Hitwise Records Drop In Retail Traffic

It would be less than shocking if a certain Pink Floyd song has become stuck in the minds of online retailers recently; "Is There Anybody Out There?" seems like a semi-appropriate question as a new Hitwise report explains that fewer people are swinging by their sites.

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Companies Collaborate to Define Clicks

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has announced the release of Click Measurement Guidelines, a document establishing parameters for buying and selling cost-per-click (CPC) adver

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Do Backroom Deals, Secrecy Make Google A Fallen Hero?

On its way up, Google rarely talked about anything—especially its algorithm. The more the company let fans into its world (that is, once the company learned of the power of branding), the more carefully the Googtopia narrative was built, a narrative with a kind of Justice League ring to it—Don’t be evil, be good, be transparent, be groovy, man. With recent maneuvers one wonders if…

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Does Recession Equal Less Whoopie?

Despite Hitwise’s Heather Hopkin’s proximity to prolific pregnancy, searches for “pregnancy” are down 37 percent over last year, and searches for “maternity clothes” are down 74 percent. Baby names, too—searches for those are down 40 percent.

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Shortcovers Could Challenge Amazon’s Kindle

You've probably heard a lot of hype about the new Kindle 2 from Amazon that people just started receiving this week. This isn't the only news in electronic reading materials though. What if you could just get books delivered to your phone? That doesn't sound too bad, and it's exactly what Canadian Indigo Books & Music, Inc. is doing with its well-timed release of Shortcovers,…

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