E-Commerce

Spam e-mail is likely to remain a scourge for Internet users for one simple reason, says a new report -- it still works. A survey by research firm the Radicati Group and messaging security vendors Mirapoint found that some 11 percent of Web users had purchased a product by clicking through on spam e...

Microsoft came up with a hulking win in the gaming world today, announcing that it had cemented exclusive rights to develop and publish multiplayer, online games using Marvel super heroes. No financial terms were released. Marvel's lineup includes the "Hulk," "Spider-Man," the "Avengers," "Fantastic...

In what could be the clearest sign yet that Web-based television is just around the corner for many consumers with broadband connections to the Internet, Japan-based Nippon TV has said it would launch an online pay-per-view program later this year. The service, to be known as The Second Nippon Telev...

My friend Kevin Dart has always had an eye for English antiques. In fact, he regularly makes a pilgrimage to mother England to buy unique or hard-to-find pieces. Aside from working his "day job," his avocation is selling these pieces for a profit back in the U.S. While this task of hauling or shippi...

In a ruling that could have ramifications for the entire Web industry, Google has won an arbitration case that gives it control of several similarly spelled domain names. The National Arbitration Forum found in favor of Google in a case the search engine company brought against a Russian man, Sergey...

College students at one of the universities partnered with Napster for free access to its subscription-style music offering give the service high marks, but more than seven out of every 10 still buy music from Apple's market-leading iTunes Music Store. The University of Rochester released results of...

In the late 1990s, Peter Relan was working as a software executive at Oracle when his neighbor, Louis Borders, the founder of Borders Books and Music, offered him a chance to join his new startup. Relan was intrigued enough to make the leap to the dot-com world, where he helped develop much of the t...

The number of active high-speed Internet connections in the United States grew by 34 percent in 2004 as adoption of broadband continues to grow at a fever pitch, promising to open countless new doors for content distribution and e-commerce. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said in its sem...

One of the long-feared results of Internet security problems -- its potential effect on consumer behavior and eventually, spending -- might be starting to materialize, according to a new report. The Pew Internet & American Life project says that a survey that it conducted found that 91 percent o...

In a move that could dramatically accelerate the adoption of streaming movies online, Intel has said it would invest in a new company established by actor Morgan Freeman that seeks to make first-run films available for downloads even before they reach stores on DVD. Intel made an unspecified investm...

Though more consumers are testing out digital downloads, portable MP3 players and streaming music from satellite and Web sources, many more still rely on tried-and-true technologies such as portable CD players and traditional FM radio for their music, according to a new report. The study from Framin...

At first glance, the proposal to create a new cyberspace red light district with the .xxx domain seems a clear win for legitimate businesses. The domain, which has been approved by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, could essentially segregate adult-content and pornography, mov...

Pop-up advertising on the Web might be annoying, but not as annoying as what would happen if trademark law were used to squash them, according to a federal appellate court in New York. The U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals this week upended a decision by a lower court that used trademark law to bloc...

Hard on the heels of a partial victory for music and movie studios before the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this week, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has continued to pressure consumers who it says illegally swap music, filing a new batch of more than 700 copyright infringement la...

European consumers are being driven away from online banking and commerce by fears that their identities will be stolen and their financial resources raided by information highwaymen. Survey results released yesterday by Entrust, a publicly traded digital identity security firm located in Addison, T...