Rough Drafts

Fresh from its record-breaking $5.5 billion IPO, UPS is ready to stake its claim as the logistics enabler for the Internet economy: Forbes (1-10-00) Cover Story Logistics in Brown

Media Metrix touts numbers that show dot-coms performed better than bricks-and-mortar companies in this year’s online holiday shopping spree — only two of the top 10 Internet retailers (Barnes & Noble and Toys R Us) come from physical-world roots. The rest of the Net’s top 10 are Internet pure-plays

A new report shows that in Silicon Valley, the Internet boom is benefitting the well-off far more than it is other classes: Valley of the Digital Divide

The WSJ has assembled an impressive array of articles on today’s announcement that AOL is merging with Time Warner: AOL Time Warner — WSJ Interactive Edition

People aren’t as adamantly against Internet commerce taxes as you might think — but those who actually use the Internet are less likely to approve of Internet taxes, and those who *shop* online are even more opposed. More genius-level research: Survey: Consumer opposition to Internet taxes is soft

Economist Manuel Castells is questioning the wisdom of allowing a global economy to run completely automated and unregulated over the Internet. In his view, a completely “wired” global economy will lead inevitably to turbulence — rapid devaluations of tech stocks, for instance — that will prompt som

Trouble ahead for online retailers? Many dot coms are offering free shipping and other perks in an effort to attract new customers. Now, a Forrester report claims, they may find themselves locked in to continuing those money-losing practices. With negative margins, free shipping, and logistical prob

More on the coming wireless boom: Wireless E-Commerce Said to Be Heating Up–December 29, 1999

The next Net battle: Time. The UK government wants to create a universal Internet time standard based on Greenwich Mean Time. They’re giving it a new name: “Get,” for Greenwich Electronic Time — although it’s not clear how Get differs from GMT. To get Get accepted as a standard, of course, the Brits

Here’s an interesting review of the year in Internet access appliances, from a site devoted to news about Net devices. As the review points out, wireless access to the Web really started to take off in 1999, with Sprint PCS introducing a Web phone service, and Nokia selling WAP (Wireless Application

Most online holiday shoppers are happy with their experiences, reports say — although online toy stores may have produced more than their share of dissatisfaction: Web Shoppers Report Satisfaction (registration required to access site)

EToys, Amazon stock prices dropped Monday despite record e-commerce volume — analysts suggest investors are worried about the impact of fulfillment and customer service problems. EToys Was No. 3 for Holiday Shopping But Worries Over Service Hurt Stock (paid subscription required to access site)