Spotlight Features

Botnets represent a major security threat to e-commerce. The effectiveness of this malicious software has gone far beyond the realm of simple annoyance and inconvenience to a major global, technical and economic challenge. The botnet security issue has become so difficult that federal agencies and t...

Engaging the customer has always been fundamental to doing good business. It's just that now that engagement often starts in digital, social media realms. The trick is to figure out how to make one's content as interesting as all the other content that shows up in the newsfeed, and this is where soc...

The U.S. government's pursuit of cloud-based technology has been characterized by a blizzard of policies, directives, technical studies, proposed contract vehicles and conferences. The federal "cloud first" initiative, requiring agencies to give priority consideration to cloud solutions for IT opera...

The U.S. government is learning quickly that achieving the next big thing in information technology depends upon implementing a huge number of little things. For federal IT managers, that big thing is the cloud. Federal agencies have busily pursued cloud solutions since December 2010, when the gover...

The dissemination of content throughout the Web has forced companies and marketing firms to rethink how they advertise. The swell of venues that are housing content has dueling effects: It increases the potential reach of an advertisement but also dilutes the customer pool for the original publisher...

It can be a little tricky talking about how and why media outlets allow, and indeed encourage, the diffusion of their content throughout the Web. For starters, people tend to be tightlipped about this strategy. No one from CNN, Fox News, MSNBC or Viacom agreed to speak on the record for this article...

Fitness instructor and personal trainer Yu Hannah Kim has always believed that fitness should be available to anyone. Now, with the launch of her new site, Yufit, she's making that dream a reality. Yufit offers streaming videos for everything from cardio kickboxing and core burn workouts to yoga and...

As far as exclusive interviews go, you could do a lot worse than getting Herman Cain, and a lot worse than getting him on Nov. 28. That was, after all, the day that a woman unleashed accusations of a 13-year affair with Cain, the third racy allegation levied against Cain in a matter of weeks. And th...

When Paul Glover founded Ithaca Hours, a local currency in Ithaca, N.Y., more than 20 years ago, he didn't intend to start a movement. He just wanted to give people in the town a way to invest in their community and each other, even when they didn't have enough traditional dollars to do so. "I saw t...

Travel is, by its nature, an adventure, and alternative travel companies are making it more unpredictable than ever. Want to sleep on an stranger's couch, for instance? There's a company for that: CouchSurfing. "CouchSurfing addresses the human need for connection and delivers inspiring relationship...

It's been difficult in recent years for many people and small businesses to get the loans they need from banks and other traditional lenders, but there are a variety of alternative models. One is person-to-person lending, offered by companies like Prosper, which essentially lets individual people ...

Restaurant owners, dentists, doctors, graphic designers, realtors and everyday people are all doing it: bartering. Though it's an old concept, it's getting a new twist in the world of e-commerce. "This is the new method for an old practice, with e-commerce," said Paul Bocheck, CEO of BarterQuest. Wh...

Stephanie Allen started making and freezing meals for her own family 16 years ago, developing a collection of recipes that worked especially well. The mother of two knew how important it was to plan and make meals ahead. That experience led Allen to cofound Dream Dinners, now a nationwide company th...

Someone in the mood for a steak can always go down to the grocery store or head out to a restaurant to get one. However, some shoppers prefer to stay home, go online, place an order, and wait for a couple of days for a frozen steak to appear on their doorstep, packed tightly in a Styrofoam container...

Cookbooks have always been about sharing recipes, connecting with others and figuring out what to make for dinner. Now, however, digital cookbooks, apps and other new formats are bringing these activities into the 21st century. Chefs and cookbook authors are starting to recognize that cookbooks -- a...