E-Commerce

You can thank Google for raising your online customers' search expectations through the roof. The 900-lb. gorilla of Internet search delivers such quality results -- in just tenths of a second, as the results page tells you -- that online shoppers won't settle for anything less than blindingly fast ...

Today's consumer is smarter than yesterday's consumer, and with the technology available to make educated purchasing decisions efficiently and quickly, Web-savvy buyers are making the most of the tools they have at their disposal. Online reviews are permeating the Web in all shapes and sizes, from r...

Gannett has increased its stake in CareerBuilder, acquiring another 10 percent of the Web site from the Tribune Company for $135 million. Gannett now has a 50.8 percent controlling interest in the site. Other stakeholders are the Tribune, now with 30.8 percent, The McClatchy Company, with 14.4 perce...

The Payment Card Industry regulation changes that take affect Oct. 1 will mean some additional work by IT departments -- and some new spending. But the PCI Data Security Standard version 1.2 will allow the Payment Card Industry a phase-in period to meet the new rules, according to two security firms...

Internet radio station operators are concerned that skyrocketing royalty fees could zap an industry that's still in its infancy. However, technology may be bringing some solutions to the vexing problem of paying artists a royalty fee each time a listener hears a song. It just may take some time -- a...

In a move that's left some observers scratching their heads, Microsoft has acquired a German comparison shopping site, Ciao, for $486 million in cash. Ciao, which is owned by Wilton, Conn.-based Greenfield Online, provides consumer reviews and ratings as well as comparative prices from e-commerce co...

RedTag.com, a discount online retail site, launches today with a $1.95 shipping charge on all orders, one of the lowest such rates in the industry. RedTag.com joins the likes of discount retail sites such as Overstock.com, which sells retailers' excess inventory at a fraction of the price that other...

No one can say what 27-year-old Kevin Cogill expected when he apparently posted nine songs from an unreleased and long-awaited Guns N' Roses album called "Chinese Democracy" to his Web site earlier this summer. It could have been anything from monetary gain to a desire to be the first to distribute ...

A federal judge in San Jose, Calif., has thrown out a copyright infringement lawsuit launched by Io Group against Veoh Networks. Io Group, which also does business under the name Titan Media, produces adult video content. Veoh is a site similar to YouTube where users can upload and watch user-genera...

Who would like to bid the highest amount for the exclusive global rights to the new domain suffix, .dubai, under ICANN's latest policy? Such a suffix will create a powerful domain root that will corner some 180 services underneath it, like go.dubai, hotel.dubai, job.dubai, cars.dubai or fly.dubai. W...

Congress has become increasingly interested in the privacy implications of behavioral marketing. This summer, the Senate has held hearings, and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce has followed the charge by seeking more information from Internet service providers and technology companies reg...

Microsoft's upcoming Internet Explorer 8 will offer a new set of privacy features designed to give users more control over personal information, the company has revealed. The "InPrivate" feature will build in options for turning off history and cookie collection and will also allow users to see what...

Chipmaker Broadcom has agreed to acquire Advanced Micro Devices' digital television chip business for $192.8 million. About 530 AMD employees will join Irvine, Calif.-based Broadcom after the transaction closes, which is expected to take place sometime during the fiscal quarter ending Dec. 31. AMD i...

In 2005, as Web content was beginning to grow more dynamic and audiences more sophisticated, Benjamin Wayne hatched the idea of offering video delivery services to companies for their Web sites. The result was Fliqz, which counts among its clients Monster.com, PBWiki and Friendster. The E-Commerce T...

Google and Verizon are nearing a deal that would make Google the default search engine on all Verizon mobile devices. The two companies would split advertising revenue from the new mobile search service. The tie-up is important for Verizon "because Google has 70 percent share of the search market on...