InternetNews Staff

Community site operation theglobe.com launched a group buying club powered by Accompany Inc. The customized club, where prices drop as more people buy, is designed to leverage theglobe.com’s network of interest-based communities. “The group buying e-commerce model is tailor-made for globeclubs,” said Bryan Wiener, general manager of theglobe.com. “For instance, members of an MP3 club […]

Bias-free product recommendation service Active Buyer’s Guide has been licensed from Active Research by LookSmart, BizRate.com, Productopia and DealTime.com. Disney’s GO Network, Lycos and mySimon are among other users. LookSmart will not only deploy Active Buyer’s Guide on its own site, but also syndicate the service to its user network, which includes MSN, Netscape Netcenter, […]

Catalina Marketing Corp. said that its online operation, SuperMarkets Online Inc., has been issued a U.S. patent for a system and method for providing shopping aids and incentives to consumers through a computer network. “We have a very unique method of providing consumers with incentive offers and shopping aids such as coupons, rebates, samples and […]

With this year’s online holiday shopping season predicted to be the biggest so far, RedCart this week launched its shopping cart tool designed to allow users to browse and select items from multiple online merchants and purchase all their items with a single click. RedCart.com is affiliated with more than 20 top online stores, including […]

E-commerce developer Synergy Brands Inc. Wednesday signed a strategic agreement with Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. to expand the revenue base and brand identity of their jointly owned BeautyBuys.com Inc. Sinclair (SBGI) will provide approximately $69.4 million in television and radio airtime, media services and cash in exchange for a 50 percent equity interest in BeautyBuys.com. […]

The Cyber-Comm consortium has unveiled a solution for secure payment on e-commerce sites which relies on bank servers for part of its protection system. The new payment system is expected to be released by February of next year. The solution, based on the SET protocol, requires a smart card reader. By the time of the […]

Hitachi has announced that it intends to restructure its operations to focus on Internet-related businesses. Hitachi joins fellow electrical/electronics equipment manufacturers Fujitsu and NEC in declaring a corporate Net focus. The firm described the “i.e. [information electronics] Hitachi Plan,” announced on Friday, as “a medium-term business plan aimed at using the company’s wealth of knowledge […]

TEK DigiTel Corp. and Teltone Corp. Tuesday announced plans to jointly develop Internet telephony tools for the enterprise market. TEK DigiTel delivers communications hardware for use in small- and medium-sized businesses. Teltone is a leading provider of software-based telecommuting solutions. The companies said they will use their combined technology to provide voice over IP (VoIP) […]

Japanese-based Kimec Corp. agreed Tuesday to use SeeItFirst.com’s interactive streaming video technology to create Web-based content that will be used to promote Kobe and the surrounding region as a center of industry and technology. Kimec will use SeeItFirst.com technology to elevate the Company’s information service projects as well as promote the City of Kobe’s online […]

Set-top box software developer OpenTV Corp. Tuesday exploded onto the Nasdaq and Amsterdam exchanges. The company, which is 70 percent-held by Amsterdam-based interactive media company MIH Limited (MIHL), set the offering price at $20 per share. The stock spiked to 60 in mid-morning trading on the Nasdaq, an increase of 200 percent. OpenTV (OPTV) placed […]

Just-released market research from IDC (International Data Corp.) pegs the region’s online population at 21.8 million by the end of this year, with spending over US$2.2 billion. These figures, from the second of IDC’s biannual updates of Internet user forecasts, include 13 Asia/Pacific countries excluding Japan. This firm contrasts this with its figures of 12.9 […]

MeetChina.com, China’s largest cross-border e-commerce service provider, is partnering with US-based Kinzan.com to enable direct Web-based sales by Chinese merchants in global markets. MeetChina.com will use Kinzan.com’s SiteMan software and services to launch the second phase of its business-to-business e-commerce portal. The portal, co-produced by MeetChina.com and the Electronic Information Center of China’s Ministry of […]