E-commerce technology

Contactless payments exceed five million in March

Some 5.3 million contactless transactions totalling over £39m were made in March 2013 using Visa contactless cards Continue Reading

BMW outsources web platform roll-out to Accenture

German car manufacturer BMW has contracted Accenture to manage the implementation of its new web platform Continue Reading

Schuh takes first steps to in-store Wi-Fi

Shoe retailer Schuh signs a contract with The Cloud to offer free Wi-Fi to customers Continue Reading

Herding Geese: The Retail Supply Chain

Steven Keifer draws on the pioneering work of US retailer, Walmart, to explain the essentials of EDI in the retail supply chain. Continue Reading

UK online businesses neglect mobile strategy

Online businesses are failing to implement mobile strategies, according to a report from Barclays bank Continue Reading

Google reaches deal with EU competition authorities

Google has reportedly reached a deal with European Union (EU) competition authorities over concerns about its business practices Continue Reading

Why CIOs need to become tax literate

Digital technologies can have significant ramifications for corporate taxation. IT teams need to be aware of the issues, says PwC Continue Reading

Case Study: 192business switches to tokenisation to speed up business processes

Online payment card verification firm 192business uses tokenisation to speed up its processes and protect credit card details from fraud Continue Reading

CIO interview: Darrell Stein, IT director, Marks & Spencer

As M&S develops its multi-channel capability, Darrell Stein and his team are delivering projects focused on innovation and profitability Continue Reading

John Lewis drops virtual mirror project as part of ‘fail fast at innovation' strategy

John Lewis has canned its virtual mirror project as part of the company’s approach to ‘failing fast at innovation’ Continue Reading

Majestic Wine swaps Microsoft for Intershop in ecommerce refresh

Majestic Wine is revamping its website with an InterShop 7 ecommerce engine, which replaces a legacy Microsoft Commerce Server system. Continue Reading

ISPs in the US join forces to serve “six strikes” to illegal downloaders

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the US are leading a campaign to target piracy using a “six strike” warning system Continue Reading

Music companies critical of Google’s anti-piracy efforts

Music companies have accused Google of failing to fulfil a pledge not to give prominent rankings in search results to websites offering illegal music downloads. Continue Reading

Amazon sales soar in 2012

Amazon sales rose 27% to $61bn (£39bn) in its 2012 results and 22% in its 2012 fourth quarter revenues to $21.27bn, compared with 2011 Continue Reading

GDS must not become an outlier, warns Martha Lane Fox

The Government Digital Service (GDS) must not remain an outlier to the way the public sector delivers online services, says Martha Lane Fox Continue Reading

Morrisons sees poor sales due to lack of online presence

Supermarket chain Morrisons posted “disappointing” sales over the Christmas break, due to the retailer’s lack of online presence. Continue Reading

Competing firms jockey for position in mobile payments gold rush

While mobile payments is still in its infancy, the promise of the rewards is substantial and competition for market dominance is gathering pace Continue Reading

First departmental sites move to Gov.uk

Two government departments have migrated onto the Gov.uk site, as part of the first moves to bring all departmental information under a single domain. Continue Reading

Mobile NFC in Retail

This report from the GSMA explains the opportunities for NFC Mobile communications in retail. Continue Reading

Universal Credit programme director Malcolm Whitehouse steps down

Malcolm Whitehouse, programme director for the government's £2.2bn Universal Credit project, has stepped down Continue Reading

Argos to close stores in move to digital

Argos is to cut up to 75 stores in a move to reposition itself from a catalogue-led business to a digital retailer Continue Reading

Lamborghini slashes web costs with Amazon Web Services

Supercar maker Lamborghini has revamped and accelerated the performance of its website by running it on Amazon Web Services Continue Reading

Facebook to launch virtual bingo in UK

Facebook is to launch a virtual bingo game in the UK that offers cash prizes Continue Reading

Smartphones drive Tesco's UK virtual supermarket

Tesco has launched a smartphone-friendly virtual supermarket online shopping system at Gatwick airport. Continue Reading

Evaluating Netsuit Suitecommerce

NetSuite recently announced SuiteCommerce, a unified platform that enables businesses to centrally manage all aspects of their e-commerce and optimize interactions regardless of device or location, Nucleus Research reports. Continue Reading

SQL injection attacks rise sharply in second quarter of 2012

SQL injection (SQLi) attacks were up 69% in the second quarter of 2012 compared with the previous quarter, warns cloud hosting firm FireHost Continue Reading

Retailers without multichannel risk losing business

Retailers without a multichannel offering could start haemorrhaging cash as customers' expectations change, according to research Continue Reading

Software glitch to blame for RBS and NatWest online banking outages

The software glitch behind the outages at RBS and NatWest banks could carry on through the weekend, preventing cutomers from buying online Continue Reading

RBS and NatWest online services unavailable

Some Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and NatWest Bank customers cannot access online services as the banking group experiences a computer problem. Continue Reading

2012: Will this be the year TPM finally comes of age?

Will 2012 be the year that TPM finally delivers on its potential to provide a hardware-based "root of trust" for enterprise information security? Continue Reading

Online competition sends Clinton Cards into administration

High street card retailer Clintons enters administration as online rivals take control of the market Continue Reading

Global lessons in eHealth implementation

This report from KPMG, packed with case studies, looks at the drivers for innovation in e-health. Continue Reading

How the cloud found Mitchells & Butlers

The cloud was found to be a good fit for hospitality company Mitchells & Butlers after it approached IT providers with a set of outcomes Continue Reading

Mobile Apps Stores

Juniper Research analyses the growing market for mobile apps in this report extract. Continue Reading

Social media users demand more meaningful interactivity

British people want more from the social media platforms they use as demand for more meaningful user experiences increases. Continue Reading

Nokia smartphones bomb as sales drop 27%

Nokia’s latest results for Q4 2011 show just how far the company that was once the standard choice for almost every corporate mobile user has fallen. Continue Reading

European cross-border e-commerce

Growing use of digital channels as part of shopping experience is driving retailers’ focus toward efficient online, cross-border operations in Europe. Continue Reading

Tim Berners-Lee supports campaign against US PIPA and SOPA

Father of the web Berner-Lee, latest to support senator Ron Wyden's initiative against PIPA and SOPA. Continue Reading

Olympics resale site still offline after two days

The Olympics tickets resale site has been offline for more than two days, after tens of thousands of people clamoured online buy unwanted tickets on 6 January. Continue Reading

CIOs believe cloud, SaaS, consumerisation and mobility increase risk

Business models such as cloud computing and trends such as the consumerisation of IT, social media and mobility are exposing performance blind spots in IT management, a CIO survey has revealed. Continue Reading

Amazon sees profits plummet 73% as company eyes iPad’s market share

Amazon's profits plunged 73% to $63m in Q3, as it invested to take on the iPad with its e-readers and Kindle Fire tablet computer. Sales grew 44% to $10.88bn, boosted by pre-orders for the Amazon Kindle Fire. Continue Reading

Virgin Media Business sees sales increase by 1.2 per cent

Virgin Business Media saw its sales increase by 1.2% to £154m compared to the same period last year, as the company saw an increase in public sector business. Continue Reading

Google previews new Dart web programming language

Google has introduced a new programming language, Dart , for building web applications. Continue Reading

Boots launches mobile site to expand multichannel offering

Retailer Boots has launched a mobile version of its website to expand its multichannel portfolio. Continue Reading

Gartner: Best defence against social media threats is monitoring and education

Blocking social media in the enterprise encourages bad behaviour by employees but does not prevent access, warns Gartner. Continue Reading

RightMove renders property maps with Google

RightMove is the UK's biggest user of Google Maps and one of the largest users of the mapping software in the world. Continue Reading

New Look increases sales by 45% after mobile site launch

Fashion retailer New Look has increased sales by 45% three months after the launch of its mobile commerce site. Continue Reading

Groupon to float as Facebook puts off IPO until late 2012

Online discount site Groupon is reported to be planning a flotation, while Facebook is rumoured to be delaying its IPO until the end of 2012. Continue Reading

Retailer Aurora gives iPads to shopfloor sales staff to check stock and shorten queue times

Fashion retailer Aurora is providing iPads to sales staff at London branches of Coast, Oasis, Warehouse and Karen Millen. Continue Reading

Sabre develops apps marketplace for travel industry

Sabre, the global distribution system for reserving hotels, airlines, cruise ships, rail tickets and car hire, has taken the concept of the app store and applied in to its own travel market. Continue Reading

Twitter plans to expand advertising business as investment raises value to $8bn

Twitter has outlined plans to increase advertising revenue and avoid an initial public offering (IPO) after reaching more than 100 million active users. Continue Reading

Nike+ problems demonstrate the risk of social media success

The rewards for creating a customer-focused online community are huge. But success comes at a price, as recent issues encountered by Nike's Nike+ running site illustrate. Matt Scott investigates. Continue Reading

CIO interview: Mike Bracken, UK government director of digital

Whitehall is not exactly known for being at the bleeding edge of technological innovation. But as the newly appointed government director of digital, Mike Bracken is set to change that perception. In an exclusive interview, he discusses the challenges ahead. Continue Reading

Twitter acquires social network site Bagcheck

Social network site Bagcheck has been bought by Twitter for an undisclosed sum. Continue Reading

Government axes 376 more websites

The government has axed nearly half of its websites since June last year, following recommendations that all digital public services should be under one URL. Continue Reading

Why the High Court ruling in the Newzbin2 case is such a big deal

The creative industries have welcomed the UK High Court ruling that BT must block access to pirated content aggregator site Newzbin2, but why is the ruling seen as such a game changer? Continue Reading

KLM deploys RightNow natural language search for mobile website

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has rolled out software-as-a-service provider RightNow's CX Intent Guide on its mobile website. Continue Reading

Tate museum group chooses Drupal and cloud hosting for new website

The Tate museum group is scrapping the use of HTML code in favour of open source content management platform Drupal... Continue Reading

Businesses should prepare for Web 3.0, says Booz&Co

The next generation of web technology will transform the way businesses work within five to ten years, research by management consulting firm Booz&Co predicts. Continue Reading

US court gives Oracle another chance to put its patent case against Google

A US judge has rejected Oracle's claim for $2.6bn in damages from Google for infringing Java patents, but has given Oracle the chance to come up with a more reasonable claim... Continue Reading

Sainsbury’s debuts mobile shopping site

Retailer Sainsbury's has launched a mobile version of its website to extend its commerce platform to additional channels. The optimised mobile site is built using a mobile platform provided by Usablenet. The platform provides access to over 15,000 Sainsbury's products for purchase. Continue Reading

Betfair sees 120% increase in mobile customers

The online gambling firm increased sales via mobile applications by 88% as customer mobile use grows. Continue Reading

Case study: New Look builds social media platform to extend e-commerce site

New Look has launched a social media platform to extend its e-commerce website and multi-channel offering. New Look Daily is a cloud-based customer hub that aggregates social media feeds from Twitter and Facebook and allows customers to upload photo and blog content. Continue Reading

Facebook IPO rumoured to value company at $100bn

Facebook is rumoured to be gearing up for an IPO in the first quarter of 2012, which could see the social networking site reach a valuation of $100bn (£60bn). Continue Reading

E-mail accounts of senior US officials targeted in Chinese hack attack

Chinese hackers have accessed the accounts of hundreds of Gmail users, including senior US officials, Chinese political activists, military personnel, journalists and officials in several Asian countries, Google has said. Continue Reading

Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple locked in platform war, says Eric Schmidt

Eric Schmidt has outlined a "gang of four" companies - Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple - locked in a platform war. Continue Reading

Cross-site scripting attack on Hotmail highlights personal e-mail risk to business

A vulnerability in the Hotmail site has enabled hackers to steal an unknown number of messages from users' accounts, according to security firm Trend Micro. Continue Reading

Retailers fail to meet demand for mobile loyalty schemes

Retailers are failing to meet customers' demands for mobile technology as part of loyalty scheme programmes, according to a YouGov survey. Continue Reading

CIO interview: Keep Britain Tidy head of IT Rich Kavanagh on social media strategy

Keep Britain Tidy's head of ICT, Rich Kavanagh, tells Computer Weekly how the charity is successfully using social networking tools to interact with citizens and supporters. Continue Reading

Demand for e-commerce skills spikes 158% as retailers expand multi-channel services

Retail sector demand for IT professionals with e-commerce skills has more than doubled in the past year. Continue Reading

Carphone Warehouse founder hailed as UK's first digital billionaire

Charles Dunstone, the man who started Carphone Warehouse, was named as the UK's first digital billionaire by the 2011 Sunday Times rich list. Continue Reading

In 1966 England won the World Cup and Computer Weekly launched the world's first weekly IT newspaper

After 45 years in print, Computer Weekly, the award-winning title for senior IT decision-makers, is to become a 100% online publication. Here is a celebration of 45 years in print. Continue Reading

Facebook Studio woos advertisers with campaign comparison tool

Facebook is to launch a site to enable advertisers to view and comment on advertising campaigns on the social networking site. Continue Reading

What is the cost of developing apps for mobile marketplaces?

Targeting consumers through smartphone apps is proving to be a good business bet. Jenny Williams reports on the costs of creating apps for different mobile marketplaces. Continue Reading

Tim Berners-Lee to help protect net neutrality in UK

Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee is to work with the Broadband Stakeholders Group to ensure the UK works towards a more open internet. Continue Reading

Tests show Android is 50% faster than Apple iOS for web browsing

The latest version of Google's Android operating system (OS) is 50% faster at loading web pages than Apple's iOS, according to research. Continue Reading

Mobile ticketing users to treble by 2015

The number of people redeeming travel and entertainment tickets via their mobile phones is set to treble by 2015, according to a report by Juniper Research. Continue Reading

Gmail bug hits 150,000 users

Around 150,000 Gmail account holders were hit by a system glitch at the weekend which reset their accounts, losing e-mails, attachments and Google Chat logs. Continue Reading

Apple adds digital subscription service to app store

Apple has extended its digital subscription billing service used for Rupert Murdoch's iPad-only newspaper to all magazines, newspapers, videos and music on its application store. Continue Reading

Social media policy: Seven questions to ask

Businesses must create a social media policy to guide employees using social networks and micro-blogging sites, according to Gartner. Continue Reading

Review: Internet Explorer 9 - in pictures

Microsoft has released the latest version of its popular web browser Continue Reading

OFT to investigate e-book pricing

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is launching an investigation into e-book pricing. Continue Reading

Broadband boosts BT profits to £531m

An early return to positive cash flow at Global Services helped BT to produce earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation 7% higher on sales that fell 3% Continue Reading

O2 to apply for e-money licence to support NFC payments

O2 will apply for an e-money licence this year, signalling its commitment to support contactless payments in the UK in the near future. Continue Reading

Yahoo blames Microsoft implementation for Windows Phone 7 data charges

Yahoo has spoken out after being blamed for excessive data charges experienced by some Microsoft Windows Phone 7 (WP7) users. Continue Reading

LinkedIn reveals plans for an IPO

Professional networking site LinkedIn has revealed plans to raise up to $175m (£110m) in an initial public offering (IPO). Continue Reading

Gartner outlines six money-making CIO profiles

A new generation of CIOs with skills to make the business money will replace traditional CIOs by the middle of the decade, says Gartner vice-president and researcher Ken McGee. Continue Reading

Google revamps Apps Engine

Google has revamped its App Engine to combat reliability issues in its Datastore. Continue Reading

BCS CEO David Clarke talks about the future of the IT industry

David Clarke, CEO of the chartered institute of computing the BCS, talks to Computer Weekly about being awarded an MBE, the future of the IT profession and tackling a membership revolt against his leadership last year. Continue Reading

Photos: Computer Weekly IT Blog Awards 2010 - The winners

Who’s the 2010 blogger of the year? What is the best gadget blog on the web? All these questions will be answered. Continue Reading

Photos: Payment technology in the US

We take a look at the current payment technologies across three major US cities Continue Reading

Google Maps allows users to see which homes are for sale

Google Maps users will be able to search for listings from estate agents and property websites directly on the maps from today. Continue Reading

Top 10 UK Google searches in 2009

Facebook has been revealed as the most searched for term in the UK this year in Google's annual Zeitgeist list. Continue Reading

Hottest search topics of the decade

Computer Weekly looks back at the topics that grabbed web users’ attention so far this millennium. Continue Reading

Copy of IT Blog Awards 2009: last call for nominations

You have until 27 October to vote for your favourite UK IT blogs. Continue Reading

The first ever 20 domain names registered

As news breaks that the oldest domain name is sold, here is a list of the first 20 names to be registered, according to the forrester. Continue Reading

Photos: Social media facts businesses cannot ignore

Whatever you think about social media in business, it is impossible to ignore the massive number of people using websites such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Continue Reading

Photos: Top 10 banks on Twitter

Financial services companies are using Twitter to listen to and support customers as they take their first tentative steps to use social media to support their business. Continue Reading

Top 10 Twitter marketing blunders in photos

Twitter is supposed to be an intuitive technology, easy to get the hang of and proving its worth the more you use it. But on Twitter, as on many social media sites, users seem to exist in one of two camps – those who get it, and those who don’t. Continue Reading

Photos: Public to vote on amazing iGoogle art

Google has opened public voting on an art competition which asks students take photographs that can be used as iGoogle Themes. Continue Reading