E-Commerce

Spending on online video advertising will soar throughout this decade with sales predicted to break the billion dollar barrier in 2008, according to a report released this month by research aggregator eMarketer. This year outlays for Net video ads grew more than 82 percent over 2005, to some US$410...

As the holiday shopping season approaches, most large retailers have already locked down their Web sites as they prepare for a profitable ride. Nonetheless, e-tailers should keep an eye on their search strategies -- and change what is not working -- en route to seasonal sales. Experts recommend cust...

With the Web industry watching closely as it tries to navigate the treacherous waters of online copyright law, Google is facing a lawsuit from a French company that says the search engine did more than just help users find an online copy of its film. Paris-based Flach Film is alleging copyright viol...

Cyber Monday, the recently nicknamed kick-off to the online shopping season, arrived to heavy fanfare Monday and appeared to be greeted by millions of eager and ready-to-buy shoppers, many of whom got the ball rolling early by jumping online last week. Cyber Monday was largely invented by the online...

Sterling Commerce, an AT&T subsidiary, last week acquired e-commerce platform provider Comergent for US$155 million in cash -- further evidence of the rapid development and consolidation taking place in the B2C and B2B market sectors. The merger offers AT&T an opportunity to cross-sell the e...

Throughout history, broad groups of species have undergone periods of rapid evolution and radiation. The same can be said today of digital music technology. From MP3 streaming and live Web simulcasting to the emergence of iPods and the numerous other brands of MP3 player/recorders, to music clips an...

Disney jumped into the video-on-demand cable arena on Tuesday in a mega deal with Comcast. The long-term distribution agreement, which includes 10 ABC-owned broadcast television stations and the Disney networks, extends the Disney-Comcast relationship into the next decade. The deal will see hit prog...

Some 80 percent of American Internet users say they'll be buying gifts online this holiday season, according to an AOL Shopping/Zogby poll released Tuesday. The same percentage of Web users, the surveyors found, say they'll be spending the same or more than last year on online gifts. What's more, 24...

In the retail world, Black Friday has long been a red-letter day on the calendar. The Friday after Thanksgiving, while not always the busiest shopping day of the year, is notable for kicking off the mad-dash toward the finish line of the holiday season. In the world of e-commerce, Cyber Monday has q...

Unveiling a scaled-down version of its ID management software, IBM on Monday tapped into what it sees as a growing demand among SMBs for online collaboration and secure transactions with trading partners. IBM Tivoli Federated Identity Manager Business Gateway will allow authorized SMB users to secur...

Gift-givers with deep pockets who want to impress those on their holiday lists may have another luxury item to consider along with jewelry and plasma televisions: For the first time, a single share of Google stock now costs more than US$500. Shares of the search giant's stock broke the $500 mark ear...

The California Supreme Court on Monday ruled that ISPs and Internet publishers cannot be sued for posting or distributing libelous material written by others. At issue in the ACLU v. Gonzales case was the Child Online Protection Act, which would impose criminal sanctions for posting content deemed h...

The holiday shopping predictions are in. Forester Research reports online retail sales this holiday season will reach US$27 billion in the United States alone. JupiterResearch is a little more optimistic, adding $5 billion more to that cheery figure. Jupiter further predicts that a record 114 millio...

Striking back against rival Google, Yahoo on Monday inked a deal with seven publishing companies that will allow more than 150 papers to sell ads on its online classified service. The newspaper giants involved in the deal include Belo, Cox Newspapers, Hearst Newspapers, Journal Register, Lee Enterpr...

An explosion of musical and technological innovation is resulting in a profusion of new, cross-cultural musical styles and influences. Digital music technology is the "core enabler" changing the face of the music industry -- as well as the habits and preferences of musicians and listeners around the...