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The Federal Communications Commission had a very good first quarter: The government agency raised close to US$20 billion by selling off slices of wireless bandwidth to a variety of companies. As the auction process fades into history, a few questions remain: What impact will the sale have on the wireless market? What changes will take effect due to the recent spectrum auction? What might the FCC's next step be?...

"Every action has an equal and opposite reaction," said Sir Isaac Newton. While he made that observation centuries before the dot-com boom and bust, his words remain quite relevant today. After large corporation executives took advantage of their positions and wreaked financial havoc, the federal government was called to step in and prevent a recurrence. The result was the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a law with repercussions that e-commerce enterprises continue to feel...

Technological advances have prompted changes to corporate communication needs. Employees working in hotel rooms, field offices or even abroad often require access to network and system resources. Also, admission to company networks is no longer limited to individuals on your payroll. Increasingly, suppliers, contractors and customers require real-time access to information...

What is the biggest difference between shopping online and shopping in a store? In a store, customers can wander from place to place until they find something that appeals to them. Online, they usually need to have a good idea of what they are looking for in order to locate it ...

E-commerce suppliers face a difficult challenge. They must cultivate loyal customers, but that is becoming more difficult as the Internet enables consumers to roam freely from retailer to retailer. Now more than ever, the customer is in control, and that change is forcing many e-tailers to turn to customized shopping experiences to build brand loyalty...

Notebook computers are all the rage, and an ever-expanding emphasis on mobility is forcing both consumers and business executives to purchase these devices ...

Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) has recently become more common in corporations large and small. By combining separate voice and data transmissions onto the same line, this new communications option enables companies to lower their telecommunications costs and, after taking advantage of the savings, companies are looking to extend VoIP's benefits...

The e-commerce market is entering a new period. After an initial phase during which companies focused largely on making their products and services available to potential customers via the Web, users are now trying to take a more comprehensive look at their deployments, one that correlates each sale to their entire operation ...

These days, just about every business -- from the corner store to Wal-Mart -- has a Web presence. While the Internet's vast expanse provides companies with the ability to reach more potential customers, it also pits them against more competitors than ever before. As a result, it has become increasingly difficult for companies to convert site visitors into buying customers. To complicate matters, nine out of every 10 users log off without buying anything, according to some estimates...

As evidenced by the phenomenal success of Google, search has evolved from an interesting sideline into a primary function for many, if not most, Internet users. Consequently, more and more companies are putting content up on their Web sites to attract the attention of search engines ...

The familiar adage that the consumer is always right has taken on a new meaning in the Internet age. Rather than talk with a store manager, consumers are now making their feelings about different products known on message boards and blogs ...

About 50 percent of all new businesses survive for at least five years, according to estimates by the Small Business Administration. On the flip side, that means that half of all new ventures fail in that time frame. While the e-commerce market has been growing at a rapid clip, a number of companies have not been able to take advantage of this trend and found themselves in precarious positions for a variety of reasons this year...

Hits and misses, must-haves and have-nots, blockbusters and duds. It's that time of year: time to take a close look at what technologies have established a sound foundation to become IT's hottest as the new year unfolds, and which ones may take a hit after a great deal of hype ...

With holiday season promotions escalating into top gear, the term "free shipping" is popping up on many e-commerce sites. While the promotions do attract the attention of consumers, the meaning of the term and the impact of such promotions on retailers' sales are decidedly mixed at this stage ...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas -- at least on major retailers' Web sites. Banner ads are popping up on major e-commerce sites -- including Amazon.com and Wal-Mart.com -- highlighting top-selling computers, DVDs, toys and consumer electronics items as well as offering hints to help shoppers find something special for friends and loved ones. Yet while this year's online sales are once again expected to set new benchmarks, identifying this season's product and promotional hits is not as easy as it was in 2006...

They have been making their lists and checking them twice. As a result, consumers will soon learn which retailers have been naughty or nice in planning for their most important part of their year: the holiday rush ...

While many companies are focused on their business online, they tend to put up sites that turn off rather than turn on potential customers. Because there are so many potential options, a business needs to be careful about how it designs its e-commerce site ...

These days, just about every business -- from the corner store to Wal-Mart -- has a Web presence. While the Internet's vast expanse provides companies with the ability to reach more potential customers, it also pits them against more competitors than ever before. As a result, it has become increasingly difficult for companies to convert site visitors into buying customers. To complicate matters, nine out of every 10 users log off without buying anything, according to some estimates...

The familiar adage that the consumer is always right has taken on a new meaning in the Internet age. Rather than talk with a store manager, consumers are now making their feelings about different products known on message boards and blogs ...

Search engines have taken on the role of parents doling out rewards as well as punishment to companies building Web sites. The punishment comes from two sources. For one, the search engines are flawed, often unable to work with various types of information ...