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America Online, Inc. and PC retailer CompUSA, Inc. have forged a two-year alliance to sell a new line of personal computers pre-loaded with AOL and CompuServe software. AOL has about 20 million subscribers, and CompUSA is the largest PC retailer in the United States Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but all PCs with the CompUSA brand name will ...

In a response to the widening controversy over Internet sales taxes, representatives from across the United States opened debate on a proposal to simplify state sales taxes at a meeting of the National Governors Association in Atlanta, Georgia According to the NGA, the proposed plan will be one that "takes advantage of new software technology to re...

E-commerce security provider Entrust Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: ENTU) has entered into an agreement to secure e-Scotia.com, a newly established subsidiary of Canada-based Scotiabank. The pact comes on the heels of the recently-launched Entrust Secure Enabled E-Business (SEE) program, which was designed to help define security standards for firms that conduct business over the Internet...

When Bank One Corp. opened WingspanBank.com two months ago, it seemed to be just another foray into cyberspace by a major brick-and-mortar financial giant That was two months ago. Since then, the new online bank has been acting more like a startup than most startups. It has even begun to compete against its parent: Certificates of deposit at Wingsp...

In an attempt to make Internet users redefine their conception of a 'search service,' ReturnMe.com has launched an online lost and found for items misplaced in the wide, wide real world ReturnMe.com teams the power of the Internet with FedEx's delivery network. Items registered with the service are outfitted with an ID tag that provides a tracking ...

According to a new report from Forrester Research, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR), the "logistics chaos" of fulfilling online orders remains a serious liability to virtual retailers and the industry as a whole The early success experienced by online retailers -- as well as traditional businesses that have expanded onto the Internet -- will beget more difficul...

Vitamins.com, the online supplier of vitamins and other nutritional supplements, announced today that it has raised $22.5 million (US$) in funding and will now be strategically allied with retail drugstore chain Phar-Mor. The round of financing was led by Acacia Venture Partners in San Francisco, with several other venture capital firms participating. Investors include CIBC Capital Partners, Demuth, Folger & Wetherill and Grove Street Advisors...

Just days after rolling out a new feature it hoped would give shoppers another reason to browse its online book shelves, Amazon.com yielded to complaints from some book buyers that their privacy had been invaded. The Internet's top bookseller will now revamp their 'Purchase Circles,' which were designed to steer online gift-buyers to selected book, music or video selections...

Last week, British Prime Minister Tony Blair commissioned a blue-ribbon panel to examine why U.K. e-commerce companies lag miserably behind the United States, Germany and France I rarely get political in this column, but Mr. Blair and his counterparts in the U.S. need to realize that they are flying blind. Similar Internet-related studies are sprou...

TradeCast, a Houston, Texas-based online brokerage firm, announced Wednesday that it has received a $40 million (US$) investment from two Texas billionaires. The bankroll is expected to drive the company's attempt to become the Internet's dominant brokerage destination For their $40 million, brothers Sid and Lee Bass received a 40 percent stake. Th...

In an effort to close the technology gap between America's white and black citizens, U.S. Commerce Secretary William Daley publicly pledged to address the issue at a national conference this fall. D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams, who is black and a Dartmouth graduate, joined Daley in the announcement Washington, the center of the U.S. government, is "E...

This week, a coalition of networking solution providers teamed up with Neal Nelson & Associates to produce a network stress test based on the increasingly popular Linux operating system (OS) A joint statement disclosed that Cabletron Systems (NYSE: CS), Xylan an Alcatel Company (NYSE: ALA) and FORE Systems are utilizing Nelson's test labs to "evalu...

America Online, Inc. (NYSE: AOL) has had a busy week in the fashion business, adding two new groups of stores to its Shop@AOL online mall. The largest deal, with Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS), is a three-year joint marketing and commerce agreement that will put the Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy on AOL's sites. In addition, AOL will add Cache, Inc.'s (Nasdaq: CACH) specialty women's clothing to its shopping lineup...

On the verge of an initial public offering, Women.com announced Wednesday that it has licensed its content to a Japanese women's site in its first international venture The San Mateo, California-based company said that the agreement with Mitsui Comtek Corp., the online arm of an international trading company, calls for its content to be phased into...

Online brokerage firm Web Street Securities, Inc. has filed for a $50 million (US$) initial stock sale to raise money for expansion and the buildup of its online capacities The Deerfield, Illinois-based brokerage firm, run by brothers Joseph and Avi Fox, did not disclose how many shares would be in the IPO, their price range, or other details. Howe...

Direct e-commerce company Xoom.com (Nasdaq: XMCM) announced today that it has acquired 100 percent of e-mail security company Private One, Inc. The move is an effort to strengthen MightyMail, the direct marketing e-mail solutions provider that it acquired in June. Financial terms were not disclosed Xoom.com will integrate Private One's secure encry...

Online postage pioneer E-Stamp Corporation unveiled its service on the Microsoft Office Update Web site Thursday, just over two weeks after the U.S. Postal Service gave the go-ahead to sell stamps over the Internet The San Mateo, California-based company became the first of two ventures given approval by the Postal Service to unveil its service nat...

The antitrust case against Bill Gates & Co. is often the subject of this column. Gates, the world's richest man, attracts an exorbitant amount of admiration and loathing -- as do most giants of industry The fact that his products have been instrumental in transforming the fabric of our economy from industrial to high-tech only makes his worshipers ...

As 16 to 24 year-olds continue to emerge as a dominant e-commerce force, Student Advantage, Inc. and Embark.com have staked a claim to the Internet-savvy college market Student Advantage (Nasdaq: STAD), which recently formed a strategic alliance with Barnes & Noble's textbooks.com online retail site, markets a variety of products and membership ser...

AXA Placement Innovation, the investment fund of AXA, has added fuel to the open-source operating system (OS) movement by completing an equity investment in Linux vendor MandrakeSoft "We believe that MandrakeSoft is poised to be a dominant player in the emerging but potentially huge Linux market," commented Peter Bieliczky of the AXA Investment Man...