SMB

One of the hard realizations that most new e-commerce companies must make sooner or later is that simply creating a Web site does not mean customers will visit it. Sure, there are hundreds of millions of potential customers online, but there are also billions of other Web sites competing for their a...

Arming for battle in the digital music space, Amazon.com has invested in a startup that attempts to blend digital music sales with social networking. AmieStreet.com, a digital music store that prices music based on its popularity among visitors to the site, said Amazon was the lead investor in its f...

Technology has finally made its impact on medical practices. In order to achieve greater efficiencies within their office and administrative staff, many physicians have now gone from paper to computer. Additionally, diagnoses and delivery of quality patient care are greatly enhanced with the assista...

For startup e-commerce companies, protecting customer data doesn't always come naturally. Small matters such as getting a business idea out of the starting gates and into the race -- not to mention winning those very first customers -- tend to overshadow the many liabilities associated with collecti...

It seems like everybody's talking about e-discovery nowadays -- just take a look at any IT trade journal or IT news source and you're likely to see at least one article about what e-discovery is and how to prepare for it. However, despite all this attention, both in IT and legal circles, there are s...

Google's Enterprise unit continued its recent barrage of product rollouts and other moves, unveiling Google Custom Search Business Edition, a paid version of its popular ad-supported site search tool. The service allows users to customize the search results page to match their Web sites' look and fe...

It is quite common for people affiliated with a startup to receive Rule 144 stock in lieu of cash or readily tradable stock. This type of stock is usually issued by a company that is either about to go public or has recently gone public. Rule 144 stock is often used as a form of reimbursement for se...

As wireless communications technology becomes embedded in the lifestyles of consumers, small businesses are seeking ways to catch the mobile wave. Gaining an advantage with younger shoppers online and off can be daunting to small businesses that would rather not manage technology -- but instead expl...

Buyers are naturally cautious when considering whether or not to make a purchase from unfamiliar merchants. Even if this anxiety is not justified, the effect on online retailers is often detrimental. Shopper anxiety creates a complicated challenge for online merchants, especially ones without nation...

More than 12 million small and medium-sized businesses operate in the U.S., and unlike larger enterprises, few of them have the cash to pay a marketing firm to launch an online advertising campaign. In world where the Internet has become perhaps the most powerful tool that companies can use to attra...

Digital music startup Lala.com has launched an iPod-compatible online music service that allows users to play songs online for free, the company announced Tuesday. In the future, it will reportedly allow users to download individual tracks without digital rights management protection directly to the...

It's time to add another IT category to the official IT lexicon: software development and deployment as a service, or SDDS. This one's a keeper. That's my conclusion after seeing a demonstration of Bungee Labs' new Bungee Connect offering, which combines the virtues of online Web application develop...

It is not unusual for small to medium business managers to emulate Lewis Carroll's Mad Hatter, wearing six or eight hats simultaneously in their business efforts. Sometimes, the hat hardest to wear is IT management. All businesses, large and small, run on information. When that information is lost o...

Right now, music fans around the world can choose from some 10,000 Internet radio stations, each one streaming a unique mix of music. Some of those stations are operated by industry titans; others are the Internet arms of traditional terrestrial radio; and many more are tiny operations feeding their...

Xerox's legendary Palo Alto Research Center said Friday it would license Internet search technology to Powerset, a relatively young startup that aims to build a better search engine than Google. PARC lays claims to some of the most important inventions of the digital era, including Ethernet, laser p...