E-Commerce

The privacy requirements of Internet users can vary widely. Some divulge the most personal details of their lives on blogs and social networking sites; others want to remain as anonymous as possible. Users know they have control over what they push onto the Web -- but what about data that portals an...

Ten years after the Internal Revenue Service first flipped the switch on electronic tax filing, key lawmakers said Monday the time has come to make e-filing free for all taxpayers -- a move that could cost software makers millions in annual revenues. Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, and Se...

Adobe may still enjoy a resounding lead with its Flash rich-media runtime and player, but Microsoft appears to be gradually gaining ground with its Silverlight application platform. At the National Association of Broadcasters Show 2008 in Las Vegas, Microsoft on Monday announced a raft of new compan...

In a surprise move that could reshape the consumer electronics and movie rental industries, Blockbuster went public Monday with an offer to pay as much as $1.3 billion to acquire Circuit City. Blockbuster announced that it made the offer to Circuit City directly on Feb. 17 but went public with it be...

Microsoft has leapt into the brawl surrounding a recent proposal by the Federal Trade Commission to tighten restrictions on online advertising, responding with its own five-tiered plan for self-regulation. In December, the FTC released a set of proposed principles to "guide the development of self-r...

Lyris, best known for its e-mail advertising services, has launched a portal meant to give online marketers a place to foster community and learn from one another. Lyris plans to formally launch the LyrisHQ portal at the Ad:tech conference next week. The site is already live, offering content and in...

MySpace on Thursday announced a new partnership with ShineReveille International under which original content developed for MySpaceTV will be distributed internationally. The information was revealed at the MIPTV conference in Cannes, France. Under the plan, online shows such as "Prom Queen," "Quart...

Military gear that could be used in terrorist operations is showing up on eBay and Craigslist, and some lawmakers are calling for action. In response to the House Subcommittee on Security and National Affairs' request to investigate online sales of sensitive military equipment, the Government Accoun...

Blockbuster is working on a new movie-streaming and/or downloading service, according to a news report. The reported device apparently would let its customers view movies from a television set-top box similar to the Apple TV or an Xbox 360, both of which can download rentable movies. Such a service ...

As the director of consulting services for a company that makes e-mail marketing software, it probably doesn't surprise you that I'm constantly asked questions about e-mail marketing best practices. One of the most common questions I've been asked is, "What's the best e-mail contact strategy?" No m...

Verizon has filed a lawsuit against Time Warner Cable, claiming that company's advertising gives a false impression about the telecom firm's new fiber optic-based TV service. Verizon filed the suit Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. In it, the company claims ...

Yahoo has launched a limited test of Google's AdSense search advertising service, a move that Microsoft immediately slammed as anticompetitive and one that came amid a flurry of new developments in the Microsoft-Yahoo saga. The test covers no more than 3 percent of the search queries generated from ...

"Every action has an equal and opposite reaction," said Sir Isaac Newton. While he made that observation centuries before the dot-com boom and bust, his words remain quite relevant today. After large corporation executives took advantage of their positions and wreaked financial havoc, the federal go...

Innovative retailers are breaking new ground through the use of cross-channel technologies. These companies are setting the stage for a new retail playing field where cross-channel techniques cannot be ignored. What exactly is cross-channel retail? Cross-channel retail is all about delivering a seam...

An Opinion issued by the influential European Commission Article 29 Data Protection Working Party could have a major impact on the way search engines do business. The group's recommendations include discarding personal search data after six months, giving consumers the right to see data that search ...