Articles by Stephen Caswell

This week's announcements that e-tailers Gloss.com and Beautyscene.com are up for sale are a strong indication that online beauty products firms will be among the early victims of the projected e-commerce shakeout "With the plethora of beauty sites out there, it has all come down to which few are going to survive," said Lisa Allen, an analyst with ...

Well before the end of this year, voice-based Internet access stands to revolutionize the way business is done over the Internet, trigger the growth of a new class of mega-billion dollar companies, and dim the potential for WAP-based handheld wireless devices At the core of these new services are voice recognition and text-to-speech technologies th...

In Parts I, II and III of this series, the E-Commerce Times explored the emergence of digital television into the public consciousness. The similarities to the early 1990s, when the Internet had about a million users, are striking Since 1990, the number of Internet users has increased to 172 million, and is expected to leap to 350 million by 2003.

In Parts Iand II of this series, the E-Commerce Times explored interactive television and how it is now developing at an extraordinary pace on aworldwide scale. By allowing interaction with television advertising and programming, it will significantly transform the e-commerce landscape. However, while satellite TV firms currently hold the lead, cable TV firms are primed to tilt the balance in a hurry...

As we have seen in Part I of this series, interactive television is now coming on like a freight train and could perhaps match or surpass the impact that PCs have had on the Internet. In fact, we have already received a taste of what is to come, as early systems have emerged worldwide and are achieving spectacular results Open in the UK...

While credit card companies have consistently maintained that credit card fraud is no more prevalent online than in traditional forms of commerce, a number of experts are disputing the notion According to Alvin Cameron, Credit/Loss Prevention Manager for online fulfillment house Digital River (Nasdaq: DRIV), an estimated 20 to 40 percent of online ...

For the average consumer, the phrase "Digital TV" conjures up images of crystal clear pictures and ear-popping sound. In actuality, however, the new technology promises more than just enhancements to the audio-visual experience -- it will allow a greater and more diverse population around the world to participate in the Internet Age Digital TV will...

The old adage "don't believe everything you read" came roaring back into vogue this week when some up-to-the second investors lost 20 percent of their investments on outdated rumors of a partnership between eBay and Yahoo! The price of eBay's stock soared more than 10 percent in after-hours trading Tuesday evening based on cable network CNBC's repo...

Online music store CDNow has surpassed Amazon.com as the e-tailer on the Net with the largest number of people buying while at home, according to market research firm PC Data PC Data reports that CDNow had 1.026 million buyers in February 2000, as opposed to 984,000 for Amazon.com. It added that February was the first month since August 1999 that A...

When Big Three automakers GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler announced the formation of a single business-to-business (B2B) marketplace for buying and selling supply chain-related auto products, the firms inadvertently demonstrated the promise and peril of e-commerce on the Internet On the plus side, the three firms are going to create what Howard Kutner...

Michigan Attorney General Jennifer M. Granholm has "reserved judgment" about DoubleClick's recent pledge to stop tracking individuals by name over the Internet "While admitting error is a good first step, I must reserve judgment on whether DoubleClick has truly committed itself to protecting the privacy of Internet users," Granholm said in a statem...

Controversial Internet advertising firm DoubleClick, Inc. has reportedly caved in to pressure from consumer groups, U.S. states and advertisers to stop tracking individuals by name over the Internet In a widely-reported mea culpa, DoubleClick Chief Executive Kevin O'Connor said in a statement, "We commit today, that until there is agreement between...

As the issue of Internet security drives toward a critical mass in 2000, yet another e-commerce site has been victimized by a hacker attack Tiny New York-based SalesGate.com reportedly informed its customers by memo that some 2,000 customer records, including credit card and other information, were stolen and posted on the Web. SalesGate.com makes ...

The e-commerce revolution is destined to receive an enormous boost from a new technology that is now making the rounds of consumer households While this technology is critical to the developing world of e-commerce, it may be of greater importance to today's television industry. While enabling the coming world of television-based e-commerce, the tec...

The Internet Capital Group (ICG) announced Thursday that it has agreed to acquire an interest in eCredit.com for $450 million (US$) worth of ICG common stock. ICG has investments in 29 companies that provide a variety of business-to-business (B2B) services eCredit.com operates its Global Financial Network to connect businesses that need trade finan...

A nationwide poll of U.S. industrial firms shows that most are not engaging in extensive business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce, according to the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) The study echoed a recent report from Deloitte and Touche showing that 70 percent of U.S. retailers lack a cohesive e-commerce strategy.

Just days after becoming the subject of investigations by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the New York State Attorney General's office, controversial Internet advertising agency DoubleClick, Inc. has been threatened with legal action by the state of Michigan's Attorney General's office The state is alleging that by engaging in a form of...

As the E-Commerce Times predicted last December, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has opened an investigation into whether e-tailers violated its Mail or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule during the just-completed holiday shopping season While companies like Toysrus.com received far more publicity over late shipments, the FTC has zeroed in on eToy...

America Online, Inc. has denied a claim by well-respected San Jose Mercury News columnist Dan Gillmor that it is backing off its promise to support open access to broadband cable systems In a syndicated column, Gillmor wrote Monday that, "As several major news organizations have reported in recent days, AOL's commitment to open access has, ahem, ev...

At a news conference Wednesday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said that it is mounting a worldwide hunt for those responsible for a wave of cyber-attacks against major Web sites The FBI was responding to the third full-scale hacker assault in as many days, as online broker E*Trade and a number of other sites had traffic disrupted by a coordin...