E-Commerce Times : Archives

Amazon Mints Coins and Makes Deposits in All Kindle Fires

Monday - May 13, 2013

Amazon Kindle owners have a new way to pay for games, apps and in-app purchases -- Amazon Coins. Amazon released its virtual currency Monday, and to kick off the new feature the company deposited 500 free Coins into the accounts of every Kindle Fire owner. Since each Coin equals a penny, the gift amounts to $5 for each user. Amazon is also offering a 10 percent discount on Coins -- a purchase of 500 Coins actually costs $4.80. Amazon believes that the move will encourage developers. [More...]

Mobile App Privacy Bill Likely to Languish

Monday - May 13, 2013

Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., last week introduced into the House of Representatives a new bill that could considerably change mobile application development. The bipartisan Application Privacy, Protection and Security Act would require application developers to gain explicit consent from consumers before collecting their data. [More...]

ESPN May Give Its Wireless Users an Assist

Monday - May 13, 2013

ESPN is reportedly in talks with at least one wireless carrier to help subsidize data usage for customers who stream sports video content on their smartphones and tablets. News of the possible deal comes as more mobile device users are turning to their smartphones for data-intensive activities like playing games and watching videos. [More...]

Aereo's Audacious Ambitions

Monday - May 13, 2013

Aereo -- the lawsuit-embattled company that provides Internet-streamed, live, and recorded over-the-air broadcast television content -- may have started a trend. None other than Time Warner may be considering the redistribution of public broadcast content over the Internet too. What it comes down to is that a bunch of micro-antennas in a Brooklyn warehouse may change everything. [More...]

Icahn Leads New Pitch to Win Dell Shareholders

Saturday - May 11, 2013

Two of Dell's largest stockholders, Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management, have teamed up to propose an alternative to Michael Dell's plans to take his computer company private. The new deal on the table, issued in a letter to board members, involves a leveraged recapitalization that will pay investors and keep them on as shareholders in a public company. [More...]

B&N Investors Salivate Over Microsoft Nook Deal

Friday - May 10, 2013

Barnes & Noble investors reacted with pure unadulterated joy to the possibility that Microsoft is considering entering the e-book market and will acquire the company's Nook unit for a whopping $1 billion. Shares rose by a dizzying 24 percent on Thursday, when the rumor surfaced. By the close of Friday trading, shares were up another 5.6 percent, at $23.31. [More...]

YouTube Tinkers With Subscription Model

Friday - May 10, 2013

YouTube unveiled a new subscription plan this week and announced that it will start allowing select channels to charge for monthly viewing plans. It's the first time the online video hub will charge for content. Channels including Jim Henson's TV will show episodes of Sesame Street for subscriptions starting at $2.99 per month. [More...]

Facebook's Road Trip May Include a Stop to Buy Waze

Friday - May 10, 2013

Rumors that Facebook is deep into the process of purchasing Waze -- maker of a mobile satellite navigation app that leverages crowdsourced mapping and traffic tips -- are making the rounds. Facebook has apparently signed the terms and is conducting due diligence after six months of negotiations. [More...]

ANALYSIS
From BI to KPIs to Benchmark Success in the Cloud

Friday - May 10, 2013

Organizations of all sizes across an assortment of industries are using a growing set of cloud analytics solutions to address their Big Data, business intelligence and data integration challenges. Escalating competitive pressures and customer expectations are forcing organizations to find new ways to tap internal and external data sources to achieve their business goals. [More...]

Groupon Regroups With Q1 Revenue Gains, Mobile Growth

Thursday - May 9, 2013

Groupon reported a better than expected first quarter thanks to strong North American revenue growth and an uptick in mobile customers. That helped send the daily deal website's stock soaring Wednesday. The company reported revenue of $601.4 million, an 8 percent jump from the $559.3 million during the same time last year. [More...]

HEALTH AND MEDICINE
Tech Offers Web of Support for Stroke Survivors

Thursday - May 9, 2013

May is National Stroke Awareness month. I like to follow the technology advancements for stroke prevention and treatment -- and the companies making them -- because I have been a stroke survivor for nine years. We don't realize it on a daily basis, but things advance as quickly in the medical and health industries as in wireless and communications. [More...]

T-Mobile Enjoys Strong but Limited iPhone 5 Q1 Bounce

Wednesday - May 8, 2013

T-Mobile sold approximately 500,000 iPhone 5 handsets since their April 12 launch with the carrier, the company announced Tuesday during its Q1 earnings report. T-Mobile -- the last of the major carriers to offer Apple's smartphone -- attributed those sales to a combination of new and existing customers. [More...]

Pre-Roll Ads Will Soon Know Where You've Shopped Online

Wednesday - May 8, 2013

Pre-roll video ads are about to get smarter, according to OwnerIQ, a digital advertising company that is adding targeting data based on consumer browser behavior to online video ads. The new targeting capabilities borrow from tactics developed for display advertising that try to zero in on a prequalified audience. [More...]

TECHNOLOGY LAW CORNER
Where Your Social Media Accounts Go When You Die

Wednesday - May 8, 2013

One of my childhood friends, who was also a Facebook friend, died in 2009. Yet I still get messages from Facebook encouraging me to connect with his Facebook page. Has that ever happened to you? Or have you ever sent an email to a colleague, only to learn from other sources that the person is deceased? What happens to their digital content? [More...]

Browse Earlier Stories