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Report: Steve Jobs' Health Issues Overblown
Forget the oil crisis, the dollar swoon or the housing bust. The biggest worry for many in the technology and investment community is the health of Apple's iconic founder and chief executive Steve Jobs. The 53-year-old legend underwent successful surgery for pancreatic cancer about four years ago, and rumors of a relapse started swirling last month when he looked gaunt, pale and far from his usual exuberant self.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 24-Jul-2008 18:35

Court Nixes Law Aimed at Protecting Kids Online
Proponents of the beleaguered Child Online Protection Act suffered yet another blow Tuesday when a federal appeals court deemed the law unconstitutional once again. The 1998 law, known as "COPA," aims to keep children from viewing pornographic materials on the Internet by making it a crime for commercial Web site operators to let children access "harmful" material.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 24-Jul-2008 18:20

Giving Your Site a Social Life
The world of online business communication has introduced two industry-changing elements for small business: more customers and more competitors. Circa 1999, you were ahead of the competition by simply having a Web site to preview your service or products. By 2004, Web transactions were the norm, and convenience was the king.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 24-Jul-2008 13:00

Is Web 2.0 Security's Achilles Heel?
We're facing a Web security gap. The Web has become the primary source of infections in enterprises, surpassing e-mail. Although most enterprises do some form of URL filtering on their Web traffic, it's proven to not be an adequate security solution alone. Only 15 percent of organizations are performing the deeper inspection and blocking on Web traffic necessary to protect their employees, according to Gartner.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 24-Jul-2008 13:00

Customer Feedback: Mind if I Ask You a Few Questions?
Never before has the voice of the customer been so loud. And never before have companies been so keen to not only pay close attention to the wants, likes, experiences, preferences, opinions, suggestions and complaints of customers, but to carefully analyze and act upon the information in a systematic fashion.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 24-Jul-2008 13:00

CE Makers: What the World Needs Now Is Another Wireless HD Standard
Hitachi, Motorola, Samsung, Sharp and Sony have joined forces with Amimon, a developer of wireless home digital interface technology. The companies have pledged support for the creation of a new interoperable industry standard for audio, video and control that could connect multiple high-definition devices around a home without the use of wires.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 24-Jul-2008 01:42

Microsoft Opens Xbox Dev Community to Gaming Masses
Microsoft announced several changes to its Games for Windows Live and Xbox Live services Tuesday. Chief Technology Officer Chris Satchell outlined the changes at the company's Gamefest 2008 Conference held in Seattle. The software maker has removed its fees for Games for Windows Live, so now multiplayer game play functionality is available at no extra cost at all membership levels.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 24-Jul-2008 00:27

Yahoo's Mixed Earnings Bag Nudges Stock Down
Yahoo disappointed shareholders with its second quarter earnings report, posting declining profits that missed Wall Street's expectations. Its quarterly net income fell to $131 million, or 9 cents per share, from $161 million, or 11 cents per share, a year ago. Excluding certain charges, Yahoo realized earnings of $139 million, or 10 cents per share, falling one cent short of analyst expectations.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 24-Jul-2008 00:25

EMC Beats Street With 13 Percent Profit Spike
EMC said Wednesday its second-quarter profit climbed 13 percent, topping Wall Street's forecasts, as the data storage specialist rang up record sales despite fears that economic uncertainty is tamping down information technology spending. The Hopkinton, Mass.-based company earned $377.5 million, or 18 cents per share, in the April-June period.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 23-Jul-2008 18:23

Conjecture About Jobs' Health Weighs Down Apple Stock
The towering role of Steve Jobs at Apple was underscored this week when concerns about his health contributed to a sudden plunge in the company's stock. Apple shares recovered significantly on Tuesday, but Wall Street's worries spotlight the enormous importance of Jobs to Apple and spur questions about the company's responsibility to address the recurring rumors regarding his health.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 23-Jul-2008 17:49

AT&T Stock Gains Despite Revenue Miss, Landline Losses
AT&T reported second-quarter financial results on Wednesday that contained signs that the weak economy is catching up to its previously steady results. The nation's largest telecommunications company has had its stock hammered in the last few months by the expectation that economic conditions are catching up to it.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 23-Jul-2008 17:42

The Road to 4G: WiMax Leads the Way
A host of companies are progressing with efforts to develop and prove 4G wireless technologies. Eagerly anticipated, what exactly constitutes 4G is yet to be determined. Though this process is driven in the main by international industry associations, no one group's efforts span all the evolving technology and international definitions and standards that will go into defining and applying it.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 23-Jul-2008 13:00

Riding the Digital Signage Trend the SaaS Way
Digital billboards and digital signage networks in retail are driving the rapid expansion of outdoor/out-of-home advertising, rivaling the Internet as the fastest-growing advertising medium. What's fueling this growth? The ability to reach the elusive consumers while they are out of home, and especially while they are shopping.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 23-Jul-2008 13:00

CRM's Big Shadow
One of the hallmarks of CRM is that its footprint keeps expanding. I think part of the reason is that we have taken to lumping everything that is not a back-office application area into CRM. In fact, some people are even using front office interchangeably with CRM these days, myself included.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 23-Jul-2008 13:00

Researcher Spills Beans on DNS Flaw Specs
Details about the massive Domain Name System flaw revealed less than two weeks ago were made public on the Internet Monday. Halvar Flake, a reverse engineering expert, posted a hypothetical theory about the vulnerability on his blog. A few hours later, a researcher at Matasano Security who knew the specifics about the bug posted a response to Flake's blog, confirming his hypothesis.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 22-Jul-2008 23:29

Esquire to Put Digital Moving Pix on Mag Cover
To celebrate the 75th anniversary of Esquire magazine, the publication's editors plan to release 100,000 copies of its October 2008 edition with a cover made of electronic paper. E Ink, an electronic paper developer, has taken the technology it used in devices such as the Amazon Kindle and Sony eReader to develop a version of the technology for use on the Esquire cover.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 22-Jul-2008 22:18

Cautious Guidance Nicks Apple
By most measures, Apple had a banner third quarter. It beat Wall Street's expectations for earnings, posting revenue of $7.46 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.07 billion, or $1.19 per diluted share. These results compare with revenue of $5.41 billion and net quarterly profit of $818 million, or $0.92 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 22-Jul-2008 21:53

Facebook Repaints Wall in New Design
Facebook's new look is all about the Wall, the blank space on a profile page that the social network's users can fill in with stories, photos, links and the ever-popular Status Updates. In turn, Facebook executives hope a less-cluttered Web site will eventually fill in their bank accounts with more advertising revenue.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 22-Jul-2008 21:03

TiVo, Amazon Put a Little 'Buy Buy' in the 'Boop Boop'
The company that pioneered the concept of skipping past television commercials is now introducing a new kind of TV-based advertising. TiVo has joined forces with Amazon to create an interactive system that will let viewers buy products featured on TV shows -- right from their remotes. TiVo Product Purchase will present options on the screen and give users the opportunity to order without interrupting the program.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 22-Jul-2008 19:47

Ericsson Shares Nosedive on Plunging Profits
Ericsson announced a 70 percent collapse in net profits for the second quarter on Tuesday and a two-thirds fall in operating margins. And it warned of a weak 2008 outlook, sending its stock plunging. The group said it had been hit by the slowdown in Western Europe, weakness of the dollar and restructuring charges.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 22-Jul-2008 18:14

Brocade Eyes Cisco Customers With $3B Foundry Buy
Brocade Communications System, dominant in an obscure corner of the data storage market, wants a piece of a bigger pie: Cisco Systems' cash cow business of networking equipment that shuttles Internet traffic. San Jose, Calif.-based Brocade said Monday it has agreed to pay $3 billion to acquire one of Cisco's much-smaller competitors, Foundry Networks, to try and make that happen.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 22-Jul-2008 17:27

New Cell Service Lets Callers Make Beeline for Voice Mail
The old song had it right: Breaking up is hard to do. But a free new phone service called "Slydial" might make it easier to get through that and other awkward moments -- without actually having to talk to anyone. Slydial lets you connect directly with another person's cell phone voice mail, bypassing the traditional ringing process that often results -- sometimes disastrously -- with someone picking up on the other end.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 22-Jul-2008 17:17

Web 2.0 the Enterprise Way
Web 2.0 technologies are empowering enterprises in ways we could only have imagined a few years ago. They have evolved beyond consumer-grade blogs and wikis into enterprise-class solutions driving collaboration, productivity, sales and cost savings. But despite the business value they deliver, are enterprises ready to fully embrace Web 2.0 technologies?
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 22-Jul-2008 13:00

Are VM Environments Open to Attack?
New adopters often see virtualization as the Holy Grail of enterprise computing. It enables consolidation of separate servers and databases to provide more economic operations. Running consolidated computers from one virtualized machine also eliminates the electrical waste spent to keep idling servers and data-processing machines running.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 22-Jul-2008 13:00

Follow the Money: Do-It-Yourself Reality Check on Pols
Money talks. So it's important for voters to know how candidates get their money, who gives it to them, and what they do with it. This information used to be buried in obscure volumes and government reports, but digital databases have changed all that. Anyone with a Web connection and the desire to do a little research can quickly learn just about whatever they want to know about candidates, politicians and money.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 22-Jul-2008 13:00

Qik Lets Video Cell Phones Broadcast to the World
Streaming mobile video service Qik opened its doors to all comers Monday, moving from the invitation-only alpha it began late last year to an open beta program. The company also announced a bevy of new features, distribution partners and support for more mobile handsets. With Qik (pronounced "quick") software, members can stream video directly from their mobile handsets to the Web.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 21-Jul-2008 23:49

Analysts Puzzle Over iPhone 3G Shortage Mystery
Apple's new iPhone 3G is rapidly becoming the Nintendo Wii of the smartphone world: a must-have-but-can't-have-because-you-can't-find-it technology product. And that has some conspiracy theorists wondering if Steve Jobs' company is creating the shortage to keep demand as high as weekend temperatures in New York City.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 21-Jul-2008 21:03

Icahn Jimmies Into Yahoo Boardroom
Yahoo and activist investor Carl Icahn have reached a settlement in their bitter battle over control of the company. The two sides have agreed to keep most of the current Yahoo board on the ballot for re-election and to create three new board positions: one for Icahn and two for executives of his recommendation.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 21-Jul-2008 19:42

EA Gives Resistant Take-Two More Time to Mull Offer
Video game publisher Electronic Arts has again extended the deadline for its $2 billion tender offer to buy smaller rival Take-Two Interactive Software. The offer now is scheduled to end at 11:59 p.m. EDT on Aug. 18, an extension from this past Friday. EA said Monday it needed more time to allow regulators to continue their review.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 21-Jul-2008 18:52

Feckless MySpace Pix: A Prize for Prosecutors
Two weeks after Joshua Lipton was charged in a drunken driving crash that seriously injured a woman, the 20-year-old college junior attended a Halloween party dressed as a prisoner. Pictures from the party showed him in a black-and-white striped shirt and an orange jumpsuit labeled "Jail Bird." In the age of the Internet, it might not be hard to guess what happened to those pictures.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 21-Jul-2008 18:16

LG Q2 Earnings Skyrocket on Handset Sales
LG Electronics posted an 84 percent jump in quarterly earnings, helped by high margins on mobile phones, brisk sales of TVs and solid results at its LCD joint venture. However, the South Korean company said it expected revenue to fall slightly in the third quarter, citing weak seasonal demand for appliances and the impact of the global economic slowdown.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 21-Jul-2008 17:42

Study: OSS Communities Are Often Slackers in Security
The most widely used open source software packages for the enterprise are exposing users to significant and unnecessary business risks, according to an open source security study from security firm Fortify Software. The study, released Monday, concludes that open source software development communities have yet to adopt a secure development process and often leave dangerous vulnerabilities unaddressed.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 21-Jul-2008 17:28

E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of July 14, 2008
Google has struck a deal to protect the personal data of millions of YouTube users. E-Commerce Law Briefs is a weekly feature appearing each Friday afternoon on E-Commerce Law. Each week, E-Commerce Law Briefs will provide a brief summary and commentary on recent legal news affecting e-commerce businesses.
Source : E-Commerce Law | 21-Jul-2008 17:05

VKernel: Seeking Simplicity in the Wild, Woolly World of Virtualization
VKernel is a young company with its finger on the pulse of the virtual server market, one of the hottest in the software world. Buzz over virtual servers is so high-pitched, in fact, that CEO Alex Bakman sees the potential for a steady stream of new hires that will swell his company's workforce to 5,000 people over the next five years.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 21-Jul-2008 15:00

The Power of Balance
I like writing about conflict because it gives you more than one dimension to a story, and there were two interesting conflicts that I ran into last week. The first, more near-term, will likely define the direction of the notebook market, and it is important because it implies an ether/or decision when most of us want both.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 21-Jul-2008 13:00

Don't Skimp on Customer Service in Tough Times
It's no secret that the economy is not in the best shape ever. A trip to the gas pump is a reminder that costs are more costly today than they were a couple of years ago. What strategies should small-business owners take in order to maintain a healthy business? The strengths of small business are specialization and customer service.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 21-Jul-2008 13:00

The Prepaid Phone Trafficking Web of Crime
Cell phone trafficking operations siphon millions of dollars from the wireless industry and its customers every year. Until recently, little could be done to fight back, but a vigorous counter-attack that has yielded several victories in federal courts across the country, is beginning to turn the tide and help the wireless industry put a stop to a spreading epidemic.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 21-Jul-2008 13:00

Online Peer Lending: Blazing an Easier Path to Cash
Some people are finding it tougher than ever to get a bank loan amid the nation's credit crisis, but many are getting a warmer welcome at the "teller window" on the Web. People are flocking to social network sites such as Prosper.com and Zopa.com, which connect lenders and borrowers at the grassroots level, using an eBay-style auction of loans and interest rates.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 20-Jul-2008 13:00

B2B Customer Service: The Competitive Edge
The customer is always right, or so the saying goes. And while, strictly speaking, this might not always be true, it is clear that a good level of customer service and empathy can be the differentiator between a happy customer and one that goes elsewhere. Just as consumers on the high street expect a good level of customer service, businesses too expect their service providers to respond effectively to their needs.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 20-Jul-2008 13:00

Mac Enterprise Security: Flawed in Fact, or Flawed Facts?
On Tuesday, Computerworld published a story about so-called security flaws in Mac OS X that affect the enterprise. The six arguments actually amount to a collection of shibboleths. Security Flaw #1: Apple Updates. The argument is that security updates pop up unannounced and insufficient information is provided to make a decision as to whether to roll out the update.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 20-Jul-2008 13:00

'He Didn't Deserve to Be Treated Like This'
James Mangano knows numbers. He's an accountant for a New York state agency and his job involves delving into piles of numbers and coming up with useful information. But the number that bedeviled him the most since last November was not on a spreadsheet; it was the toll-free customer service number for Verizon. The telecommunications company has driven this man to distraction.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 19-Jul-2008 13:00

Rhapsody Has Merit, but iPod Users Will Find Little to Love
There's been a lot of news in the past few weeks about Rhapsody.com, the much-buzzed-about music subscription site that brings a new twist to legally downloading music. The site offers unlimited access to music for a monthly fee, as opposed to the pay-per-song plan of iTunes. As a longtime, reasonably devoted iTunes user, I gave Rhapsody a spin to see if it could convince me to convert.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 19-Jul-2008 13:00

The Freewheeling Web's Privacy Noose
It's no secret that individual privacy has already suffered since the Internet era began, but privacy law expert Daniel Solove believes things are likely to get even worse, and he illustrates his vision in living color with a wealth of examples from the here and now. In The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy on the Internet, Solove begins his dark tale with the classic story of "dog poop girl."
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 19-Jul-2008 13:00

Virgin Mobile: The Wireless Road Less Traveled
Virgin Mobile USA definitely walks to its own, very hip drumbeat. Big cell phone carriers such as AT&T and Verizon Wireless are famous for herding customers into long-term service contracts. Virgin specializes in prepaid plans that allow its customers -- half of them under 35 -- to pay as they go, by the minute or by the month. That difference is what distinguishes Virgin, CEO Dan Schulman says.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 19-Jul-2008 13:00

Street Pounds Google for Less Than Stellar Q2
Google released a respectable earnings report on Thursday, considered in absolute terms. However, the market had been expecting the search engine giant to deliver a stronger performance and promptly punished its stock for the shortfall. Revenue grew 39 percent to $5.37 billion, from $3.87 billion in the same period a year earlier.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 18-Jul-2008 22:52

No Recession for Game Console Makers
Americans are tiring of $4.50-a-gallon gasoline, dire warnings from Iran and nasty political rhetoric. So they seem to be taking our their frustrations by blasting alien invaders and enemy soldiers and playing tennis with their TV sets. Video games seem to be providing consumers a better entertainment bang for their buck this summer.
Source : ecommercetimes.com | 18-Jul-2008 20:28