Social Platforms Now Central in the Commerce Spectrum
Consumers and marketers alike see social media outlets as a middle ground between selling and buying. Now that shoppers have grown used to seeing product placements and promotions on social media, it is a natural next step for them to want to make a purchase without going to another platform or branded website.
Investors have $20 billion to acquire businesses. Is yours one of them?
Our Technology M&A: 2021 Outlook gives owners, founders and entrepreneurs insight into why e-commerce is dominating technology acquisitions, what this means for multiples, when investors are looking to allocate capital and more.
How to Ride the 'Consumer Wave' to Better Customer Experiences
Even the most customer-centric businesses can overestimate their performance or miss the broad trends in customer behavior. That is why NICE inContact conducts annual surveys that track the customer experience from the perspective of businesses and consumers. CRM Buyer discussed the recent findings and related issues in more detail with the company's CEO Paul Jarman.
Made in China, Sold on Amazon: The Numbers are Skyrocketing
One of the most successful direct-to-consumer shopping outlets for China-based vendors outside of China's own Alibaba e-commerce platform is Amazon. This trend has been accelerating for years. China-based sellers represented 75 percent of new sellers on Amazon in January, according to a new report. Since March 2020, more than half of new Amazon sellers in the U.S. are from China.
Collaboration between employees, teams, and clients is more important than ever before, and new technologies and platforms are available to facilitate communication and group work. The E-Commerce Times checked in with experts in collaboration software and technologies to hear more about how people are now working together, both remotely and in person.
Big Tech Urges SCOTUS to Ease Risk of Consumer Class Actions
Major information technology providers opposed to the broadening of class action litigation related to consumer protections have taken their case to the U.S. Supreme Court. The companies are hoping the court will strike down a lower court ruling which makes it easier for consumers to file class action suits. The tech companies may not have to wait too long for a decision.
Sophisticated CRM Now at the Core of Customer Success
With most workers continuing to work remotely, CRM has become an important tool for managing relationship risk. Financial firms have to deal with market and operational risk, consumer retailers have to focus on supply chain risk, and all companies have to keep an eye on economic risk. Relationship risk is no different, and the role of the CRM is right at the center.
The arts have seen a shift in the last year away from in-person gatherings, but that doesn't mean that performances, showings, and other creative activities have stopped. Rather, they've been transformed, becoming increasingly virtual and...
E-Gift Cards Fitting the Bill for Consumers, Retailers
Consumer shopping patterns continue to settle into new options after holiday digital and e-gift card sales soared at the close of last year. Convenience was a large part of the changing consumer trend to favor gifts cards, along with the fact...
Global Ecommerce Solutions | Digital Commerce Solutions
At Digital River we believe in using our global expertise to fuel and optimize commerce, open doors to new markets and facilitate payments around the world. Build an ecommerce solution customized for your business.
Pursue lucrative and in-demand roles with Utica College's 100% online cybersecurity degree. You’ll choose from four specializations to tailor your degree to your career goals.
Women in Tech: 20 Trailblazers Share Their Journeys
Successful women in the tech trenches share their insights and tackle subjects ranging from how to search out a strong mentor to how to be one -- from how to advance in a large company to how to start your own firm.
This book is an excellent guide for students considering STEM courses, graduates pondering job choices, and career changers at any stage in life. It's also a useful tool for school and career counselors, recruiters, and HR pros eager to diversify their workplaces.
Get the day's top e-business and technology news from ECT News Network delivered to your inbox as stories break. Sign up today.
Feedback
We welcome your feedback. To share your thoughts or ideas, please use our online form.
Manage Subscriptions
This newsletter was sent in response to your request on an ECT News Network website. To update your settings, or to receive other newsletters from ECT News Network: Manage My Subscriptions.
BUSINESS SERVICES
How to Advertise
To advertise in this newsletter or elsewhere on ECT News Network, please call our sales department (818) 461-9700 or follow these links:
Apple's Find My network, which lets you track your lost iPhone as it runs away on the taxi backseat you left it on (or just 'ring' it from your PC when it's lost behind your couch cushions), is expanding beyond Macs, iPhones and AirPods.
The first round of hardware includes Belkin's Soundform earbuds and the Chipolo One Spot item tracker, which are both launching next week. Surprised? Well, you shouldn't be: Apple teased the expansion of its Find My service at last year's WWDC 2020, but things have been quiet since then, possibly because most of us have gone nowhere in the last year.
The service will largely be identical between first- and third-party products. You'll see your compatible (and registered) items on the app's map interface, where you can push your devices to play a sound or lock them to your Apple ID to prevent another person from pairing with their account.
We're still expecting an Apple event very soon, which will likely tease more compatible products, and perhaps, finally, those mythical AirTags. Apple has teased its homemade tracking tags for months, but they haven't made any official appearances, beyond a mention in iOS betas.
After canceling its developer conference last year instead of going virtual, Google is ready to bring back I/O this year. Following a tweet Wednesday morning from the Google Developers Twitter account sending users to a series of puzzles, CEO Sundar Pichai announced the show will run from May 18th to to the 20th.
Though I/O usually focuses on software, Google has also unveiled hardware at this show before so it's possible we might see some gadgets the company wants to alert developers to. Continue reading.
When it comes to wireless headphones, the over-ear noise-canceling models typically offer the most comprehensive set of features we want. The best options combine stellar audio with powerful active noise cancellation (ANC) and other handy tools to create as complete a package as possible. Billy Steele walks you through the best over-ear options currently available. Continue reading.
While those might be the best wireless headphone options, when it comes to mobile audio, our phones often come up lacking — especially if you prefer a set of wired cans over anything wireless. To achieve better audio on the go, you'll need a high-res player or a portable digital-to-analog-converter (DAC) and amp combo, which are usually expensive and not particularly slender.
THX, making its first consumer tech hardware, has now revealed the Onyx: a tiny, high-powered alternative to traditional DAC amplifiers. It's compatible with any device that has a USB-C port or USB-A jack if you snap on the adapter. That includes PC, Mac, Android and iPad. The device will also work with an iPhone, but you'll need Apple's Lightning to USB Camera Adapter to use it. It's available to buy today. Continue reading.
Remember the folks who paid for brand new Tesla EVs with an ACH bank transfer, only to discover that they'd paid twice? Between forum posts and a report from CNBC, it appears all the ones we know about have gotten their money back, usually five to seven business days after the initial transaction.
In exchange for yanking an extra $50,000 or so from their accounts, Tesla offered affected buyers a coupon for $200 store credit to buy accessories or merchandise. Continue reading.
Best Buy is piloting a $200 membership program meant to rival Amazon Prime and Walmart's own take on a subscription service. While it's a lot more expensive than a year of Prime ($119), it includes unlimited Geek Squad tech support on all technology they own, notably, whether it was purchased from Best Buy or not.
They're also offering free installation on most products (think TVs and sound systems) and even a two-year warranty on most purchases, including AppleCare on Apple products. At the moment, the program is available at select stores in Iowa, Oklahoma and eastern Pennsylvania, but Best Buy plans to have the 'beta' running in 60 stores by the end of April. Continue reading.
Fujifilm's Instax Mini 40 is an instant film camera much like last year's Instax Mini 11 but with a new retro look and $30 higher price tag. It's as easy to use as the Polaroids of yore (once you get the film in), with only two buttons, a built in flash and a "pop-out" closeup lens. Continue reading.
The world of smart home audio definitely benefited from all this time we're spending indoors. Sonos has an eye on the future, though. We've just finished reviewing the $170 Roam, which Sonos pitches as a hybrid speaker for beach trips and vacations, and which also integrates with your at-home sound system. It also doesn't look like a giant kettlebell like Sonos' last attempt, the $400 (!) Move. According to Deputy Managing Editor Nathan Ingraham, it sounds good (and sounds even better in a stereo pair) and is as portable as the competition.
Sonos is busy on other frontiers, too. The company is apparently continuing its work with Ikea on future smart speakers that hide in plain sight. A new speaker-lamp may be on its way — the better-sounding device from Ikea's debut Symfonisk range — and we may even see a new 'art piece' addition that crams speakers into something even more aesthetically pleasing. The irony is that a lot of us (read: me) can't wait to escape our homes later this year, regardless of how pretty my speakers might be. Perhaps, then, I should buy a Roam.
LG didn't usually make the best smartphones, and that's a part of the reason it's exiting the business now. But the company always managed to bring something extra to the mobile space, so Chris Velazco is taking a trip down memory lane to recap some of its best and weirdest efforts. Everything from the enV 2 to G Flex gets one more moment to shine. Continue reading.
GM began its electrified venture in 1996 with the EV1, one of the very first viable battery-powered sedan models produced by a major automaker, which continued its run until being discontinued in 2003. Today, GM relies on an EV platform powered by the Ultium battery system as the basis for the 30-plus models it plans to produce in the coming years.
The first 4K TVs Sony released with "cognitive intelligence" image processing tech were high-end OLED models, but those started at $2,999 and went up from there. Now, Sony has unveiled first LED models with the Cognitive Processor XR, and they're a lot more reasonably priced.
The X90J is the higher-end LED model launching today, and it's available in 50-, 55- and 65-inch sizes at $1,299 (Amazon, Best Buy), $1,499 (Amazon, Best Buy) and $1,799 (Amazon, Best Buy), respectively. These offer the Cognitive Processor XR, though cinephiles will likely want to turn that off to see the content as the creators intended. They also deliver 10-bit (billions) color and full array LED, though Sony didn't specify the number of zones.
Naturally, they have HDR support for HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision and offer HDMI 2.1 ports that deliver 10-bit 4K at up to 120Hz for a superior gaming experience. Continue reading.
Pac-Man 99 launches today at 9PM ET, available exclusively to Switch Online subscribers. Players have to hunt down Power Pellets to make ghosts vulnerable. Once players eat the vulnerable ghosts, these ghosts turn into a Jammer Pac-Man that chases one of your 98 opponents and slows them down. Following the rules of battle royale, players fall one by one until the field is winnowed from the 99 initial players to one winner.
While the game is free for subscribers, there will be optional DLC that adds CPU mode, time attack and various custom themes that reference classic Bandai games. Continue reading.
Horwitz told investors he was selling Latin American film rights to HBO and Netflix.
Talking of questionable deals, according to the FBI and SEC, Zachary Horwitz allegedly helped orchestrate a Ponzi scheme that the SEC claims raised over $690 million. The actor, listed as Zach Avery on his IMDB profile, apparently told investors his company, 1inMM (one in a million), was involved in buying film rights and reselling them to HBO and Netflix. Both companies have denied any business relationship, however, and the FBI says that agreements shown to investors were fake, complete with forged signatures. Continue reading.
The Black Eyed Peas frontman has teamed up with Honeywell on a $299 tech-imbued face mask that packs noise-canceling headphones alongside HEPA filters. The face mask goes on sale April 8th in North America and Europe, launching in two colors (black and white) and two sizes. Even if the tech parts underwhelm, a face mask should hopefully offer more utility than his mediocre smartwatch efforts. Continue reading.
With an online Computer Science Degree from Drexel University
An estimated 557,100 jobs are expected to become available by 2026 in the U.S. in the computing and informatics industry, with average salaries expected to double the median annual wage for all other occupations.* Drexel University’s online computer science and technology programs feature a combination of theory and practice to prepare you to stay ahead of the ever-changing technology in the field.
Discover the Program That’s Right for You
BS in Computing and Security Technology
MS in Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
MS in Computer Science
MS in Cybersecurity
MS in Software Engineering
Graduate Certificate in Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
Graduate Certificate in Computer Science
There’s never been a better time to advance in the computing and informatics industry.
Computer Science, Software Engineering and Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Programs Virtual Q&A Session
Thursday, May 20, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. ET
Drexel University Online would like to cordially invite you to a virtual Q&A session about our online Computer Science, Software Engineering and Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning programs. This is a great opportunity for you to find out why Drexel's program is the right choice for you and ask questions to faculty members and program directors.
