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Electronic wallets for online shopping have drawn the attention of Web heavyweights, who seek to streamline the process and strengthen their cyberspace position. These wallets allow shoppers to save time and keystrokes by clicking on a target that contains identification, credit cards and perhaps address books. Online experts claim that the current practice of entering personal information may be costing the lucrative industry millions of dollars. America Online, Yahoo and Excite are touting recently-developed electronic wallets that connect to all computers. Wallet providers also are racing to attract companies that already recognize the opportunity to study customer tendencies. Questions also are arising over security and privacy, as hackers could gain unauthorized access to centralized personal information. Electronic wallets gained momentum in 1998, when online shopping gained popularity. A growing number of retailers are introducing one-click systems limited to their stores.

AOL is changing its pricing policy for electronic retailers from collecting a percentage of earnings to charging them rent to lease a space on AOL's network. The Internet service provider explains the move by claiming years of experience with electronic commerce, the company has learned that commissions are not the most affective way to increase merchant's sales. AOL believes that when ISPs collect commissions rather than rent, there is no incentive for the merchant to succeed, rather they use their sites as experiments. For AOL the new plan will guarantee revenue that is paid regularly and subject to the variables of commission. This is important for the ISP, which needs to bring in revenue from other sources than its member-access fees.

IBM has decided to close the World Avenue, its cyberspace shopping mall. The company had expected the on-line mall to prosper and was planning to take a percentage of the transactions between customers and the consumers. IBM has announced that in the future it will restrict itself to only providing technology for online shopping ventures to other organizations and not become involved itself. When World Avenue was opened in Jun of 1996 it was the highlight of the company's third quarter. Merchants blame IBM for not promoting the mall and with so many Web sites it is difficult for a single site to stand out. These merchants claim IBM never used very many of its resources to advertise the mall.

Web marketers are preparing to send advertisements that are as personal as some of the junk mail being sent on the Internet. By accessing the same storehouses of consumer data that is being used by junk mailers, Web marketers may now be able to solve one of their biggest problems: figuring out who users are. Intelligent Interactions's Adfinity is a software package that utilizes existing consumer databases to determine which ads should be sent to specific Net surfers, based on age, income and other personal information. There are many issues that both consumers and companies are concerned about in relation to Adfinity and other programs like it, such as security and whether users will respond well to junk mail advertising.

The inability of electronic banking services to provide error-free payment of their customer's utility bills is leading many to withdraw support for the emerging payment methodology until better service is assured. Despite the encouragement of personal-finance software vendors and banking institutions alike, only about two million consumer's utilize on-line banking services. Merchants are not anxious to invest in the necessary on-line architecture unless they are assured that a certain number of their customers will use the service, and consumers desire the same assurance regarding the number of participating merchants. Intuit's electronic payment service, offered to users of its Quicken financial software, actually uses paper cheques for the disbursement of most of its customers' payments, sending them in bulk via overnight mail services.

Reports on the so-called digital certificate, a tiny computer file that could serve as both ID card and signature on the Internet. Building momentum for the certificates, fueled by booming e-commerce; VeriSign's purchase of Network Solutions, the company that oversees corporate dot-com identities; Concerns raised by consumer advocacy groups.

Reports on use of credit cards for shopping on the Internet. Risks involved such as having a hacker steal one's number; Maximum liability of credit card users to unauthorized charges; How customer fears of using credit cards for electronic commerce affect the industry; Recommendation that electronic commerce businesses should post information relating to the risks for credit card users.

Reports on Canada's reliance on the Internet for economic growth as of April, 2001. Efforts of the government to support electronic commerce; Goal of bringing broadband access to every community in Canada; Opinion that Internet access is essential to a business's success.

Discusses Internet utility companies in the United States. Emergence of these companies during utility deregulation; Success of such companies as Utility.com; Impact of volatile wholesale energy prices on the industry; Difficulties such as the energy crisis in California.

Reports on the state of Internet companies in light of the technology stock price collapse in 2000. Predictions that those companies that made it through the period would thrive, but are not doing so; How such companies, such as Priceline.com Inc., are struggling; Competition between new Internet companies and traditional companies with established business models.

Focuses on privacy issues regarding the Internet and Internet commerce. Background on 'opt on' and 'opt out' policies, which inform marketers whether or not a consumer will allow them to utilize their personal data for advertising reasons; Details regarding privacy policies that are under debate in the United States Congress; Why many Web privacy policies are unclear and complex.

Discusses the outlook for electronic commerce. Difficulty by Priceline.com to sustain its growth; Description of iDerive.com which offers consumers money if the company can not find a product for a low price; Opinion that business models for e-commerce need to take into account the consumers knowledge of the Internet.

Reports on efforts by the Internet industry to create systems known as reputation managers that will help users decide whom to do business with and whose recommendations should be accepted. Web sites that are using rudimentary reputation managers; Description of Epinions, an example of a reputation manager; The effectiveness of reputation managers when they are designed well.

Reports on the success that QXL.com is having in the Internet auction market in Europe. How QXL.com is approaching the market; The growing competition that QXL.com is receiving from eBay; The individual tailoring that each site must undergo within QXL.com.

Reports on elaborate schemes that Web wine retailers are developing to comply with regulations regarding shipping alcohol over state lines. Why wine is a perfect match for electronic commerce; The bevy of interlocking regulations that regulate interstate alcohol sales; The approach that Wineshopper is taking.

Reports on merchandise claiming to be related to Cuban refugee Elian Gonzalez which is for sale on the Internet auction site, eBay. Items being offered for sale, including samples of the boy's hair and replicas of the raft in which he was found; Popularity of 'Elian' as a search term on the Web site; Policy of eBay to remove items that are illegal or infringe on copyrights.

Discusses the sale of guns on the Internet. Why Silicon Valley has moved away from selling guns online; The launch of GunBroker.com after eBay banned the sale of firearms; How a gun is bought and sold online; Regulations that online gun brokers must follow.

Reports on the Internet strategy of viral marketing that uses online customers to persuade friends to shop at specific Web sites. The help and rewards that Web companies offer to participants; The example of Nilay Patel who used online-retailer Mercata; How Web companies are taking the word-of-mouth concept and combining it with affiliate programs.

Discusses the large amount of money that ticket scalpers are requesting for the movie `Star Wars: Episode 1--The Phantom Menace' on the Internet. Amount of money that tickets for the movie are getting on eBay Inc.'s Web site; Seller who is just unloading a few extra tickets on eBay; How Josh Evans plans to make money with the 60 tickets he has gotten for the movie.

Discusses the failed efforts of consumers to buy tickets to the `Star Wars' movie, `The Phantom Menace,' when they went on sale May 12, 1999. Troubles getting tickets from MovieFone Inc., the largest movie-ticket service in the United States; Failure to connect to MovieFone's Web site; How technology failed this movie purchasing event that seemed to be tailor-made for electronic commerce.

Features the ShopperConnection online information service of CDnow Inc. and eToys Inc. Details on the online service; Services offered by the Web site.

Interviews three electronic commerce experts in the United States on the importance of Internet store over traditional stores. Views of Ilia Lekach, chairman of Perfumania Inc. on the advantages of online shopping; Information on the basic skills for going online according to Ken Seiff, founder of Bluefly.com; Remarks from Steve Paspal, senior analyst at Sovereign Asset Management.

Focuses on beenz, a currency earned and spent on the Internet. How the beenz approach underscores how lopsided electronic commerce has been; Background of the beenz, created by Charles Cohen; What consumers must do in order to use beenz; How beenz.com has tried to make the currency more widely accepted.

Reports on the numerous online sites that sell toys. Details of ToyTime.com, an online company started by David Burcham in 1999; Amount of eToys capitalization; Efforts to market sites in order to entice consumers to visit; Efforts of SmarterKids to sell toys online.

Discusses the impact of the Internet on religion and the role of religion on the World Wide Web. How spiritual sites are being compelled to figure out how to balance their ideals with the desire for profit as competition grows; The move into electronic commerce by some religious Web sites; Why iBelieve thinks it can profit by becoming a full-service portal with a Christian perspective.

Discusses the huge market that exists in China for the Internet. Two key trends which may signal the Internet's role in China and how things will unfold in the United States; Predictions of how the Chinese will gain access to the Web; The boom in business-to-business electronic commerce in China.

Discusses how some of the big companies in the Internet industry are suing each other over patents and how this is affecting the Internet Web in the process. How the battles over the patents threatens to halt the Web's progress; Type of processes these patents cover; The lawsuit brought by Amazon.com against barnesandnoble.com over patent infringement.

Discusses the rise of desktop retailing where anyone with a Web connection can open a full-service store. What building a store means on the Web; Description of Amazon.com's zShop; Examples of Web stores that have opened; How the definition of retailer is blurring.

Compares efforts by two online companies to handle small grocery stores orders online. Fleming's Visionet service to grocers and why it did not catch on; Factors that have made Beamscope Canada's Beamscope Online successful; How creative ideas like Beamscope's will become crucial as distributors and manufacturers try to entice small unwired businesses to order online.