E-Commerce Blog

One of the first jobs I ever held was as an auto mechanic and have had a passion for cars that predates my passion for technology. Watching the U.S. auto industry make mistake after mistake until it was nearly out of business has been particularly painful for any of us who love both cars and our country. I’m in the market for a new car myself, and there isn’t a single one from any of the Big Three that excites me at the moment. Based on how well the Japanese and Korean car companies are doing, I’m guessing I’m not alone.

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What If Steve Jobs Ran GM and Mark Hurd Ran Ford?

Sony Pictures Entertainment’s online video network, Crackle.com, has announced its upcoming season of online programming, which will start airing next month. Unlike much of the pro content accessible on the Internet, Crackle’s shows are primarily made for distribution exclusively over the Web, not regular TV. Crackle’s claim to fame is short, original episodes produced and filmed with the same basic high-quality production values that go into producing network or cable television. In other words, Crackle is not about blurry and poorly lit webisodes filmed in some dude’s basement.

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Crackle.com to Take a Crack at Online-Only Programming

“Cloud computing is not magical, but it is more economical, more easily scaled and more easily managed,” said Lance Walley, chief executive officer of Engine Yard, a hosting and infrastructure support company for Ruby on Rails applications. It’s getting more so, too. That’s because it’s so practical, more applications are sure to appear every year. “It’s like running your own generators or buying power from the public grid,” Walley said. “What this will do is make more apps appear and prosper than would have before.”

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Apps That Live Where the Air Is Rarified, Part 1

It was an interesting week last week, made even more interesting by a bunch of news services calling our U.S. president-elect either the new Hitler or a Marxist, suggesting these folks got some really bad eggnog. This should be filed under NOT HELPING. While tempted, I’ll avoid further mentioning that insanity in the hope they sober up and instead focus on some interesting tech moves. EMC formed Decho, which could be its most powerful unit yet focusing on cloud-based services for next generation sync and backup.

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EMC in Sync With Move to the Cloud

In four years, driving a car in the San Francisco Bay area may involve a variation of the “plug and play” concept. Think “plug and drive,” if the mayors of San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose and start-up Better Place have their way. The company, founded by former SAP executive and Wired magazine cover subject Shai Agassi, announced a private-public partnership Thursday with the three mayors and regional entities to begin building the support infrastructure for electric car use in the Bay Area.

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Agassi’s Electric Car Plan Gets Bay Area Jump-Start