E-Commerce Report: No Substitute for Getting Personal, if You Want the Perfect Fit
302781
Zafu.com believes it can help solve one of lifeÂs most vexing problems: how to find jeans that wonÂt make your backside look like a tractor-trailer.
181392
Blog: Now comes a site for people who want to sell old electronics gear online but don't want to become eBay Power Sellers.
531787
We all sneak in a few minutes each day to check a personal e-mail account, whether it be Hotmail, Gmail or Lycos. There are many factors to consider before choosing the right service: Storage size, security
95946
The Web 2.0-social networking phenomenon&#39;s seemingly irresistible force field has ensnared yet another niche: travel.Dopplr, a hosted service, allows users to track the travel schedule and whereabouts of themselves and their friends through a visual interface reminiscent of Facebook, rather than traditional means such as e-mail.Although the application is still in private-beta phase, its backers have wasted no time in courting workers in large enterprises -- those with the most intense travel schedules. While for most users, Dopplr is invite-only -- a buzz-building gimmick harkening back to the early days of Gmail -- the company more recently created the Dopplr 100. Employees from the 100 companies on the list can sign up for the service. Among the 100 are Sun, Microsoft, and IBM.Other startups, such as Tripit, are also trying to marry social networking and travel itineraries. Tripit takes user-submitted information such as airline and hotel confirmation e-mails and uses the data within to generate a tailored itinerary, replete with maps, local weather info and the like. It also allows users to create lists of friends.But Dopplr may stand out in terms of early buzz -- the company claims nearly 100,000 users -- and for quickly orienting itself around business users.Dopplr&#39;s chief operating officer, Taneli Tikka, said the company&#39;s enterprise ambitions arose from research into their existing user profiles. &quot;We analyzed the user base and found that clearly there were industries ... that were using it more than others,&quot; he said.James Governor, an analyst in the U.K. with Redmonk, is a vocal cheerleader for Dopplr. (Governor also shares an office with Dopplr founder Matt Biddulph, but says their business relationship ends there.) Governor recently issued a challenge to software companies listed on the Dopplr 100 through his blog, urging employees to sign up.He says Dopplr ultimately provides &quot;manufactured serendipity,&quot; for social and business-related scenarios.For example, if you had to travel to a distant city on business, you might well spend the night in your hotel room alone. But Dopplr could alert you to the presence of a friend or colleague who by happenstance is also in town, Governor said.Governor also notes the enduring presence of Web 2.0 conferences, despite the ever-growing richness of the communication-centric technologies that give rise to such events. &quot;Increasingly we work and meet in online interactions. .... That&#39;s not to say it&#39;s not rich, but it&#39;s no substitution for face-to-face contact.&quot;&quot;Some people don&#39;t like other people, and Dopplr probably isn&#39;t for them,&quot; he joked.Dopplr could also help enterprises save time and money, Governor speculated. A company might send three teams of workers with slightly overlapping responsibilities abroad on separate trips over time, for different reasons. &quot;With Dopplr you might be able say wait, let&#39;s send one guy on all three calls.&quot;The question outstanding, though, is how Dopplr will evolve its service into something fully enterprise-ready.One crucial topic for CIOs is security. Business users have given Dopplr feedback regarding this issue, according to Tikka. &quot;That&#39;s definitely something we need to carefully look at. We think companies should keep their confidential information with them and keep it confidential,&quot; he said. &quot;We would only be limited to kind of trivial stuff that doesn&#39;t really help if someone was to eavesdrop.&quot;In the meantime, Tikka said, Dopplr plans to monetize its service through a couple of avenues. Later this year, the company hopes to offer subscription-based premium accounts, which would include assorted value-added services to the basic platform. The company also intends to deliver finely tuned commercial advertising based on user profile information. Also in the works are plans to extend the Dopplr 100.
244035
A disposable device for men offers convenience, pleasure and safety in a single package. Unfortunately, it's too expensive for everyday use. Commentary by Regina Lynn.
691287
By James Daley  The internet has proved both a blessing and a curse when it comes to shopping around for the best financial products. While consumers now have instant access to more information than ever before, this has also made it much harder to find exactly what you're after.
558015
Life & style: A day-by-day wardrobe planner for a fashionable festive season - and not a party hat in sight
327777
The rich and fabulous now have their own online hot spots. Can we get in?
685405
The next-generation Net won't just be more portable and personal. It'll also harness the power of people, making it even easier to zero in on precisely what you're looking for.
23050
IT has never been able to prove it's true value to the business, and as such it is treated as a cost center, which is the first thing to get cut in poorly run companies. But with Web 2.0 booming, all the assumptions that you hold about IT should be put on notice: change is in the air. Web 2.0 companies have had to grow their own technology for economic functionality. Free means crap right? Wrong. How many of you keep Yahoo! Mail running on your BlackBerry's along with Exchange because you know Exchange will be down sooner or later?
669940
Easy shopping online makes custom inspectors' jobs tougher.
541063
Online dating site Match.com has made  its own resolution for 2008: to get out and meet more people,  or in this case, potential subscribers.
14800
My friend Brian Smith of Comparison Engines and SingleFeed is currently running a promotion for Search Engine Journal readers to help them submit nd optimize their shopping cart feed for free to Froogle / Google Base. Cyber Monday is only 10 days away.  If you&#8217;re not up on the shopping comparison engines, you&#8217;re potentionally [...]
486185
Privacy guaranteed? Sure, I'll cough up Ecommerce businesses could charge more for their wares if they implemented an established privacy technology, an academic report (pdf) has found. The study showed that online shoppers are prepared to pay more at sites that guarantee their privacy.â¦
231620
To the true technophile, personal digital devices are more anatomy than accessory, and the physical world is kind of a nuisance. A simple trip to the mall can be a distraction: You actually have to look up from your screen. Consumer electronics makers seem determined to change that.
322824
Nearly 50 percent of Internet users have searched for their own name online, but few regularly monitor their online presence with great regularity. Even more people -- 53 percent of Internet users to be exact -- have searched online for information about personal and business contacts.
582974
Too busy to sell your junk online? A growing crop of companies will do it for you -- for a healthy cut