Headline Feeds|
Finding Out What They're Saying About You Is Worth Every Penny November 12, 2009 
Social media monitoring is a new business endeavor, with relatively few companies able to boast a significant track record of achievement. In fact, according to the new Aberdeen benchmark report, "The ROI on Social Media Monitoring," only 27 percent of Best-in-Class companies have engaged in social media monitoring activities for more than two years.
|
Teaching Mature Markets New M-Commerce Tricks November 12, 2009 
Ten years after national commercial platforms for mobile commerce were launched in the Philippines and Japan, the United States is slowly beginning to creep into the field. Residents in rural parts of the Philippines and other developing nations routinely pay bills through their smartphones, while people in Japan and Europe can buy products as well as train and airline tickets using their mobile phones.
|
|
Xbox Live Is Dead for Modding Gamers November 11, 2009 
The Xbox Live community forums are buzzing loudly, but it has nothing to do with online gamers fragging each other in the much-anticipated new video game "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2." Some Xbox 360 users are ready to stage their own military coup against Microsoft after they were told this week that their Live accounts had been banned from the service.
|
Drawing Security-Spooked Customers Into the E-Commerce Fold November 11, 2009 
Many consumers are still afraid of shopping online, and it's not hard to see why, with reports of fraud, identity theft, data loss and other security breaches regularly making the news. The fact is, though, online shopping is safer than ever before, and new and emerging security technologies, methods and standards are being implemented every day.
|
|
Google's AdMob Move: Breaking Away From the Pack? November 10, 2009 
Google is buying mobile advertising network AdMob for $750 million, underscoring the Internet search leader's determination to ensure its marketing machine reaches the growing number of people surfing the Web on phones. The all-stock deal announced Monday also represents the latest sign that Google's leaders are feeling better about the economy's direction.
|
How Etailers Can Take On the Whole World November 10, 2009 
The majority of global markets are growing significantly faster than the United States. Bill Gates has even stated that in the 21st century, a business must use e-commerce to survive. In this economy, thinking outside the proverbial box and expanding a company without taking on significant overhead or structural changes means selling beyond geographic borders.
|
|
Murdoch Threatens Google Blockade November 09, 2009 
It's not so much a war of words, but a war over words, between News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch and search giant Google. Murdoch fired another broadside over the weekend by announcing his intention to eventually close off News Corp. content to Google's search technologies.
|
Betrayals: Obama's Hollywood Sellout, Tech Companies' Layoffs November 09, 2009 
Last week, two troubling trends were in evidence. The scarier one is that it appears the Obama administration is in the process of putting in place a secret antipiracy provision that has little to do with antipiracy and everything to do with killing properties like YouTube. It is truly frightening, and people are already planning civil unrest to stop it.
|
|
'Tis the Season for Safe Holiday Shopping November 07, 2009 
While recent reports don't predict a major recovery for retailers this holiday season, the outlook for e-commerce sites is slightly more optimistic: 2009 will post an 18 percent increase in online holiday shopping over last year. For many consumers, though, the convenience of online shopping comes with a hefty price: their identity.
|
Southwest Doesn't Fool Around November 06, 2009 
This week, I headed southwest as I continued making the rounds of travel-planning Web sites for the E-Commerce Times. My first impression of Southwest Airlines' Web site was that its online presence faithfully reflected its corporate persona: It looked to be a roll-up-your sleeves, no nonsense outfit.
|
|
Commerce Search Puts Google Inside Retailers' Catalogs November 05, 2009 
Google has introduced a search engine for online retailers. Priced at $50,000 annually, the Software as a Service offering is aimed at high-end e-commerce operations that want to provide customers looking for a particular product on their site with more accurate search results. Search is arguably one of the weakest features on most retailers' sites.
|
EU Drafts New Bill of Rights for Internet Users November 05, 2009 
EU lawmakers and governments agreed on new rights for Internet users Thursday, aiming to protect them from arbitrary crackdowns on those who illegally download music and movies on the Internet. EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding said a deal was reached after EU governments agreed to EU parliament demands to balance measures against illegal downloaders with a broader set of rights for telecom users.
|
|
Microsoft Scrapes Years of Mold Off MSN Portal November 04, 2009 
White space replaces the sky-blue color scheme in MSN.com's new redesign, which Microsoft began previewing Wednesday before it becomes an official re-launch sometime in early 2010. Content sections are streamlined down to five top-of-page links: news, entertainment, sports, money, lifestyle and "more."
|
PayPal Gets Friendly With Developers November 04, 2009 
New APIs from PayPal will allow developers to integrate its payment capabilities within applications. Typically, online shoppers have to visit PayPal's site to complete purchases. The new functionality will let them complete their transaction without leaving a shopping site or game -- even allowing those who don't already have a PayPal account to set one up on the spot.
|
|
Black Swans and Blue Birds November 04, 2009 
I just finished reading The Black Swan, a book that has been on my list since it came out in 2007, and I highly recommend it, though it is not easy reading. There is a great deal of set up before you get to the whole point of the book in the last 50 pages. The Black Swan is about uncertainty in the real world, and the subtitle explains it all: "The Impact of the Highly Improbable."
|
Making Micro-Payment Models Work Online November 02, 2009 
Forecasts for the magnitude of online micro-payments can whet the appetite of any profit-minded businessperson. However, cracking that code is more complicated than one thinks. There is little question as to whether sub-US$5 products can be sold in mass volume, but the lynchpin to opening the floodgates of micro-payments may very well be payment method.
|
See More Articles in E-Commerce Section >>
