E-Commerce

These days, when you hear about downloading music for free, it's usually bad news: a lawsuit from a label, a threat from an ISP, or a crackdown from the government. Now, though, a new startup is turning the tables and encouraging fans to grab all they want -- without paying a single dime. TrueAnthem...

Yahoo announced a change in its targeted advertising privacy policy Friday. Beginning in late August, users will be able to opt out of customized advertising on the company's main page. The move is an expansion of the Internet portal's opt-out program for targeted ads provided by Yahoo on third-part...

Consumer electronics retailing giant Best Buy is coming to an airport near you. With 965 stores in the U.S. alone, Best Buy is already one of the most ubiquitous retail chains in America. Now, the Richfield, Minn.-based company will soon have kiosks peddling electronics gear at major airports in Atl...

Does your business bear legal responsibility to police the infringement of one of your organization's most valuable assets, the company brand, on widely used Internet auction sites like eBay? That all depends on where the electronic commerce is being conducted, based on recently issued, conflicting ...

Search engine giant Google could see a significant write-down in its $1 billion investment in AOL, the company revealed. "We believe our investment in AOL may be impaired," it says in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. "There can be no assurance that impairment charges will not be ...

The U.S. economy is in a funk, but that doesn't mean opportunities for venture investors have dried up. E-commerce is one sector that will see continued growth opportunities even in an economic downturn. In fact, industry observers say growth and revenue opportunities for e-commerce ventures -- such...

Search engine giant Google has launched a new music search service in China that enables users to legally download online music. Music OneBox, which is backed by some of the major global music labels, as well as Chinese basketball star Yao Ming, is available at Chinese music site Top100.cn. Google l...

Google has unveiled Insights for Search, a new tool designed for marketers. One result could be a more attractive and narrowly targeted proposition for online advertisers using Google's AdWords program. Users of Insights for Search can type in a search term to see search volume patterns over time --...

It's no fun shopping alone. That's the theory behind social shopping, a trend that combines social networking with e-commerce. It's a trend that's coming into its own as increasing numbers of online shoppers turn to the sites for fun, companionship, and camaraderie with other shoppers. "Shopping i...

By now, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang must be feeling as though he simply cannot catch a break. He has weathered a succession of setbacks over the past few months, since Microsoft launched its unsuccessful bid to acquire the portal. Now it turns out that he doesn't have as much shareholder support as he thou...

U.S. television programming is moving toward on-demand status, judging from a federal appeals court ruling Monday in favor of Cablevision's proposed network-centric digital video recorder. Concluding a two-year legal battle, U.S. Circuit Court Judge John M. Walker Jr. found that Cablevision's plans ...

Sony has acquired German media giant Bertelsmann's 50 percent stake in Sony BMG Music for $900 million. Bertelsmann gets another $300 million for its share of the cash on Sony BMG's books. Filings with the SEC show that Sony BMG will buy back part of Bertelsmann's stake for $600 million, with anothe...

We've all done it. The holiday season was crazy, the busiest ever. We missed feature lockdown by a mile, cramming in every last bit just as things began to seriously ramp up. The servers went down on Black Friday. A database crash prevented us from processing returns for four agonizing days. Somehow...

The latest ICANN plan to allow the global populace to assemble an entire domain name like www.yourname.yourname as their free choice is a revolutionary and timely decision. This now opens doors to cyber-brands like "my.ibm," "hotel.chicago," "it.jobs," "play.poker," "fly.usa" or "go.dell." Applicant...

By a vote of 3-2, the Federal Communications Commission has sharply rebuked Comcast for its network management practices. It found not only that Comcast's practices were invasive, but also that the company was likely motivated by anticompetitive issues. "The Commission found that Comcast monitors i...