click on to read news stories, features and commentary about the stars. For example, Wonderwall.com on Thursday displayed a zany ...

No matter where one turns on the Internet these days, it's virtually impossible to avoid being bombarded by advertising in one form or another. Banner ads. Video ads. Display ads. Search engine marketing. Ads on MySpace. Ads on Facebook. The only area of the Web left untouched by advertising may be ...

Search engine powerhouse Google has decided to sell its decaying 5 percent equity stake in struggling Internet portal AOL just two years after investing $1 billion in the company. AOL parent Time Warner disclosed Google's decision on Wednesday -- the same day Time Warner announced fourth-quarter fin...

The hunger for moving pictures, like a global conspiracy or an underground movement, has almost killed still imagery. Every marketing or propaganda message now has to move in dimensions or it will be considered boring or dead. This change has already made a very positive impact on screen-based mediu...

Not content to essentially dominate online book sales -- not to mention a slew of other merchandise categories -- Amazon.com launched a new game download service Tuesday. Aimed at casual gamers, the e-tailer's new Game Downloads store offers users more than 600 downloadable PC games, all priced for ...

In 2004 the term "Web 2.0" was originated by O'Reilly Media. The "2.0" means that this is the second generation of Web usage. Web 2.0 has created a variety of new and innovative ways to promote Web sites using social bookmarking, social networking, blogging, wikis, RSS Feeds and video feeds. These a...

Thomas Friedman, in his 2005 book, "The World is Flat," introduced a concept he calls "triple convergence." Three key factors, he says, help businesses take advantage of the new technologies available: Increased connectivity and collaboration, increased capabilities in a single device, and process a...

The U.S. Postal Service is thinking of curtailing deliveries. Postmaster General John Potter asked Congress on Wednesday to allow the postal service to go to a five-day delivery week in an effort to cut costs and bring ballooning operating deficits under control. The postal service has been hit hard...

Google has been outspoken on the subject of Net neutrality: It does not want to see Internet service providers limit accessibility based on pricing or other criteria. Now, it is offering consumers the tools to observe firsthand how encumbered their Internet access can be if an ISP prioritizes conten...