
Poor Retail
SaaS, or Shopping as a Service is killing retail. If there was one investment or model that I would have considered safe forever – say 20 years ago, it would be retail. If I had, I was sure wrong. The Internet and sales tax laws are conspiring to make retail a thing of the past. […]

Amazon cuts deal with California on Sales Tax collection
This means that the end of the tax free shopping on line party is starting to end, as Amazon cuts a deal with the state of California on collecting sales tax on sales to customers in the state. For Amazon retailers they should not see this, as it will be tacked on at the end […]

Are You Still Using Your Real Credit Card Online? You Shouldn’t.
So iTunes got hacked and some users saw unauthorized purchases up to $600 in their accounts. I’m shocked. Not at the fact that iTunes got hacked, but that users exposed their credit accounts to such extent. Websites do get hacked, it’s a fact of life. Users need to change their passwords, consider what other sites […]

Office Depot Deceptive Advertising
For being a netbook-fan I admit I am in the market for a super-slim lightweight laptop. The market has evolved, the current slimbooks are only slightly more expensive than netbooks, and I find the 13.3” screen size an ideal compromise between portability and straining my eyes with the tiny screens. So I was quite happy […]

Welcome to the Facebook Market Place
If you have not checked out the Facebook Market Place lately – now is probably a good time to do it. Originally opened in 2007, with a few odds and sods like the acquisition of Ooodle– the Facebook Market Place of today is a cross between Craig’s List, Amazon, and Career Builder. You can literally […]

Ready for a Private Label Amazon
The New York Times and Techflash are leading news this morning about Amazon and how it looks like it will become the Wal-Mart of the internet. The question is, is anyone ready to follow or take on Amazon on its own turf. All ecommerce companies should be looking at what Amazon is doing right now […]

Amazon, the World’s Default Shopping Destination (or is it Zamazon now?)
Recently I wrote about PaaS by Amazon – an no, as much as we like thinking of Amazon as the the key Cloud Computing infrastructure provider, it wasn’t about Platform as a Service. It was about Pasta as a Service. Yes, I am buying Al Dente Carba-Nada as a subscription. After all, before it become […]
When Apology is Not Enough
Today is the Day of Apologies. President Bush is sorry about the economic crisis, but his biggest regret is the flawed intelligence that led to the Iraq war: “The biggest regret of all the presidency has to have been the intelligence failure in Iraq. A lot of people put their reputations on the line and […]