Business news for Mon, 17 Dec 2007 & with word web. 23 news.

Here are three web sites that shouldn't be missed when you're shopping for gadgets.

One of the demands of striking TV writers is for compensation when their work appears online. Now, according to today's Los Angeles Times, some writers are taking matters into their own hands by pursuing deals to develop shows for the Web.

Canada Post said Monday it has fixed a security flaw that allowed log-in records from a small business shipping website to be viewable through search engines such as Yahoo and Google.

Making online access easy use for blind and other disabled users is gaining attention because of class actions against companies like Target

(Reuters) - Research firm Morningstar Inc. said it agreed to buy Hemscott data, media and investor relations Web site businesses from Ipreo Holdings LLC for $51.6 million in cash, to strengthen global equity base and expand into international markets. The companies expect to complete the ...

Google has taken direct aim at the widely-used Wikipedia with a project designed to supplant the collectively produced encyclopedia as the primary source for basic information on the Web.

The Web site is partly shopping as sport, but it also speaks to the nervousness of retailers this holiday season.

Adobe Systems Flash-based service, already integrated with Salesforce.com, lets developers embed voice services into Web applications.

Every year, hoards of online shoppers bolt when they're just a click or two away from finishing the checkout process. Maybe it's a security concern, or what if returning the item turns out to be too much of a hassle? Whatever the reason, one study found that as many as 60 percent of online shoppers flee, making shopping cart abandonment a huge and costly problem for any business selling on the Web. The great frustration for online businesses is that a salesperson can't just walk over to you and offer help.

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Lehman Brothers is facing legal action from municipal governments in Australia who say they were sold high-risk collateralized debt obligations by the firm's local unit Grange Securities, according to reports. Two government councils in New South Wales and a third in Western Australia are among those considering legal action, the Financial Times reported on its Web site Monday. Lehman-orginated CDOs were reportedly also sold to charities and a public hospital provider. The report said some Australian councils had as much as 70% of their assets devoted entirely to CDOs. Lehman reportedly said investment products sold through its subsidiary in Australia complied with local regulations.

Online advertising jumped 25 percent this year, raking in a cool US$20 billion, but Internet executives say that figure could have been even higher if advertisers had reliable and consistent ways to measure online audiences.

Tips for keeping your Web activities secret, or as secret as the Internet allows.

Ribbit, a Mountain View startup officially launching today, is trying to bridge the telephone world and the Web by opening up its core technology to outside developers. The startup aims to give developers an easy way to integrate telephone tools into a...

About half of the online adult population has looked up themselves or someone else online, according to a survey released Sunday. A good 36 percent said they have searched the Web for someone with whom they've lost touch, and 9 percent have dug up information...

Dozens are turning to venture capitalists, seeking to bypass Hollywood and reach viewers directly online. Dozens of striking film and TV writers are negotiating with venture capitalists to set up companies that would bypass the Hollywood studio system and reach consumers with video entertainment on the Web.

Q: One thing we want to do next year is more online advertising, but I don't know much really about how that works. Could you ...

At 3 a.m. Thursday morning -- six hours before a fleet of 200 signature brown trucks was scheduled to take off -- some 150 package sorters at a sprawling UPS distribution facility here gawked at the voluminous loads of packages poised for the final legs of their journeys.