E-commerce

Facebook announced this evening it is ready to begin testing its new local deals offering--the social-networking giant's effort to cash in on the feverish interest in social buying.

First revealed in March, Facebook Deals offers members local deals they can buy and also share with their friends on the network. The test will launch tomorrow in Austin, Atlanta, Dallas, San Diego, and San Francisco, but may be expanded to include other cities, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company said in statement today.

Users in the five test cities will be able to learn about offerings through e-mail and notifications, … Read more

Tablets may be starting to steal people away from their laptops, desktops, and even televisions, according to a survey released this week by Google's AdMob service.

The survey--administered by Google's mobile-centric advertising network, traffic-tracking service, and trend-spotting business--was conducted last month and had 1,430 respondents. It doesn't specify any particular brand of tablet device.

Among the survey's results, 77 percent of respondents said their PC use dropped after they got a tablet, and 43 percent said they spend more time with their slates than with desktops or laptops. As for television, one in three … Read more

Amazon scored tops in customer service out of 143 different companies, according to the Temkin Group.

Based on a survey of 6,000 different consumers in January, the 2011 Temkin Experience Ratings rated companies across a variety of industries based on recent dealings with customers. The survey looked at interactions online, in person, and over the phone, and asked consumers how their needs were met, how easy it was to do what they needed to do, and how they felt about the overall experience.

Retail chains did well in the survey, with Amazon followed by Costco, Lowe's, and Sam'… Read more

Samsung and Visa are joining forces to offer smartphone users the ability to make mobile payments through NFC technology in London next year as part of the 2012 Olympic games.

Using special Samsung Olympic and Paralympic Games mobile phones, attendees in London before and during the games will be able to buy items on the go through near-field communications, an emerging technology that lets people send payments by phone directly from their bank accounts to special terminals.

Samsung and Visa join a growing number of companies hopping onto the NFC bandwagon. Dangling the lure of wallet-free purchases, an array of … Read more

Amazon got the jump on Apple and Google this evening with the launch of a much-anticipated digital music locker service that allows users to store their music on the Web and then listen to their collections on computers with a Web browser or on Android devices.

Amazon Cloud Drive allows users to upload their digital music files--either AAC or MP3 formats--at their original bit rate to Amazon servers for storage and playback on any Web-connected PC, Mac, or Android device, wherever they are.

"Our customers have told us they don't want to download music to their work computers … Read more

It turned down a $6 billion acquisition offer. It wants a $25 billion initial public offering. It more or less created a breed of advertising that now every company wants into. It's grown faster than just about any company, ever. But according to multiple signals across the Web, things may be afoul at Groupon.

The latest is a chart released by Yipit, a start-up that aggregates cities' daily-deal offerings--more than 400 sites' worth--into a customizable digest that highlights individual users' preferences. Yipit said in a blog post today that it found a 32 percent decline in Groupon revenue per … Read more

The number of people accessing their bank or brokerage accounts through mobile devices surged 54 percent in the fourth quarter last year compared with the same period in 2009, according to a new report from ComScore.

During the fourth quarter of 2010, 29.8 million Americans tapped into their bank, credit, or brokerage accounts via cell phones and other mobile devices, according to the Mobile Financial Advisor report released yesterday.

Drilling down further, 18.6 million people accessed their financial accounts via a mobile browser, 10.8 million used a mobile app, and 8.1 million used text messaging, said … Read more

Some things require explanation. Some merely leap into the mind and boggle it.

Such is the effect of the circumstances surrounding the arrest yesterday of Marissa Mark of Jersey City, N.J.

Mark, 28, is accused of hiring a hitman to kill a woman five years ago when Mark was living in Allentown, Pa. The reasons Mark allegedly wanted the woman dead aren't exactly clear, but a man's love--or a lack thereof--may have something to do with it.

Yet Mark's case is made far stranger in that she stands accused of turning to Hireahitman.net.

Perhaps you … Read more

Owners of Google's Nexus S smartphones can soon use the device to process mobile payments via near-field communications tech, via software from a company called Charge Anywhere.

Charge Anywhere's existing mobile payments application has already allowed owners of iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android devices to process credit card payments with their phones and a dedicated reader to swipe the cards.

But the latest version to the software, announced at yesterday's CTIA trade show, turns the Nexus S phone into a full mobile payment terminal. This means that owners can process MasterCard PayPass and Visa Blink payments remotely using … Read more