E-Commerce

Microsoft will mark the fifth anniversary of its Xbox Live online gaming site Thursday, and to celebrate, it's offering members of the Xbox Live community a chance to download a free Xbox Live Arcade game. The console maker will also debut a new category of downloadable games, giving Xbox 360 owners...

Service-oriented architecture is a technology that simplifies integration. SOA has received a lot of attention in technology circles over the last few years with both avid supporters and skeptics illuminating the pros and cons of implementing SOA. In many cases, the skeptics pointed out the lack of ...

XM and Sirius on Tuesday took two key steps closer to having their merger finalized as shareholders from both companies gave their blessing to the deal, which is still awaiting regulatory approval. Sirius shareholders voted at a special meeting to amend the company's certificate of incorporation to ...

It's not a comforting thought, but while you're sleeping peacefully, your PC may be hard at work acting as a spam server or peer-to-peer node, providing processing power to a malware network engaging in any of a variety of criminal activities online. Spam is being used by botnet operators in a multi...

Microsoft on Monday announced its intention to buy France-based mobile music services provider Musiwave in a move that could dramatically boost the software giant's presence in the cell phone music space. Redmond reached a deal with Musiwave parent company Openwave Systems that gives it the exclusiv...

Google's search technology may infringe on a patent that was awarded in 1997, a year before the Internet giant's founding, according to a lawsuit filed last week. Northeastern University and Jarg, a Massachusetts startup, which brought the action, say that Kenneth Baclawski, a Northeastern professor...

Shares of E*Trade plummeted more than 50 percent Monday after the online stock brokerage firm backed down from previously announced profit targets, said it would be forced to take more write-downs due to its exposure to the subprime mortgage industry and disclosed it was being investigated by the Se...

Cable TV companies are swarming like angry bees over the Federal Communications Commission's desire to tighten its regulatory grip to spark competition and programming diversity. According to published reports, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin will try to enforce a 1984 rule that would force the cable comp...

The world of commercial radio is getting ever more homogenized, as media giants are running thousands of stations in hundreds of markets with remarkably similar formats and playlists. On the other hand, specialized radio services have begun offering increasingly particular formats and programming op...

In the summer of 1999, I was researching potential software partners for a Web hosting company. I originally thought it would take only a few days to identify the leading vendors in areas ranging from ERP to CRM and e-commerce, but after weeks of research I had barely scratched the surface. While it...

Providence Equity Partners might back away from its $1.2 billion deal to buy Clear Channel Communications' 56 television stations, an agreement announced in April that was supposed to close soon. Confirmation of Providence's sudden case of cold feet came Thursday in a report filed by Clear Channel w...

Each year, financial institutions invest hundreds of millions of dollars in online banking channels in an attempt to meet the increasing customer demand for convenient, reliable access to banking information and products. Failure to complete customer transactions results in wasted investment, and th...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas -- at least on major retailers' Web sites. Banner ads are popping up on major e-commerce sites -- including Amazon.com and Wal-Mart.com -- highlighting top-selling computers, DVDs, toys and consumer electronics items as well as offering hints to help shopp...

AOL will buy the content-targeted advertising specialist Quigo, signaling that an aggressive spending spree meant to make it more of a player in the Internet advertising marketplace may be coming to a close. AOL parent company Time Warner said it had reached a deal to buy the New York-based firm for...

Flanked by landmark partners including Coca-Cola and Microsoft, Facebook on Tuesday unveiled a new advertising system that allows marketers to tap into the power of personal connections on the wildly popular social networking site. Facebook Ads provides a way for businesses to connect with users and...