E-Commerce Blog

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer extolled the benefits of cloud computing and spoke about the software giant’s increasing commitment to it in a speech at the University of Washington on Thursday. Microsoft has clearly been moving toward the cloud over recent years. All of its products, including Windows, Office and Xbox, are in some way connected to it. However, reading between the lines of Ballmer’s speech suggests the company may be ramping up for a major new cloud-based initiative.

Read the original:
Microsoft Puts All Its Eggs in Cloud Basket

Videoconferencing systems have existed since the 1960s and since then, these systems have slowly been integrated into the enterprise. The vision of videoconferencing has always been clear in theory, as depictions from “The Jetsons,” “Star Wars,” “Star Trek,” and other science-fiction titles have shown. As companies realized the value of synchronizing real-time, interactive, immersive nonverbal communicative cues with the verbal conversations already available through the telephone, they sought similar solutions.

Read the original:
I See You: Video Collaboration in the Enterprise

The U.S. appears to be embarking on a new strategy for dealing with the restrictions China places on Internet companies, fueled in large part by Google’s recent dustup with the Chinese government over its censorship demands. The company testified before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Tuesday, urging the U.S. government to bring the censorship issue to the World Trade Organization for redress. The U.S. Trade Representative reportedly is seriously considering the possibility of characterizing Internet censorship as a trade barrier.

See the rest here:
Google Urges US to Take Censorship Brawl to WTO

Document-sharing site Scribd.com launched a new feature Wednesday allowing users to easily transfer many of the site’s 10 million books, magazines and documents to mobile devices, including Amazon’s Kindle, the Nook e-reader and the Apple iPhone. The feature works differently for each device. For some devices, such as the Kindle or iPhone, for instance, it’s a simple matter of entering an email address or telephone number to which Scribd should send the content.

More:
Scribd Spreads the Words From PCs to Mobile Devices

With its purchase of Vudu, an online service that delivers video to Internet-ready TVs and Blu-ray disc players, Walmart is hoping its sequel turns out better than its previous attempts to enter the online movie distribution business. The deal will put Walmart back in competion with the likes of Netflix, Redbox, Best Buy, Blockbuster and Amazon.com. It may also force other big-box retailers, like Target, to find video distribution partners. “It will be a defining service for Walmart,” said Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst at Parks Associates.

The rest is here:
Walmart Buys Vudu to Take Another Stab at Online Movie Distribution