E-Commerce Blog

From YouTube to Flickr, from Facebook to Twitter, images and sentiments from celebrations across the nation flooded into the Internet’s media-sharing sites, just moments after Barack Obama clinched the presidential election. Some were simple photos of TV screens claiming the Democrat’s win. Others were unfiltered images of jubilant celebrations captured immediately after polls closed Tuesday on the West Coast, when Obama was declared the president-elect.

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Obama Celebrations Rock Cyberspace

Pity the Patent and Trademark Office examining attorney who gave Dell the green light
propelling its trademark application for the term “cloud computing” toward the home stretch this summer. That particular individual was obviously unaware that the phrase had become, over the course of a year, one of the hottest buzzwords in the tech industry. Not surprisingly, the PTO quickly rescinded Dell’s initial approval for the trademark — after taking some lumps for allowing the application to get as far as it did.

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Cloud Computing, Part 1: Some Breaks in the Fog

Ask.com rolled out a new version of itself Monday. The revamped search engine includes a new user interface with three new technologies — DADs, DAFS and AnswerFarm — that offer users the ability to search the Web using commonly spoken language. The enhancements to Ask.com will help the site retain existing users and attract new, said Caroline Dangson, an IDC analyst. Ask.com’s new technologies differ from those used by competitors such as Google, Yahoo and MSN Search because they enable Web surfers to type real questions, instead of a series of keywords, according to Ask.

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Ask.com Taps Semantics for Smarter Search

Competition for building a profitable Web site is quite fierce. Yet many of us have dreams of a unique concept that will attract viewers, followed soon thereafter by advertisers. I’m not sure what percentage of aspirants succeed in this quest, but I would venture to guess that it’s a very low percentage. With the evolution of the Web to the Web 2.0, the task becomes even a bit more challenging. Though the competition is fierce in the Web 2.0 space, it’s encouraging to see a recently formed company quickly create critical mass.

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Building a Profitable Web 2.0 Web Site

During the best of times, raising capital is no walk in the park. Today, however, the task can be daunting. After the Bear Stearns debacle and the problems of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it is more difficult to raise capital than at any other time in recent history. Given today’s environment, a company seeking to raise capital has to be as focused as ever. Additionally, capital sources that might otherwise not be considered have to be aggressively approached.

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Turning to Hedge Funds for Financing? Beware the Death Spiral