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Honest: Jessica Alba’s Now an E-Commerce Geek (Video)

Kara Swisher in Commerce on January 25 at 10:05 am PT

Can a Hollywood star sell online consumers on a healthier lifestyle for them and their kids?

Rackspace Is Not for Sale, but Thanks for Asking

Arik Hesseldahl in Enterprise on February 14, 2011 at 6:00 am PT

Rackspace is one of several companies thought to be likely acquisition targets following the buyouts of Terremark and NaviSite. Ask CEO Lanham Napier about it, and he insists the company is not for sale, but he clearly enjoys being asked.

Abe's Market Raises $3.4 Million to Target E-Commerce Niche

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on February 10, 2011 at 4:35 am PT

Investors are betting they’ve found the next Diapers.com, Etsy or ModCloth, but instead of being a niche marketplace for baby products, crafts or independent designers, this one’s focused on natural and organic products.

Password Manager LastPass Acquires Xmarks

Kara Swisher in News on December 2, 2010 at 2:10 am PT

LastPass, a cross-platform password manager and form filler, has acquired the social bookmarking and browser synchronization service Xmarks. The San Francisco-based Xmarks has been in the midst of some tumult of late, as it closed down in September and then quickly opened back up again in an effort to keep its service running for a large group of active users and to find a new home.

The Long Goodbye: Xmarks Tried to Sell Twice, Before Closing Down With Class

Kara Swisher in News on September 28, 2010 at 5:15 am PT

Yesterday marked the end for Xmarks, the Mitch Kapor-backed social bookmarking start-up that was founded in 2006. What was most remarkable to BoomTown was the classiness and honesty of the goodbye, especially in Silicon Valley, which is loath to call a failure just that. Read on.

Exclusive Video: Bill Gross Talks About TweetUp and Gives a Tour of Idealab

Kara Swisher in News on April 11, 2010 at 9:01 pm PT

Bill Gross is widely considered the man responsible for the invention of paid search advertising, which heralded such Web powerhouses as Google. Now, in a can-lightning-strike-twice effort and armed with $3.5 million in venture funding from a group of leading investors, the well-known entrepreneur talks about his decision to monetize Twitter on his own and gives a tour of his well-known Idealab incubator where his newest start-up, TweetUp, is being cooked up.

Paid Search Inventor Bill Gross Moves to Monetize Tweets With TweetUp–And Without Twitter (Plus Screenshots)

Kara Swisher in News on April 11, 2010 at 9:00 pm PT

Just as Twitter finally prepares to announce its plans to make money–after what has seemed an eternity–the man responsible for the invention of paid search is beating the microblogging site to the potentially profitable punch, and without its involvement. Armed with $3.5 million in venture funding from a group of leading investors, well-known entrepreneur Bill Gross is launching a public beta of TweetUp, a bidding marketplace akin to Overture/Goto.com, the first paid search system he created a decade ago.

Xmarks the Spot? Kapor Says Start-Up Can Find Buried Treasure in Bookmarks for Advertisers.

Kara Swisher in News on April 8, 2010 at 12:19 am PT

Social bookmarking start-up Xmarks, which has been growing its user base and bookmarked Web addresses strongly, launched a new advertising product today called SearchBoost, which it hopes will finally give it a viable business model. Using a tool that displays user ranking and review information from the free syncing service, Xmarks Chairman Mitch Kapor said in an interview with BoomTown that the ad offering essentially “decorates” a paid search ad, thereby boosting click-through rates by 15 percent.

Top Microsoft Infrastructure Exec Chrapaty Heads to Cisco

Kara Swisher in News on September 20, 2009 at 10:39 pm PT

One of Microsoft’s top execs, Debra Chrapaty, who heads its infrastructure business, is leaving the software giant to take a top job at Cisco, sources said. Chrapaty–whose title is corporate VP of Global Foundation Services–is also one of increasingly few top women tech execs at Microsoft, where she has worked for seven years. Chrapaty will now shift to products at Cisco, running the collaboration software group, according to sources.