Thursday, January 31, 2008

Career Crisis: Monster.com Has Choices to Make as It Approaches 'Middle Age' - Knowledge@Wharton

Monster.com pretty much started the online job search market sevral years ago. However, since then the online world has changed. Companies and individuals are using the web in new and innovative ways. Competition has sprung up from such major players as Yahoo. Change is of the essence in the internet world. Companies must continually adapt to stay in business. Even an online innovator and success story like Monster is no exception. This article tells how Monster is adapting to this new reality. http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1817

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

globeandmail.com: EBay retools the customer experience

ebay has a new CEO and is already revamping its business model to reinvigorate its business, which has been lagging recently. One of their changes involves reducing the charges for listings, while increasing them when products sell. They are also allowing photos of products. In addition, they are implementing changes related to their important rating scheme to give customers with the best ratings the best exposure on the site. They are also making changes to their shipping policies to address some exploitation that has occured in the past. globeandmail.com: EBay retools the customer experience

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

DEMO 2008: What's Next in Tech

Convergence has consistently been a major feature of the eBusiness era. Convergence of TV and computers is well along and convergence of telephones and computers has been a consistent trend. The latter has been showing signs of spurting ahead, judging by this year's DEMO conference in California. Numerous new consumer products making more effective use of the integration of telephones (particularly smart cell phones) and computers and being introduced. DEMO 2008: What's Next in Tech

Friday, January 25, 2008

HBO Joins the Movie Download Derby

Apple, Sony and others have all announced their new movie download services. HBO has now joined the fray and there likely will be others. Will movie downloads eventually replace DVDs and the like? Probably. HBO Joins the Movie Download Derby

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Technology Review: EU data regulator says Internet addresses are personal information

The head European Union data regulator has said that the IP addresses that identify individual computers on the internet are private information and should be treated as such. There has been some controversy on this point, since technically, the IP address only identifies a computer, not a person. However, people often use the same computer day after day. The point is important for search engines, who make use of the IP addresses for analyzing requests. Technology Review: EU data regulator says Internet addresses are personal information

Monday, January 21, 2008

E-Commerce News: Wireless: Phoning From the Edge

Google wants to revolutionize the mobile industry by freeing device manufacturers from the control of the networks. If it succeeds, the use of mobile phones could be a lot more extensive than even what it is now - and friendlier to consumers. E-Commerce News: Wireless: Phoning From the Edge

Friday, January 18, 2008

Masters of Collaboration

Collaboration has been a distinct feature of the Information Age. Collaborative design has changed the way companies respond to or anticipate the needs of their customers (by involving customers) and the way they streamline their supply chain (by involving their suppliers). Collaborative design has been so successful that it has become a central feature of modern business and has been replacing the old "individual star" approach to design. Masters of Collaboration

Thursday, January 17, 2008

E-Commerce News: Analytics: Financial Analytics in E-Commerce: Starting to Take Shape

Financial Analytics products are beginning to grap a lot of attention among e-business companies. These products are able to analyze data to determine which business processes are contributing tho the bottom line and which aren't. They can integrate the data from traditional sources as well as from web pages and blogs. E-Commerce News: Analytics: Financial Analytics in E-Commerce: Starting to Take Shape

Monday, January 14, 2008

Yahoo Rumored to Be in Talks to Buy eBay

Rumours abound that Yahoo is negotiating to buy eBay. If so, it would be a coup and create major opportunities for both. Yahoo Rumored to Be in Talks to Buy eBay

Thursday, January 10, 2008

globeandmail.com: China eases Internet rules

We know that the internet is a strong democratic force, featuring freedom and equality. Recently China relaxed its rules around content sharing on websites in the interests of maintaining foreign investment. Just how strong a force for freedom the internet is, will be seen in developments like this around the world, as trade becomes even more global and more affected by the internet. globeandmail.com: China eases Internet rules

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Generation Y biggest user of U.S. libraries, survey finds

One might have thought that the electronic age would spell the doom of public libraries. However a recent US survey showed that more than 50% of Americans visited a library last year and - hold on - the largest segment of these were Generation Y'ers. Part of the explanation might come from the fact that most libraries have gone high tech in their search capabilities. Another possible explanation is that maybe the internet generates a hunger for information, some of which can only be satisfied with libraries. Generation Y biggest user of U.S. libraries, survey finds

Monday, January 07, 2008

The music industry has had a problem with business models since the inception of the internet. iTunes seems to do well with its model of charging small amounts for single tracks. Now there's a new business model making waves - the tipping jar - under which payment is optional. It seems to be working for Radiohead, who released their latest album that way and reportedly are raking in reasonable amonnts of case. Technology Review: The Tipping Jar

Thursday, January 03, 2008

E-Commerce News: Wikis: Collaborative Wikia Search Set to Go Public

In an interesting new venture, Wikipedia's founder is starting a new search engine wiki - called Wikia Search - to enable a collaborative approach to improving search technology. So far, wikis have been used for online encyclopedia and for developing books and publications. The collaborative approach to search technoligy is not expected to challenge Google any time soon, but the question is - will it eventually do that? E-Commerce News: Wikis: Collaborative Wikia Search Set to Go Public

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Technology Review: The Year in Software

Looking back on the past year in software development reminds us that much of the new activity is taking place around the internet and e-business. If you think we have seen change in the past few years, move over and look out!Technology Review: The Year in Software