E-Commerce

A new mode of movie ownership is briskly emerging -- one which someday may challenge the hegemony of the digital videodisc (DVD). During the last few weeks, Hollywood debuted two films, "King Kong," and "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," via a new media, broadband, Internet-based "download-to-ow...

The United States is still the top spam-relaying country, but Asia could soon dethrone it as the spam king, a new study says. Sophos' latest "Dirty Dozen" report on the top 12 spam-relaying countries during the first quarter of 2006 concludes that the United States is still sending more spam than an...

Leading e-tailer Amazon.com and top online wireless re-seller InPhonic said they have struck an agreement to make InPhonic's Wirefly the exclusive third-party seller of mobile plans and services on the Amazon site. Starting in the third quarter, InPhonic will become the first third party provider of...

For years, one of the biggest struggles many Internet companies faced was figuring out how to convince Web users to turn over their hard-earned money for content -- content that many believed was freely available elsewhere. Whether it was music -- paid downloads versus file-swapping -- classified-st...

Google has upgraded its search appliance line, bringing to the enterprise the concept of "OneBox" search to help expedite Web searches. Google also added several key partners as it seeks to beef up its product line aimed at big businesses and organizations. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company pl...

The Hispanic market has been riding the headlines for the past couple of years as one of the fastest growing sectors of marketing. According to the third annual AOL/Roper U.S. Hispanic Cyberstudy, Hispanics are entering cyberspace at a rapid pace with over 14 million U.S Hispanics online. Yet the c...

Digital video recorder maker TiVo has won a jury verdict finding that rival EchoStar has been infringing on a "time warping" patent that is at the core of the DVR technology. A jury in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Texas found EchoStar has "willfully" infringed on TiVo's patent, set...

Paramount Pictures and Microsoft on Wednesday entered into a partnership to push the movie studio's trailers into the software giant's Xbox Live service. Dubbed the Xbox Movie Showcase, the service will feature free, high-definition, downloadable content from two of the most highly anticipated films...

Amid controversy over digital download music prices, an Anglo-Italian band is making its own headlines -- and a bit of history -- by releasing Britain's first "mobile only" single. Planet Funk will release the single "Stop Me" on May 8 over mobile media company 3's network. Planet Funk is hopping on...

Google has gobbled up yet another technology -- this time from a computer science student Down Under. Google bought a new search algorithm created by Ori Allon, a 26-year-old Israeli Ph.D. student from the University of New South Wales in Australia. Allon patented a new way of exploring the Web that...

Netflix on Tuesday filed a patent infringement suit against Blockbuster alleging the bricks-and-mortar movie rental chain illegally copied its ideas. Netflix is seeking a court order that would force Blockbuster to change its online rental processes and pay patent royalties. The complaint was filed ...

Time Warner said it officially changed the name for its Internet service and portal, saying America Online will now be known by its longtime nickname, AOL. The America Online moniker is being retired after some 15 years, during which time it became synonymous with Internet access for millions of ...

E-mail marketers anxious to see that their opt-in mailings are not mistaken for spam are finally seeing brighter days, new research suggests. While the journey to the customer's inbox is getting easier, however, passive marketers will face tough challenges from smart competitors who are quickly lear...

In response to advertising industry concerns over Internet security, MySpace.com has removed 200,000 "objectionable" profiles from its social network. The site erased profiles containing risque or hate speech content. Ross Levinsohn, president of MySpace parent company News Corp.'s Internet division...

Google continues to tinker with the concept of monetizing its popular maps feature through advertising. What is new about its latest initiative is that icons for advertisers are embedded in the maps. When clicked, a pop-up ad appears with additional information about the advertiser, including its lo...