Beth Cox

Upgrades in the highly competitive travel space abound as Travelocity.com today deployed a speech-driven customer service application and Hotwire delivered more cities, more hotels, detailed maps and an improved Hotel Ratings Guide. Fort Worth-based Travelocity rolled out a voice application from iVB Enterprise Solutions, a division of InterVoice-Brite that uses advanced speech technologies from SpeechWorks […]

Web search operation Google Inc. named the former CEO of Novell Inc. as its chief executive, succeeding 28-year-old Larry Page, one of the site’s founders. The privately held Mountain View, Calif.-based company selected Eric E. Schmidt, 46, who had been appointed chairman of Google’s board of directors last March. Schmidt brings more than 20 years […]

Content management software company Mobius Management Systems Inc., which just last week announced a return to profitability, is teaming with Hewlett-Packard Co. to offer an integrated method of effectively managing, delivering and retrieving corporate reports and documents. Rye, N.Y.-based Mobius said that the solution, incorporating H-P’s Dazel output technology, will allow customers of both companies […]

IBM Corp. launched a new WebSphere e-commerce offering that allows media companies to sell and deliver digital assets via the Internet. WebSphere Commerce Suite for Digital Media, is designed to help media companies streamline operations and generate new revenues by simplifying the process of distributing digital media assets online, IBM said. Separately, Burlington, Mass.-based Open […]

No matter where you go these days, online travel sites seems to be the way to get the tickets, and there’s so much news from this space it’s practically a cottage industry. Just today the new airline-backed travel site Orbitz signed a deal with 12 international air carriers. AOL’s Digital City signed a pact with […]

In a stunning turnaround earnings report, name-your-own-price e-commerce company Priceline.com reported its first-ever profitable quarter — a second-quarter pro forma profit of 6 cents a share on record revenues of $364.8 million. Wall Street analysts on average had expected pro forma profit of about 1 cent a share. Pro forma net income was $11.7 million. […]

Omaha, Neb.-based Internet trading pioneer Ameritrade Holding Corp. is acquiring the online trading arm of National Discount Brokers Corp., operator of discount brokerage site NDB.com, for about $154 million in common stock. National Discount Brokers is an indirect subsidiary of Deutsche Bank AG, which is exiting from the U.S. online brokerage business. Ameritrade said the […]

San Francisco-based Internet credit card company NextCard Inc. signed a marketing alliance with CompuCredit Corp. aimed at making credit card offers “to consumers overlooked by traditional credit card providers.” The arrangement, perhaps an offer made in heaven for recently right-sized dot com-ers, provides consumers who are not eligible for a NextCard the opportunity to receive […]

Amazon.com, which already has online store deals with Toys ‘R’ Us for general toys and baby-oriented merchandise, is launching a new co-branded shop called Imaginarium.com, a specialty and learning toy store accessible from the Amazon site. Imaginarium.com LLC is an affiliate of Toys “R” Us and will be the Internet companion to the learning toy […]

Troubled dynamic pricing technology company FairMarket Inc. scored a significant customer win today by signing Comet, said to be the UK’s No. 2 online retailer, as a user of its auction services. Comet, part of the Kingfisher retail group, operates the UK’s second most trafficked retail Web site after the retail leader Argos. The new […]

Microsoft’s MSN Network signed a deal with San Francisco-based Keen Inc. that will bring its users live advice and online content regarding subjects such as computer help, astrology and financial advice. The move marks a major ratification of Keen’s business model. Under the agreement, Keen’s pay-per-minute service will be offered across a variety of MSN […]

Expedia Inc. launched a private label booking solution called Worldwide Travel Exchange (WWTE) and said AA.com, the American Airlines Web site, is the first customer. American will add hotel and car booking services to its site. Financial arrangements were not disclosed. WWTE is a division of Travelscape.com Inc., a subsidiary of Expedia , which is […]