Articles by Jim Offner

Not many years ago, the open source software ecosystem and proprietary models might have been thought of as incompatible About 10 years ago, though, the two systems began converging. IBM began to support Linux, providing what many analysts described as "legitimacy" to the fledging operating system among enterprise customers and developers.

Gone are the days when "fringe technologies" meant things like solar energy and wind power Those and other alternative energy approaches have all gone mainstream, to one degree or another, and they're gaining more steam each year....

Hybrid cars now produced by Toyota, Honda and other mainstream automakers are veritable gas hogs, says Felix Kramer, founder of California Cars Initiative. Not that he doesn't appreciate the technology that has led to mileage ratings in the range of 40 to 50 miles per gallon of gasoline Still, that amounts to child's play, compared to Kramer's drea...

Last spring, Sony appeared to score a decisive blow in the high-definition video sweepstakes when its Blu-ray video format won the endorsement of Hollywood studios and major retailers, claiming victory over Toshiba's rival HD-DVD format It seemed it would only be a matter of time before the buying public would line up to buy Blu-ray players, which ...

The winter holidays are over, and brittle Christmas trees and empty champagne bottles aren't alone in many consumers' trash heaps. There are also used computers, televisions, cell phones and other gizmos that have been replaced with fancier models Those piles may be somewhat larger than in recent years, thanks to the imminent U.S. government-mandat...

Warren Royal [*correction] sells bobblehead dolls over the Internet. It's a specific product that demands a specific address for Internet shoppers. So, when Royal decided to get into the burgeoning bobblehead business, he decided the best way to break through the clutter of online bobblehead buyers and sellers would be to secure the most relevant name possible for his Web site...

This story was originally published on Aug. 29, 2008, and is brought to you today as part of our Best of ECT News series "Smart" shopping carts have been around for a while, but until recently, they haven't managed to gain much traction.

Unlike computers, software and other gadgetry, the hot brand names in digital photography never seem to change. However, what they offer continues to evolve, both in terms of features and price range "Cameras are following the silicon curve in many ways," Jack Gold, principal analyst with J.Gold Associates, told TechNewsWorld. "The CCD sensors (ima...

Part 1 of this two-part series explores the relatively new e-commerce practice of voluntary carbon-trading among businesses. This second installment takes a look at some of the online options for consumers who wish to reduce their carbon footprint That the term "carbon offset provider" has become part of the business lexicon may be an indicator tha...

The virtual world of the Internet has become a hotbed of activity designed to ease the real-world pollution problem The Chicago Climate Exchange, or CCX, is a regulated exchange whose members are committed to cutting their emissions. It is the only cap-and-trade system in North America for six greenhouse gases....

Are cable "bundle" customers changing channels to wireless telecom services? A recent study by the CFI Group, which focuses on measuring customer satisfaction and CRM issues, indicates they are. That is, if they can....

Part 1 of this two-part series on Web applications -- that is, software hosted in the so-called cloud -- takes a look at the breadth of this new space and identifies some of the category niches developing within it. Part 2 continues the discussion with consideration of the Web 2.0 effect....

"Cloud computing is not magical, but it is more economical, more easily scaled and more easily managed," said Lance Walley, chief executive officer of Engine Yard, a hosting and infrastructure support company for Ruby on Rails applications It's getting more so, too, Walley told TechNewsWorld. That's because it's so practical, more applications are ...

The joke used to be on the U.S. Postal Service. Indeed, jabs about the government's mail system may have driven business to private-sector competitors like United Parcel Service, Federal Express, and DHL That was decades ago; now, it seems, some of the same companies designed to outperform the USPS have attracted complaints about sluggish deliverie...

What's left to do after you've earned your first billion in the technology business? For some, it's legacy building -- finding a way to make a mark of a different sort in the world....

Five years ago, Mark Goldstein and three partners recognized that loyalty programs were becoming a cottage industry Coming up with the right way to manage those programs, he believed, would be a neat trick. So would finding an effective way to lure in customers....

Simplify That, at its heart, is the purpose of XBRL -- extensible business reporting language. XBRL employs a common set of tags for financial terms, making reports more searchable and transparent to everyone who uses them....

For those who are hungry for some good economic news, venture capitalists apparently are seeing green in clean technology Indeed, so-called green technology -- everything from eco-friendly auto parts to alternative fuels to smart buildings to streamlined manufacturing processes -- appears to be blooming, even if the world economy is in wilt mode....

Immigration is becoming as nettlesome to high-tech companies as it has long been in the agriculture and construction businesses Although technology firms don't reach into the same labor pool as do ag comglomerates or building contractors, their problems are converging....

For public utilities, the world seems to be taking on a green hue Green, as in trees. Green, as in money....