Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia will be providing business mentoring services to a group of entrepreneurs working out of a business incubator called E-Space.

FORBES: Martha Stewart Throws Down for NYC Entrepreneurs

In the 1990s, firms embraced technology religiously first because they feared that the millennium bug might trigger an apocalypse, then because they were afraid of losing out in e-business.

ECONOMIST: High-tech companies

Among the most spectacular examples of bad judgment: Sequoia Capital 's seeming refusal to distribute any of its 8 million shares of Etoys, the e-tailer that was going to drive Toys "R" Us out of business.

FORBES: In the Lurch

Hard numbers are hard to come by because the company doesn't break out its e-commerce business, but the site is in the top ten in terms of visitors to e-tail sites, and its catalog is always expanding.

FORBES: The Overachievers: Wal-Mart Stocks Up

E, have built a business out of making Linux easier to install.

ECONOMIST: Computer programming

Governments have also realised that although a sluggish and half-hearted approach to e-government will not put them out of business, they may not be as immune from competition as they thought.

ECONOMIST: A survey of government and the Internet

Accessing weather information has replaced technical news as the top use of the Net, and nine out of 10 users now consider e-mail as not just for business anymore.

CNN: Opinion: Is the Internet maturing?

B2B spin-out, the executives of such firms are easy targets for fast-moving e-business software providers such as Commerce One (the aerospace victor), Oracle and Ariba, which often propose the deal and promise to do most of the hard work.

ECONOMIST: In the air