Best of ECT News

Government information technology procurement has been largely conducted on an independent basis, with each federal agency determining its own needs and acquiring the infrastructure -- both hardware and software -- to meet those needs. However, the procurement landscape may change significantly with...

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act -- enacted in the waning days of the 20th century -- contains provisions designed to make it evolve over time. The idea was that as technology fostered new ways of creating and distributing copyrighted material such as music, movies and software programs, the law...

Empty office space litters skylines, freeways and office parks. Once-busy hives of cubicles have become empty steel and concrete caverns. Their previous occupants met with a variety of fates: Some were victims of a deep recession; others were washed away by tsunamis of cheap labor in foreign lands; ...

If you're low on cash it doesn't mean you can't get what you want or need. "You can barter literally anything," said Karen Hoffman, who along with former business journalist Shera Dalin authored the new book The Art of Barter: How to Trade for Almost Anything. The book outlines how individuals and b...

Climate change, peak oil, and precarious food systems seem finally to have entered the realm of relatively mainstream discourse. Corporate employees now routinely discuss their gardening plans and dreams of a hobby farm over lunch. Photographs of whole foods guru Michael Pollan grace the covers of p...

It's no secret: We just don't watch TV commercials like we used to. We change channels, or, if we're watching a DVR-recorded show, we skip over them entirely. Like everything else, commercials are migrating online. This brave new world of online commercials sometimes resembles the old TV model, b...

There's a rumor that honor exists among thieves, but outside of Robin Hood, no one considers them a bunch of do-gooders. Yet there may be a bright side to their shadowy work, at least in terms of enterprise software. Why has Microsoft, a company known to be almost brutal in its license-protection pr...

Lacing a shoestring budget with enough green to get your startup up and running takes some finagling. Still, it can be done. If you can't find investor backing right now, then turn to alternative funding routes. You may want to start with your own hidden assets to find the cash you need. One example...

Funny thing about economic disasters: They tend to spawn a bevy of new businesses. It's not that a recession is the best time for pie-in-the-sky thinking; rather, it's when pie-in-the-mouth issues become most pressing. "The tantalizing successes of some startups, coupled perhaps with the rise in une...

Big businesses often use big bucks to go green. Small businesses, on the other hand, haven't a dollar to spare even for a good cause like saving the environment. Shouldn't they just pass on the whole green scheme -- at least until the economy improves? Not necessarily. "Effective power management is...

Nothing is as heart-wrenching to an e-tailer as watching a customer abandon a full cart just seconds before consummating the deal. To be so close yet so cashless is more than frustrating; it's harmful to an e-tailer's health. A virtual armory of tools are in use to woo, cajole, prompt and push consu...

You search, you find, you click "buy." Your e-commerce quest is nearly complete. You get to that checkout screen, and you think it's all good. Then the shipping charges get tacked onto your total, and you're left thinking that $9.95 deal didn't end up being such a bargain after all. Then there are t...

Job insecurity combined with financial fear-mongering has consumers slashing their budgets. Cellphone and premium TV services look like easy items to eliminate. Typically, however, those services tie users to contracts as well as three ugly words: early termination fees. Can customers break those co...

"With great power comes great responsibility" is an oft-quoted line from the first "Spider-Man" film. Without torturing the "web" metaphor beyond its breaking point, it also applies to your friendly neighborhood Internet service provider. A maze of legislation, regulations and business practices dat...

It's no fun shopping alone. That's the theory behind social shopping, a trend that combines social networking with e-commerce. It's a trend that's coming into its own as increasing numbers of online shoppers turn to the sites for fun, companionship, and camaraderie with other shoppers. "Shopping i...