E-commerce

Amazon suffers some homepage glitches

It looks like Amazon is having some spotty service on its homepage right now, but shoppers can still access the site through its other pages.

When visiting www.amazon.com through the Web or on mobile, some users are getting the error message "Http/1.1 Service Unavailable." Twitter users started complaining about the apparent outage around noon Pacific time. Accessing the site through the mobile app or one of the other internal links doesn't seem to be a problem. For example, www.amazon.com/kindle and www.amazon.com/music are working just find.

We've … Read more

Shutterstock's new tools revamp photo and video search

It's a challenge for anybody selling a wide range of anything online: how do you get the right products in front of the right customers?

Shutterstock, which sells stock-art photos and videos to customers such as ad agencies and PowerPoint presenters, has the matchmaking problem in spades. With 550,000 active customers and more than 23.7 million images, pairing the right buyer with the right photo isn't easy.

Which is why the New York-based company, which went public last October, is retooling how it presents its products to better compete with iStockphoto and other rivals.

Shutterstock has … Read more

Uber car service battles to stay in Colorado

Uber is headed toward another obstacle from city officials, and this time it's in Denver, Colo.

The state's Public Utilities Commission is proposing changes to the rules that regulate motor vehicle transportation, which could essentially shut UberDenver down.

The transportation startup announced today that it's going to fight to keep its service in the state. Uber has created a petition for Colorado residents to sign in support of Uber. The company is also urging locals to e-mail the state's governor, John Hickenlooper, and the chairman and director of the Public Utilities Commission.

"Since our launch … Read more

Amazon profit falls by almost half, but sales rise 22 percent

Amazon's golden touch continues.

Despite missing analysts' earnings estimates for the fourth quarter -- by a country mile, actually -- Amazon's stock traded up significantly in after-hours trading. Amazon's net income fell 45 percent to $97 million, or 21 cents per diluted share, compared with $177 million, or 38 cents a share, for the same period a year ago.

In the quarter, which ended December 31, Amazon continued its double-digit sales growth with sales up 22 percent to $21.27 billion.

That fell short of the average earnings estimate of 29 cents-per-share. How to explain the initial … Read more

Internet, social media least trusted industries for privacy

Internet and social media ranked at the bottom on a list of the most trusted industries for privacy, according to the Ponemon Institute.

Released yesterday, Ponemon's "2012 Most Trusted Companies for Privacy" was compiled from a survey of U.S. adults asked to name the five companies they trust the most to protect the privacy of their personal information.

Based on more than 6,700 responses, the Top 20 list did not include several tech players that had been on it in past years.

Apple failed to make the list for the first time in four years. … Read more

Newegg wins key 'shopping cart' lawsuit against patent troll

Newegg last week won an important ruling that could have a profound impact on e-commerce.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit last week ruled (PDF) that Newegg has not violated patents held by a company called Soverain related to the function of shopping carts and other e-commerce technologies. The court found that Soverain's claims -- that Newegg was violating its patents through its online shopping cart -- were "invalid for obviousness."

Ars Technica was first to report on the judgement.

Soverain doesn't actually make use of its patents in an e-commerce business. … Read more

PayPal hit by outages and other glitches today

PayPal is suffering from site issues today, according to its U.K. Twitter feed, and is striving to fix them:

We've been made aware of site issues today & are working to get this resolved. Apologies for any inconvenience. Will update asap. Tks, MW

Downrightnow.com, which tracks the online availability of different sites, has recorded a string of outages for PayPal today. As of around 8:30 a.m. PT, PayPal had been up for the previous 30 minutes or so. But the site had previously been down for one long stretch and several shorter stretches starting early … Read more

Shocker: B&N to cut a third of stores over next decade -- WSJ

Barnes & Noble plans to close as many as a third of its stores over the next decade as it continues to grapple with consumers' move to digital books, the Wall Street Journal reported today.

The Journal, citing Mitchell Klipper, chief executive of Barnes & Noble's retail group, said the company will have 450 to 500 stores in 10 years, down from 689 as of Jan. 23. It also currently has a separate chain of 674 college stores.

Barnes & Noble has shrunk its retail presence over the past several years as e-book readers and tablets have become more … Read more

Now we're talking: Amazon buys text-to-speech provider Ivona

Amazon has acquired text-to-speech technology provider Ivona Software for an undisclosed amount, broadening its in-house capabilities as the Internet retailer continues to push its tablet business.

The two companies have collaborated in the past, Amazon noted, with Ivona's technology powering the text-to-speech, voice guide, and explore-by-touch features on Kindle Fire tablets.

In addition, Poland-based Ivona delivers text-to-speech products and services to thousands of developers, businesses, and customers around the world. It offers voice and language portfolios with 44 voices in 17 languages, and it's developing even more.

Amazon has been expanding its tablet business to take on companies … Read more