Open Text Corporation, a global provider of enterprise content management (ECM), and SAP AG, announced that SAP will resell Open Text Vendor Invoice Management (VIM) under the name the SAP Invoice Management application by Open Text.

TM Forum, a trade consortium focused on enabling digital services, announced the next part of its Content Encounter initiative, Content Encounter 3.

Attributor Corporation, a provider of a content monitoring and programming platform, announced that Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa has chosen Attributor technology to increase monetization of dpa's digital content and develop new products.

The digital privacy battles now brewing in the House of Representatives and at the Federal Trade Commission finally woke the industry up to its complacency over this issue, but I think many publishers and ad networks proceeded to get up on the wrong side of the bed. The principals in the behavioral targeting industry, which is attracting much of the scrutiny now, seem to recognize that they must better explain their policies to consumers and assure all of us that they indeed are not collecting personally identifiable information (PII) when they track our movements around the internet. Ultimately, though, I think they woke up to the wrong issue.

It seems that everyone is blogging these days. However, despite the proliferation of blogs that range from diaries and niche subjects to celebrity, corporate, and expertly written blogs, some publishers are still hesitant to add blogging to the mix. The web has opened up a world of communication to people across the globe, but the new culture of user-generated content can mean a lot of things to those in the publishing industry, good and bad.

What's your research and writing worth?
Nothing, apparently ? if you agree with Andersonomics as it's interpreted by some folks. Your content has no value if you make it digitally available?unless maybe you're a rockstar or already sponsored.

Sometimes we get ahead of ourselves in the digital dreams business. We fantasize so extravagantly about the future shape of a technology that we miss some of its more relevant and mundane uses here and now. Take virtual worlds. Environments such as Second Life promised online immersion where realistic avatars moved through 3D space and ultimately enhanced everything from the media viewing experience to shopping.

A former EContent assistant editor, Kinley Levack, forwarded me an August column from The New York Observer, The Media Mob. Her email bore this subject line: "I will always think of you when I hear this phrase ?" Alas, the column was not about the most inspiring bosses ever. In fact, it was about "The New Media Religion: ?Platform Agnostic.'"

Gale announced the launch of AcquireContent.com, a new online content marketplace.

Effectively targeting specific audiences is one of the leading objectives of online advertisers. Websites have long used demographic information to help advertisers, but the Sept. 15 premier of Bizo aims to make it easier for business-to-business marketers to reach their desired online audience.

Royal Philips announced that it has assumed full ownership of its former joint venture Teletrax, the global broadcast intelligence company.

Amazon announced the release of the ecommerce checkout solution, Checkout by Amazon.

Truition Inc., provider of hosted eCommerce solutions, announced it has launched Version 5.0 of CMS, its Commerce Management System for retailers and direct to consumer manufacturers.

Is anyone making money on web video?" The publisher of one of the most popular and long-running video shows online recently posed that question to one of his peers and me. The other publisher, who is responsible for hundreds of hours of video content on her suite of branded media sites, just shook her head. "And anyone who tells you he is making money on video is lying," she contended.

Peer39, provider of semantic advertising solutions, announced the launch of SemanticMatch, the semantic advertising platform.

Macrovision Solutions announced the acquisition of certain website and technology assets from ThoughtWorthy Media ("ThoughtWorthy").

It seems like everyone's talking about free information again: The old meme that "information wants to be free" appears to be recycling in the web's hive-mind. I am still not convinced that information cares one way or the other, but I do know that content owners and providers have widely divergent views on whether or how they should be compensated.

Kentico Software has released the new version 3.1 of Kentico CMS for ASP.NET. The new version combines a web content management platform with full-featured E-commerce solution and allows developers to build an on-line store.

Alacra, Inc., a provider of online business information solutions, launched the Alacra Affiliate Widget, a pay-per-action advertising vehicle.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) announced the release of "Digital Video In-Stream Ad Format Guidelines."

Copyright Clearance Center (CCC), a provider of licensing services and web-based tools, announced a set of enhancements to Rightsphere, the company's rights advisory and management tool.

Whenever I begin a speech, I ask a series of four questions and have the audience raise their hands if the answer to a question is "yes."

Jaduka, a provider of web-integrated communication and transaction tools, has launched integrated content fulfillment, delivery, and transaction services for mobile media and software providers.

With digital distribution, the rules are still emerging and, like publishing business models, will continue to do so. Some things remain almost constant, though, such as the free versus fee debate. From B2B magazine and daily paper models to newsstand sales and high-value subscription content, the publishing business has always demanded a range of formulas for feeding the bottom line.

Controlled circulation trade pubs are now putting more of their print content online and uncontrolled for all to see, but despite the good press for "free" of late, the pay model is alive, even if it is struggling to find its proper place in an increasingly ad-driven digital media market.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) gave the digital content industry a dubious present last Christmas. At the same time the FTC approved a merger of Google with ad network and services provider DoubleClick, it also lobbed the issue of privacy back over the net for the companies to solve. At issue for the first time in a very public way is a topic I have been writing about in these columns since 2002: behavioral targeting (aka BT).

The 27 European Union Member States don?t just have a variety of national languages; their markets and laws are equally diverse. As the internet and mobile communication devices become ever more popular, these countries face a new conundrum: how to protect creative online content and make it available to all EU citizens. Content developers and the online industry are unable to take full advantage of the potentially huge EU market and consumers are missing out on a wide range of online content.

Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), a provider of text-licensing solutions, announced that it is expanding the availability of its Annual Copyright License for academic institutions to colleges and universities of all sizes.

Out on the limitless frontiers of the wild wild web, the right to privacy can?t always be enforced for the simple reason that the existing laws don?t apply to this new medium, or the medium is just evolving too quickly for the laws to keep up. The other side of this issue is that the notion of privacy is evolving itself as web users increasingly live public lives online. So where's the harm in exchanging just a bit of data for content online?

Thoma Cressey Bravo, a private equity investment firm, and Macrovision Corporation announced that an affiliate of TCB has entered into a definitive agreement with Macrovision Corporation to acquire Macrovision's Software Business Unit.

Javien, Inc. is a well-known provider of content commerce technologies, primarily because of its platform product, Javien Digital Payment Solutions (DPS). The technology is aimed primarily at new media companies, such as digital music sites, to deploy and manage subscriptions, pay-per-view, downloads, micropayments, and alternative billing. In late January, the company announced the release of its New Media Payment Gateway, a product that allows customers to directly process payments for their content.

A colleague recently pointed me to ResearchBuy.com, a market research aggregator that promotes its free, short industry profiles as well as access to off-the-shelf market research reports and customized research. What I initially found interesting was that it had a real Web 2.0 feel. The free industry reports are in the MarketWikis area of the website, and they are, in fact, in a wiki format, complete with discussion and edit tabs.

As most traditional publishers are painfully aware, digitization has a tendency to commodify everything in its reach. Just think how much of the content we paid for a decade ago?from newspapers to premium video and audio content?is available now at no cost online. From news to business information, phone calls to software applications, the new model is giving away the store in the hopes of making a profit in some other way. Most text and video content relies on advertising to pay its way now, while service-based products, like web applications and digital calling, put some limitations on the free offering in order to upsell a richer version.

PersonalBrain, a product of TheBrain Technologies, links networks of information including ideas, concepts, files, and webpages in a manner that attempts to mimic the thought processes of each unique user.

Copyright Clearance Center (CCC), a provider of copyright licensing solutions, announced the launch of Copyright Labs, a testing ground for new services, applications, and products.

Macrovision Corporation, a provider in protection, enablement and distribution solutions, and Gemstar-TV Guide International, Inc., a provider of video and entertainment guidance, announced the two companies have signed a definitive agreement for Macrovision to acquire Gemstar-TV Guide in a cash and stock transaction.

Alacra Content Marketplace (ACM), a new service launched by online business information provider Alacra, Inc., will allow small and large publishers to post and sell business research and other content via the company's Alacra Premium and the Alacra Store eCommerce services.

A closer look at iCopyright, which boasts an 80% market share of major publishers and newswire services in the United States.

A closer look at Macrovision, which helps keep content vendors in control of their creations online.

BSG Clearing Solutions (BSG), a billing and payment service provider, announced the addition of a new mobile phone payment solution to its Advanced Payment Gateway (APG) service.

Macrovision Corporation, a company that provides distribution, commerce, and consumption solutions for software, entertainment, and information content, announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire All Media Guide Holdings, Inc. ("AMG").

RoyaltyShare, a provider of digital royalty and content management solutions to the entertainment industry, announced $4M of additional Series B financing from Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments (BDMI) and Trident Capital.

RoyaltyShare, a provider of digital royalty and content management solutions to the entertainment industry, announced it has expanded its service.

It wasn?t all that long ago that, if you wanted to purchase an item online, you needed at least a credit card or a checking account to complete the transaction. Not so any longer. With the latest online payment solution developed by BSG Clearing Solutions, dubbed Bill2Phone, all you?ll need is a telephone. Or, more accurately, a telephone bill.

A new Pay Per Article service offered by NRC-CISTI, the Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information, allows any researcher to search a database of more than 11 million articles and pay by credit card to view and print those selected without requiring registration.

EBSCO has announced its enhancements to the EBSCONET Subscription Management System, a multi-lingual web-based management tool.

Voxant, the Viral Syndication Network (VSN), has announced a new viral payment program that can earn websites and blogs up to $4 CPM for publishing content from VSN's online news site, TheNewsRoom.

Digital infrastructure provider VeriSign has announced the first North America Mobile Messaging Index, a quarterly report that will provide statistics detailing the growth and user trends pertaining to all categories of mobile messaging in North America.

Entriq, a company that enables content providers to leverage new media distribution, and ProGames Network, an online gaming channel, have jointly announced a fully integrated broadband-to-mobile commerce solution.

Javien Digital Payment Solutions has partnered with eBIZ.mobility Ltd. to integrate with its OneTouch Online Purchasing solution.

The Zug-based (CH) FIRSTGATE Holding AG, owner of ClickandBuy, a European digital payments platform and epayments system, has received funding from Intel Capital.

Bitpass, an online micropayments firm backed by Disney?s venture arm and Guy Kawasaki, has announced it will close.

Volantis, a supplier of Intelligent Content Adaptation solutions for the Mobile Information Age, has launched Volantis Content Services.

According to a study by Telephia, a provider of syndicated consumer research to the telecom and mobile media markets, there are 23.5 million mobile subscribers in the U.S. who have phones with integrated music players.

ClickandBuy, an online payment service for web-based and mobile content, has announced its latest product update ClickandBuy Version 2.0.

Emojo has launched the Affino NX eBusiness Suite, an integrated online business solution.

Volantis, a supplier of Intelligent Content Adaptation solutions, has delivered its latest version of its Mobile Content Storefront to customers.

Perilous as it may seem, I will once again mark the EC100 issue with a look ahead to next year?s emerging revenue models, which we may well be calling old hat this time next year.

Bango has launched a safe subscription service that gives mobile users worldwide another way to pay for content from ringtones and videos to news and blogs, on a daily, weekly, monthly, or annual basis.

Javien Digital Payment Solutions, Inc., and Gold Mobile have partnered to provide a mcommerce solution for companies planning to capture a share of the mobile content sales market.

If you?re readingEContent, no one needs to tell you what an important medium the internet has become for delivering content and reaching consumers across the world. But, according to a June 2006 study conducted on behalf of the Online Publishers Association (OPA) by the Center for Media Design at Ball State University, advertising dollars aren?t keeping up with skyrocketing consumer web demand.

Dialogue Communications has launched its Payforit solution for mobile payments on the Vodafone and Orange networks.

Javien Digital Payment Solutions, Inc., has announced DPS V8.0 of its ecommerce technology.

RoyaltyShare, a provider of digital royalty solutions to the entertainment industry, has announced its formal company launch with a suite of web-based services that provide management of both mechanical and artist royalties.

ITtoolbox, an online community enabling professional IT knowledge sharing, has announced the launch of ITtoolbox Demographic Targeting, an addition to the lineup of targeting tools, including contextual matching and geographic targeting.

Amdocs, a provider of software and services to enable integrated customer management and the intentional customer experience, has announced it signed an agreement to acquire Qpass, a provider of digital commerce software and solutions.

Bango, a mobile content enabler, and mBlox, a mobile transaction network, have announced a global collaboration to deliver a fully integrated content billing solution that leverages the power of the mobile internet.

After so many lean years and post-bubble disgrace, it is hard to believe the gusher of ad dollars and profitability flowing to some segments online. A year ago I wrote about the industry?s need to wake up to the reality that the Web bounce back was for real. Now even I am a bit amazed at the sustained double-digit ad sales growth we are seeing. In fact, some sites are butting up against the limits of their own success with a problem most publishers would love to suffer?sold-out inventory

eMeta, a division of Macrovision Corporation, has announced a new release of its eRights Suite offering that is designed to help businesses license and monetize their digital content and services.

Users taking control was the theme of this year?s Software Information Industry Association?s (SIIA) Summit held in New York City January 31 and February 1, 2006. However, another underlying current flowed through the event: a shift in the business model to leverage the appeal of free content.

Click and Buy, an ePayment and storefront provider for online and mobile digital content and services, and Skype, an Internet P2P telephony company, have announced the availability of Click and Buy as an online payment option for Skype users.

Macrovision Corporation has announced that it has agreed to acquire eMeta Corporation, a provider of software solutions that enable companies to control and sell digital goods and services online.

Kentico Software, a Web content management solutions vendor, has announced an extension of its Kentico CMS with a new ecommerce module.

Owen Media Partners, Inc. and ECNext have announced the launch of the Owen Media ecommerce site providing international company and manufacturing intelligence to business professionals.

BitPass, Inc., provider of a commerce platform for digital content and services, has announced an agreement with MSN to enable digital content sales on targeted international MSN portals.

Analysis of free versus fee content invariably focuses on content that must be paid for by consumers in its original form (such as newspaper and magazine articles) but that is often offered for free at an advertising- and sponsorship-supported Web site. Many pundits believe that if content is offered for free in one medium, it will cannibalize another, and that?s all they obsess about. Yet despite all the debate about free and paid content business models, market observers have largely missed the flip side of free content: valuable information that individuals are eager to give away for no charge and that smart companies then aggregate for profit.

The 9thXchange, Inc. announces a new media, multi-platform, all digital file marketplace backed by a legacy royalty system.

With my new book Cashing In With Content: How Innovative Marketers Use Digital Information to Turn Browsers Into Buyers soon to be released, I decided to check out the book?s new Amazon.com page. Well (I thought), as long as I?m here, I might as well click my name on the author link and pay a long-overdue visit to my first book, Eyeball Wars: a novel of dot-com intrigue. OK I admit it: I was deeply into a therapeutic session of vanity searching. Heck (I justified to myself) all I?m doing is listening in on a conference call. Being a multitasking sort of guy, I might as well poke around a bit while others are talking away.

Dialog has announced that scientists, engineers, and information professionals worldwide will be able to search most of the CSA files it is adding this year on a "pay-as-you-go" transactional basis, as well as through annual fixed-rate subscription.

Idiom Technologies, Inc., an enterprise software company that delivers XML-based publishing and content globalization solutions, has announced the launch of its WorldServer LSP Advantage Program.

Sirsi Corporation has announced a new service that is designed to permit a library to link its holdings to Google Scholar via Sirsi Resolver, Sirsi's OpenURL reference linking tool.

Bloggers and other Web sites now have an opportunity to generate income from the content they produce with the use of PixelPass, an Internet application that makes low-cost Web site subscriptions simple and easy for both the provider and the subscriber.

Atypon Systems, a provider of epublishing software and services, has introduced a new online subscription module.

BitPass, Inc., a commerce platform for digital content and services, announced partnerships with Abacast, Inc. and Fast-Serv Technologies under which BitPass will integrate its payment system with the streaming infrastructure of the content delivery networks (CDNs) to facilitate the distribution of premium streaming content. BitPass has also announced BitPass Unplugged, a patent-pending, new service that is designed to give content providers the ability to charge for their podcasts.

Data Depth Corporation, (iCopyright.net) has announced the release of Copyright Quick Tag. Designed for writers, bloggers, photographers, and other self-publishers, Copyright Quick Tag provides an interactive copyright notice that can be affixed to works of authorship.

eMeta Corporation, a provider of access control, subscription management, and commerce software, has announced an enhancement to eRightsWEB, eMeta's managed software suite deigned to provide software and media companies with the tools to monetize their digital assets.

Entriq "helps customers monetize content in new ways while not worrying about security issues, the technology involved in creating an online offering, billing issues, customer service, or results tracking," says CEO Jan Steenkamp.

Purveyors of digital content continue to seek the best ways to market and sell their materials while ensuring that only authorized parties access content. The trick is to find an end-to-end solution that lets customers use content in the ways they feel they should be allowed and at the same time, protect the rights of content providers.

Shore Communications Inc., a research and advisory service, has released a new report outlining the best practices for publishers and technologists to use in maximizing profits from existing sources of business-oriented online content.

Peppercoin, a payments company that aims to enable profitable new business models for low-priced digital content and physical goods, has announced that Wurld Media has selected the Peppercoin Small Transaction Suite. This payments software is intended to enable Wurld Media to sell legal, digital content through Peer Impact, its P2P network.

asknet, a provider of outsourced electronic software sales and distribution services (ESD), has launched a worldwide eCommerce platform for DivXNetworks, Inc., the creator of the DivX video compression technology. asknet built and now hosts DivXNetworks eCommerce store, featuring official DivX licensed software and hardware products.

ActivePoint, a provider of contextual natural language search and guidance engines that are designed to emulate the human communications process to provide pinpointed discovery, has announced the availability of its TX5 Discovery Engine system suite.

Crisp Wireless, a provider of mobile content management and wireless delivery software applications, has launched enhancements to its mLogic Store, a content management and ecommerce solution that supports Web and mobile discovery portals, over-the-air provisioning, flexible billing models, and digital rights management. Crisp Wireless? mLogic Store is designed to enable businesses to increase revenues by distributing digital assets through various wireless distribution platforms such as Web sites, branded mobile portals, and in-store kiosks.

Parks Associates has released a new report entitled Digital Music: Analysis and Forecasts, which suggests that portable music services will not have a big impact this year. Respondents in the recent Parks Associates survey Global Digital Living strongly favored the single-track purchase model over a subscription when presented with both options.

eMeta Corporation, a provider of digital access control and commerce solutions, has announced the availability of its eRights Suite for the software industry. The eMeta eRights Suite is intended to provide off-the-shelf applications for licensing, commerce, billing, and reporting that enable software vendors and service providers to reach beyond traditional licensing to increase sales and subscriptions, minimize customer price resistance, expand markets, and increase recurring revenue.

BitPass, Inc., an Internet payments company for digital content and services, has announced the introduction of BitPass Studios, a service designed to enable anyone to sell music, photos, reports, and other digital files by uploading those files and inserting a URL into an email or an instant message (IM).

JCB, an international payment brand, has announced that it will start a three-month pilot project for its mobile infrared credit payment system under the name "JCBeam Trial."

I take pleasure in looking forward to the more promising new revenue streams (and trickles) of the coming year.

As I think about what makes econtent different from traditional content and what?s happening in the Internet landscape these days, one topic comes to the fore: trust.

Bitrix has announced the release of a new edition of the Bitrix Site Manager for small business.

DigitalContainers Inc. has signed a deal with Paperback Digital, Inc., a provider of MP3 audio books, to securely package and distribute the company?s original Frankenstein radio broadcasts from the 1930s for sale in P2P networks.

iPhrase Technologies, developer of the OneStep platform for online search and customer interaction, and Coremetrics, a provider of Web analytics, marketing, and merchandising solutions, have partnered to provide integrated search analytics to retailers, financial services organizations, and technology companies.

FAST Search& Transfer, a developer of enterprise search and real-time alerting technologies, has announced FAST ImPulse, an enterprise search, navigation, and merchandising software solution for B2B and B2C ecommerce applications.

Peppercoin and Moneris Solutions have announced an alliance intended to meet the small payments processing needs of merchants, whereby they will deliver a small payment processing product suite.

ContextWeb, Inc., a provider of contextual advertising solutions, has announced the launch of ContextAd, a successful round of funding, and a new board of directors.

Network Subscriptions has announced the launch of the Business Network, a unified subscription to six online business and reference publications.

BitPass, Inc., an Internet payments company, has raised $11.75 million in a Series B financing.

Atomz, a provider of hosted enterprise Web site applications, has announced the second major upgrade this year to its Atomz Commerce solution.

Javien Digital Payment Solutions, a provider of Internet commerce technologies for the digital content market, has announced that Thomson Financial has deployed its payment processing technology for new, premium digital products.

JCB, an international payment brand, AEON Credit Service, a retail-affiliated credit card company, and NTT DoCoMo have jointly announced that JCB and AEON have developed the QUICPay payment solution for cards with contactless IC chips.

Crystal Semantics, has announced the launch of a linguistics-based technology designed to enhance the search capabilities of ecommerce sites.

RDK has announced a new biometrics-based system that is designed to enable users of mobile devices, such as PDAs and cellphones, to easily and safely make online payments using fingerprint, voice, and iris authentication, and other biometrics technologies.

ECNext, a provider of technology and services for marketing, selling, and delivering commercial business content via the Web, has announced the launch of the ?McGraw-Hill Construction Information Center,? an ecommerce Web site branded for McGraw-Hill Construction, part of The McGraw-Hill Companies.

ECNext, a provider of technology and services for marketing, selling, and delivering commercial business content via the Web, has announced the launch of an ecommerce site for The Information Network, a market research and consulting company targeting the semiconductor, computer, and telecommunications industries.

Peppercoin has announced Peppercoin 2.0, a small payments solution that is designed to reduce transaction processing and customer service costs.

For some reason, everyone in the industry is loathe to admit what the numbers clearly demonstrate: Web content?or at least some important sectors of the digital content economy?has waged a quiet but remarkable comeback.

Understanding information arbitrage affords intriguing opportunities worth exploring, if you?re on the sell side of the econtent business, or exploiting, if you?re an information consumer.

What role does marketing play in the econtent industry? Marketing is developing and positioning an econtent product so that someone will actually want to buy it.

According to many publishers large and small, the contextual ad programs set up by the major search engines and some other ad networks are spreading ad revenue wealth generously. But will it last?

ECNext, a provider of technology and services for selling and delivering commercial-business information via the Web, has teamed with E4X, Inc., a provider of online multi-currency services.

ECNext, a provider of technology and services for selling and delivering commercial- business information via the Web, has announced that the Dow Jones& Company publication, theFar Eastern Economic Review (The Review), has engaged ECNext's ecommerce platform and services to sell its business reports on the Web.

Imagine a digital content-commerce environment where buying and selling the rights to a game, song, or ring tone is as easy as buying a newspaper. That is exactly the goal of Navio, a digital commerce service provider that launched a brandable version of its primary customer interface this month.

ECNext, a provider of technology and services for selling and delivering commercial business information via the Web, has added another market research and consulting firm to its client list.

The EContent 100 issue with the most important, influential, and successful companies in the content industry seems like a good spot from which to project forward a bit and ?Follow the Money? into the content industry?s likeliest revenue streams in 2004.

Yaga, Inc., a provider of commerce services for digital content and online businesses, has been chosen to supply digital content commerce services for Journal Interactive, the Internet division of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and member of the Real Cities Network.

Payment One Corporation, a provider of payment solutions for digital content, online premium service, and internet access providers, has announced that SkyNET Telesystems, a pioneer in VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) long distance services has deployed PaymentOne's payment and billing services for its online subscribers.

Altova Inc., producer of XMLSPY, has announced the availability of Release 3 of Altova's recently released, version 2004 product line, a family of XML development and XML content authoring tools, designed to enable new XML and Web services applications.

Specialty-content cards, using AT&T PrePaid Web Cents technology, are now available at all Wal-Mart stores.

Javien Digital Payment Solutions and NXTbook Media have joined forces in an effort to provide a simple, seamless online method for NXTbook to sell digital content.

ECNext, a provider of technology and services for selling and delivering commercial business information via the Web, has announced the launch of business consulting firm Kline& Company's ecommerce site for the sale and distribution of its market research reports.

Solucient LLC has extended its agreement with ECNext to include the building and management of an online channel for publications and reports from Solucient's 100 Top Hospitals: National Benchmarks for Success.

Online micropayment is an idea that just won?t die?nor will it quite come to life. While growing seven-fold in 2002, they still represent a mere 1% of online content revenues.

ECNext, a provider of technology and services for selling and delivering commercial business information via the Web, has closed a previously scheduled $2 million in additional financing.

EasyAsk, a provider of information access software and Synchronized Search and Navigation, has announced EasyAsk Commerce Advisor, a component of its new EasyAsk Enterprise 9 platform designed for the needs of business-to-business and business-to-consumer commerce Web sites featuring products, services, and related content.

ATG (Art Technology Group), a provider of software applications for commerce and customer self-service, has announced the general availability of ATG 6.1.

What?s really at stake with the over-hyped concept of branding?in fact, what branding?s really about?is a focus on the customer.

Yaga, Inc., a provider of payment services for digital content and online businesses, has announced that Paymentech, a debit and credit card processor, is now offering Yaga's Digital Content Commerce Solution to their merchant customers.

IVP Technology Corp., d.b.a. ActiveCore Technologies Inc., has announced an agreement to purchase an equity interest in ePocket Inc., a Toronto-based developer of micro-payment technology.

Typically with B2C, much of the fresh content is free and includes ads, but readers are charged for archived data. That?s all well and good for B2C, but what about business-to-business publishers and their online properties?

Gaming companies may have a thing or two to teach content companies about diversifying revenue streams and keeping paying customers satisfied.

ChoiceStream, Inc., a provider of personalization solutions for online consumer services, e-retailers, and iTV providers, has launched the MyBestBets Personalization Platform, a patent-pending personalization technology that is designed to automatically deliver relevant content and products to consumers.

PaymentOne, a provider of payment solutions and strategies for the Internet, has announced that NetLoveMatch.com, a singles online dating service, is now offering PaymentOne's PhoneBill payment option in an effort to drive new customer acquisition.

PaymentOne, a provider of payment solutions and strategies for the Internet, has announced that JOI Internet, a division of Hawk Communications Inc., has joined other Internet service and content providers in offering customers an alternative to the credit card through PaymentOne's PhoneBill payment platform.

Yaga, Inc., a provider of payment services for digital content and online businesses, has announced that Tribune Media Services (TMS), a media content company that provides syndicated information and entertainment products, is using Yaga's Digital Content Commerce Solution.

eMeta Corporation has announced that iVillage Inc. has launched the eRights Suite to commercialize portions of its online content and services.

Tribune Media Services (TMS) Movie Products has partnered with Fandango, an online and phone ticketer to the movies as the exclusive sales representative offering Fandango's movie ticketing service to TMS customer Web sites.

Mirror Image Internet, an ebusiness provider of managed content delivery, ecommerce, and Web services, and a subsidiary of Xcelera Inc., has expanded its patent portfolio with the receipt of U.S. patent 6,581,090 for its Internet Communication System.

Authorize.Net, a provider of IP-based payment solutions, and Yaga, Inc., a provider of advanced payment services for digital content and online businesses, have partnered to offer digital content commerce services to Authorize.Net's network of resellers and merchants.

ECNext, a provider of technology and services for selling and delivering commercial business information via the Web, has been selected to build and manage Solucient's online channel for selling health care industry directories, publications, and sourcebooks.

As the Internet continues to evolve, consumers are getting used to the fact that the Web no longer provides a free ride and are beginning to pay for a wide range of online content. To capitalize on this trend, AT&T partnered with Accenture to launch its PrePaid Web Cents Service.

Yaga, Inc., a provider of advanced payment services for digital content and online businesses, has announced that Ziff Davis Media's PCMag.com, an online destination for technology buyers, is using Yaga's Digital Content Payment Solution to power the Web site's Utility Library.

ECNext, a provider of technology and services for selling and delivering commercial business information via the Web, has been selected by Webbolt to build, manage, and promote the www.webbolt.com site for selling business news, research and intelligence reports, and other high-value information.

Not only is it exceedingly simple to buy listings by keyword and phrase, search engine pay-for-performance is now a billion dollar industry and the fastest growing form of advertising anywhere. Now whenever and wherever a business- or consumer-related search is entered, the results are likely to include ads.

Not every company worth checking out has a Web site that does it justice. This month, I decided to review the current PC Magazine ?Top 100? companies? Web sites using the same criteria as I did with the EContent 100 list in my last column.

Yaga, Inc., a provider of payment technology and services for digital content and online businesses, has announced the opening of its newest office in London.

Conchango and Tridion are partnering to provide companies with a solution to manage econtent? in order to drive multi-channel commerce.

The Kiplinger Washington Editors has selected Javien Digital Payment Solutions, a provider of Internet credit card processing and billing for the online publishing market, to provide the payment processing technology for Kiplinger.com premium archive purchases.

Whether online or off, content providers adore the subscription model?and for good reason. Getting a user to commit to content at a bundled price is about as sweet a transaction as one can imagine. Yet more efficient, ?friction-less? micropayment systems?for vendors and consumers?could open up whole new revenue models.

In an effort to offset budget cuts, the Woodland Public Library in Woodland, CA has come up with a unique fundraising scheme: they have opened an Internet shopping mall.

WARP Solutions, Inc., a subsidiary of WARP Technology Holdings and a provider of Internet application acceleration solutions, has announced a partnership with Mirror Image Internet, an ebusiness provider of managed content delivery, ecommerce, and Web services, and a subsidiary of Xcelera Inc.

AT&T has introduced the AT&T PrePaid Web Cents Service, a new, secure, payment alternative for consumer purchases of online digital content.

EasyAsk, provider of Synchronized Search and Navigation, has introduced a new version of its solution featuring merchandising and analytic capabilities.

WebSideStory, Inc. has announced that SignOnSanDiego.com, the online news and information site forThe San Diego Union-Tribune, has doubled the number of monthly unique visitors and increased advertising revenues by more than 50% since implementing its HitBox service two years ago.

WeatherBug has unveiled an "On-Demand" online advertising model that is designed to allow users to change their sponsor at will.

ECNext, a provider of Web marketing and commerce technology for market research firms and business publishers has announced that Outsell, Inc., a research and advisory firm focusing exclusively on the Information Content (IC) industry, has selected ECNext as its solution provider for its commerce Web site.

FIRSTGATE Internet AG, a European content commerce company, known in the US as FIRSTGATE Internet Inc, has introduced the click&buy system.

Blackwell's Book Services, a book supplier to the library market, has announced that its Collection Manager purchasing system for libraries now includes a full-text preview feature powered by ebrary, a provider of information distribution and retrieval technology.

ECNext, a provider of market expertise and Web commerce services for business publishers and advisory firms, has announced the appointment of Chris Skudder as chief executive officer.

IBM has announced that it is working with the National Geographic Society to digitizing more than 10,000 of its images of culture, adventure, and nature and to make them commercially available worldwide.

Verity Inc. has announced that Sharper Image Corporation, a specialty retailer, has selected search technology from Verity for its ecommerce Web site.

En Pointe Technologies, Inc., a provider of information technology products and services, has announced that it has completed the acquisition of the assets of Tabin Corporation, a Chicago-based regional reseller of technology products and services.

Sandlot has released EclipseNet 6.0, the latest version of its subscription management software that is designed to enable businesses to track and control processes such as marketing, billing, distribution, customer service, and access control.

As other revenue streams dwindle for content publishers, many are revisiting the idea of selling branded merchandise via their sites, but this time they are going beyond slapping logos on coffee mugs and hoping for a sale.

The Web is transforming the traditional publishing paradigm in a number of ways. Chief among them is the idea that online content has to become more service-oriented.

What do cruise ships and econtent have in common? Useful lessons for success or failure in a venture that depends on an audience and partners. You're smart people; you can draw your own parallels.

Face this reality: many factors are conspiring to create growing enthusiasm for calling a close to the ?all free, all the time? Internet era, which translates into a universe where pay per view makes sense. And it's a foregone conclusion that customers will pay for valuable content. Micropayment technology may finally get its day in the sun.

No, these are not your father's corporate Web sites. They are doing a lot more than just presenting company information. They're courting customers, suppliers, and partners in B2B applications, and enticing consumers in B2C venues. They're using several kinds of third-party content?reference information, news, bulletin boards, educational information?to attract these different audiences. In short, they are doing all of the sorts of things that the dot coms are doing?or were doing before the bottom fell out for them.

A funny thing happened on the way to the revolution in New Media. Content, which once enjoyed consensus status as King of Digital Media, came under increasing attack to the legitimacy of its crown. And since commodities cannot be King, the search is on for a replacement.

Finding one-off statistics and stock photography used to be a pain in the butt for marketing professionals, but times they are a-changin'.

Psst! Wanna make some quick cash? Here, take these search engine text ads and run them next to some of your own relevant content.

What do reference librarians and econtent providers asking for micropayments have in common? They?re both bedeviled by good enough?adequacy as a threat to excellence.