Business - E-business latest news

Central Pacific Bank on Monday introduced an online service that allows customers to electronically open accounts without setting foot inside the bank's 39 branches.

On June 30, data security standards set by the Payment Card Industry became mandatory for organizations that handle online credit card payments. This is a significant milestone in the ongoing push to strengthen online security as these important standards have moved from recommendations to hard and fast mandates.

We live in interesting times. According to Gartner Research VP Robert Anderson, if all the people on the MySpace virtual community banded together, they'd form the eighth largest country in the world. Never before in history could people create such large communities and communicate so readily as they can today, thanks to the social networking environment.

Enterprises have long sought ways to add real-time communications to business applications to improve customer interactions, streamline workflows, more quickly respond to critical events and more efficiently execute time-sensitive transactions. Integrating interactive communications with software applications and business processes, however, has proven difficult, costly and time-consuming.

Rupert Murdoch's media empire sets up an electronic ad department in Japan, as it looks to boost its growth in Web advertising globally.

Shares of VMware plunged 25 percent Tuesday after the software maker replaced cofounder and CEO Diane Greene and warned that revenue would fall short of prior estimates. VMware, which is controlled by data-management provider EMC, has fallen mightily since a blockbuster partial spinoff last year. After its initial public offering in August, VMware stock tripled from its $29 opening price in the first month.

DreamWorks Animation is teaming up with Intel to build a new kind of 3-D moviemaking technology. The two companies have formed a strategic alliance in which Intel will provide both hardware and software for the Hollywood giant. The move marks the end of DreamWorks' three-year deal with AMD and will result in all new systems for the studio's computers. Financial terms are not being disclosed.

If you use Google's Gmail and like to access your account from several locations -- work, office, your smartphone, Internet cafes, etc. -- you can now remotely check the status of that account from all your log-in locations. Google announced a new remote signout and monitoring feature designed to enhance security for those who use several computers or connected devices in the course of a day.

Facing heat over privacy concerns, NebuAd said it has a new notification and opt-out system for its targeted advertising system.