It's likely not illegal, and it may not even be improper, but the fact that security consultant Ron Bowes gathered and aggregated the information from about 100 million Facebook profiles has created quite a stir. Bowes created his data torrent to aid the development of a password-cracking-protection tool, he has said. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/29/10 10:45 PM

At face value, Motorola turned in respectable second quarter earnings: It posted revenue of $5.414 billion, which, although down slightly from the $5.497 billion realized the same period a year earlier, nonetheless beat analyst expectations of approximately $5.19 billion. The company also posted mobile smartphone shipments of 2.7 million units in Q2, up from 2.3 million in the first quarter. Here, doubts begin to set in. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/29/10 7:37 PM

CRM is a complex thing. It involves understanding your customers and your own business -- two difficult things to fully grasp under any circumstances -- and then using technology to convert that understanding into a positive impact on your business. Customers, and to a lesser extent your business, are always changing. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/29/10 1:00 PM

There's no denying that everyone needs a little love from time to time, but for those of us in the FOSS community, that need can be particularly acute. After all, rarely a week goes by without some affront from those we had hoped were our friends. Case in point? Dell. Imagine our surprise, then -- nay, outright joy! -- when none other than Neelie Kroes lavished a heaping helping of love upon the FOSS community. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/29/10 1:00 PM

AT&T Mobility and Apple iPhone have been successful together, but every coin has two sides. The other side has been a wireless data logjam. Could that problem finally be getting under control? AT&T has been working very hard to do just that, said Ralph de la Vega, AT&T mobility and consumer markets president and CEO, at last week's Fortune Brainstorm Tech Conference in Aspen, Colo. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/29/10 1:00 PM

The pressure on major Web site operators and online advertisers to do a better job of protecting consumers' privacy continues to mount. On Tuesday, Senator John Kerry, D-Mass., said he plans to introduce legislation that would "give people more control over how their personal information is collected and distributed online." www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/28/10 5:42 PM

The new age of sustainability is like a three-legged stool, and over the last couple of weeks I've discussed my ideas for the first two legs, including customers and energy or transportation. The third leg involves products, and this idea takes some thinking to fully comprehend. Most of us don't think a lot about products because they are ubiquitous. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/28/10 1:00 PM

In the struggle to grow revenues in tighter markets, most companies are pushing their marketing departments to provide greater market coverage and deliver more sales opportunities. Yet statistics reveal that an astonishing 79 percent of leads generated by corporate marketing departments are never contacted by corporate sales groups. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/28/10 1:00 PM

Yahoo Japan has announced that it will begin a relationship with Google to power its search functions and also administer ads that appear on the site. In this deal, the company is not following in the steps of its U.S. counterpart, Yahoo, which cut a deal with Microsoft's Bing, announced last year. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/27/10 11:22 PM

Citigroup customers who do mobile banking on an iPhone should head to the Apple App Store immediately for an upgrade. A flaw in the Citigroup mobile banking iPhone app released in March 2009 causes personal information to be saved in a hidden file on the mobile device, the banking giant revealed in a letter to customers dated July 20, a day after it released an upgraded application. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/27/10 6:12 PM

For most systems vendors, the launch of a next-generation server platform qualifies as a pretty big deal. After all, such occasions provide vendors multiple opportunities to strut their visionary stuff, roll out a host of satisfied customers, and highlight their current/future strategies. However, some next-gen platforms are -- literally and figuratively -- bigger than others. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/27/10 1:00 PM

Retailers' worst nightmare has indeed come to bear: American consumers have permanently changed their buying habits, according to research by several firms. Gone are the days of shopping as a pastime. And, for all practical purposes, brand loyalty has just about evaporated. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/27/10 1:00 PM

In the obscure world of copyright law, it is now technically OK to jailbreak an iPhone. That's according to a Library of Congress ruling, which has designated replacing the operating system of the phone with a less restrictive one to fall under the "fair use" guidelines. Fair use is the standard under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that permits some specific uses of copyrighted material by non-copyright holders. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/26/10 11:05 PM

Hacking the technological protections built into copyrighted digital material in order to view or use the content does not necessarily contravene the provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the Fifth Circuit Court in New Orleans ruled on Friday. The move could send shock waves through the music, TV and movie industries, as well as companies in the business of digital protection. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/26/10 10:44 PM

Apple may soon encounter another round of product shortages as one of its top component providers acknowledged it's having trouble keeping up with the high demand for Cupertino's iPad device. LG Display can't meet Apple's growing demand for the iPad touchscreens LG makes, Kwon Young-soo, LG Display's CEO, told reporters recently. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/26/10 7:57 PM

Its 9:00 a.m. on Monday morning, and Fred from the ABC call center is logging onto the company's metrics portal to find out his first call resolution and average handle time. He also has access to a complete set of other metrics that provide a composite view of his performance over the previous week. His manager is able to see team's aggregate metrics and drill down further to see individual performances. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/26/10 1:00 PM

Two weeks ago, I described how universities are encroaching on the space of traditional venture capitalists, initiating small funds to commercialize their own research. Their deal flow, driven by internal entrepreneurs, should move at a healthy clip, because the lousy returns of the last 10 years will force many mid-tier venture funds out of business. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/26/10 1:00 PM

Welcome to a panel discussion that examines the need for improved common defenses -- including advancing cooperation between enterprise architects and chief security officers -- to jointly defend against burgeoning cyber security threats. The risks are coming from inside enterprises, as well as myriad external sources. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/24/10 1:00 PM

Rumors are swirling that Verizon may phase out its unlimited data plans. The catalyzing factor could be the launch of the Motorola Droid X, which is widely considered to be Verizon's answer to the iPhone. The Droid X brings many of the data-intensive elements of current-generation smartphones to the Verizon network, including video streaming, a wide range of music apps, and social networking. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/23/10 5:28 PM

Three years after Apple launched the iPhone, mobile commerce has reached a tipping point, driving retailers to change the way they think about their businesses. Mobile commerce has evolved from its origins as a marketplace for "virtual" goods like ringtones and applications to one enabling the sale of "real" products, particularly low-cost items that offer immediate gratification. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/23/10 1:00 PM

The use of analytics in contact centers enables management to extract critical business intelligence that would otherwise be lost. By analyzing and categorizing recorded conversations between companies and their customers, useful information can be discovered relating to strategy, product, process, customer satisfaction/retention, and operational issues. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/23/10 1:00 PM

Amazon.com has signed a deal with the Wylie Agency to offer 20 books from big-name authors exclusively on the Kindle Store for two years, effectively cutting publishers out of the equation. The titles include Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead , Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint , Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita , and Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas . www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/22/10 7:44 PM

Speculation about Apple's plans for ending the agreement that makes AT&T the exclusive carrier for the iPhone in the U.S. is heating up again. The guessing game went into full gear on Wednesday with reports of an anonymous source within T-Mobile saying there was an 80 percent chance that Apple would strike an iPhone distribution deal with that carrier by Q3 of this year. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/22/10 6:40 PM

This is an interesting story that no one is really talking about yet. If all goes according to the plans of Philip Falcone, Harbinger Capital Partners will turn into the newest competitor in the wireless industry. "LightSquared," as the new venture will be called, will offer a wireless data service that sounds a lot like what Clearwire is doing. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/22/10 1:00 PM

Apple's third quarter, which saw revenues hit an all-time high of $15.7 billion, was fueled largely by sales of the iPad, iPhone and Mac lines. However, Apple has of late seemed to throw most of its marketing muscle behind the iPad and the iPhone 4, generally neglecting its former crown jewels, the iPod and Mac lines. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/21/10 7:40 PM

Facebook, one of the most popular sites on the Web -- now claiming 500 million users -- also has the dubious distinction of being one of the lowest-ranked in terms of customer satisfaction. Facebook scored a paltry 64 on the 100-point scale of the 2010 American Customer Satisfaction Index E-Business Report. That puts it in the bottom 5 percent of all measured private sector companies. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/21/10 7:17 PM

If Apple had a credo, the aphorism on its Cupertino headquarters might read: "Neither antenna problems or dropped calls, nor irreplaceable batteries, nor lack of a USB port or flash support, nor premium pricing, nor lack of a definitive jailbreak date for the iPhone can keep users from pre-ordering and purchasing Apple devices in record breaking numbers." www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/21/10 1:00 PM

Apple rocked Wall Street once more Tuesday when it announced a blowout 2010 third fiscal quarter. "It was a phenomenal quarter that exceed our expectations all around," Apple chairman and CEO Steve Jobs said. "The iPad is off to a terrific start, more people are buying Macs than ever before, and we have amazing new products still to come this year." www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/21/10 1:00 PM

Last time, we explored how we can make IT more sustainable by improving data center energy use. Managing energy use is the most well-understood form of sustainability we have, but it is largely an internal form of sustainability practice. If we intend to make our businesses sustainable, then we also need to consider sustainability in customer-facing business processes. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/21/10 1:00 PM

Amazon has announced a dramatic upswing in e-book sales. For the first half of 2010 it sold three times as many Kindle books as it did in the first half of 2009. For the full second quarter, it reported sales of 143 Kindle books for every 100 hardcover books sold. Over the past month, it sold 180 Kindle books for every 100 hardcover books. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/20/10 7:49 PM

As if it didn't already have enough problems explaining why the iPhone 4 has reception issues, Apple also finds itself trying to convince two high-ranking members of the U.S. Congress that it's not invading its customers' privacy. Reps. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Joe Barton, R-Texas, asked Apple CEO Steve Jobs, in a letter dated June 24, to clarify recent changes to Apple's privacy policy. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/20/10 6:26 PM

Branding is often undervalued. The mantra at many companies is "leads and sales, leads and sales," with most marketing investments going toward lead generation activities. In addition, marketers often believe that branding results are difficult to measure. The Internet has relegated these notions to the garbage bin. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/20/10 1:00 PM

Seven months after Avaya closed its acquisition of Nortel and simultaneously released a road map for integrating the two product lines, Avaya has delivered on that plan. It is releasing a cornucopia of new and enhanced products that largely follow the promises Avaya made in January. "Most users on both sides of the aisle were frightened or skeptical of what Avaya might do," said Drew Kraus, an analyst with Gartner. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/20/10 1:00 PM

Rackspace Hosting on Monday announced the launch of OpenStack, an open source cloud platform designed to foster technology standards and cloud interoperability. NASA is collaborating on the project. Rackspace is donating the code that powers its Cloud Files and Cloud Servers public-cloud offerings to OpenStack, while NASA will provide the technology that powers the NASA Nebula Cloud Platform. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/20/10 1:00 PM

Motorola will sell the majority of its network equipment business to Nokia Siemens Networks in a $1.2 billion deal that is generally seen as a positive move for both companies as they pursue their respective business strategies. Motorola gets a much-needed infusion of cash, plus the freedom to focus on its now-successful handset business. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/19/10 10:42 PM

Apple's recent suggestion that the iPhone 4's reception problems are universal has stirred up a hornet's nest of protest among competitors. Nokia, RIM, HTC and Samsung have all fired back with responses since Apple CEO Steve Jobs' Friday presentation, many of them clearly annoyed at being drawn into Cupertino's "Antennagate" morass. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/19/10 8:05 PM

Businesses will probably always have customers who want to place their orders by fax. When there are manual tasks involved in processing those orders, they can present a serious problem because companies may fall short in meeting expectations of the customers who place them. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/19/10 1:00 PM

Just how secure is your website? How tough is your webhosting provider's backbone? How vulnerable are you to cyberattacks like those that played havoc with Facebook and other sites in the past -- the victims of a rogue blogger? While no site is absolutely safe from assault, it pays to be vigilant and to determine the strength of your webhosting provider's defenses and its tenacity. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/19/10 1:00 PM

Welcome to a special BriefingsDirect podcast series, coming to you from the HP Software Universe 2010 Conference in Washington, D.C. We're here to explore some major enterprise software and solutions trends and innovations making news across HP's ecosystem of customers, partners and developers. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/17/10 1:00 PM

U.S. sales of gaming hardware, software and accessories experienced a slump in the month of June with such transactions down by 6 percent compared to a year earlier, to $1.1 billion, according to NPD Group. Within that category, hardware showed signs of growth, while software sales contracted. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/16/10 8:02 PM

With the advent of technologies enabling buyers with increasing insight into the sellers' products and competitors, the traditional strategies of bringing qualified prospects to a closed deal require a new set of contemporary skills among sales staff. Recent research offers further insight. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/16/10 1:00 PM

All it takes is one bad experience to turn a customer away -- which is why the delivery of accurate and consistent product data across all channels is fast becoming one of the most important criteria for online and cross-channel success. Whether consumers visit a site to make a purchase, use their mobile devices to conduct research, or place a call to a contact center with a question, today's etailers and online marketers need to be able to flow content and context across all channels with ease. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/16/10 1:00 PM

It has not been a pretty few weeks for Apple. Almost immediately following its release of the iPhone 4, reception problems began popping up, with complaints quickly spreading online through traditional and social media. Then, came Consumer Reports' review of the phone -- which it did not recommend due to its antenna problems. The issue reached a crescendo as talk of a recall made the rounds. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/15/10 8:53 PM

Twitter on Wednesday launched its @earlybird service, aimed at providing its some 75 million members with daily deals and creating a revenue stream for itself. The first offering from the service was a discount on tickets to see the critically panned movie "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" from Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/15/10 8:00 PM

Over the last 10 to 15 years, Apple has done a remarkable job of creating cutting-edge devices that have won the hearts of their users. It forged a special bond with customers and investors that other companies want but don't have. It seemed to be bulletproof. Suddenly, Apple may have a chink in its armor. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/15/10 1:00 PM

If you've ever implemented a CRM application or trained to use one, you've undoubtedly noticed that there are an awful lot of features that you never touch. Some just aren't useful for your circumstances or for your particular vertical industry segment; some are overkill; some are just attempts by your vendor to anticipate a need that never materializes. www.ecommercetimes.com | 7/15/10 1:00 PM