Amazon has added noncertified USB-C cables to its list of items prohibited from being sold on the e-commerce site, CNN/Money reported Thursday. USB-C cables were designed to recognize the device they're drawing power from and adjust the power usage accordingly -- more from a power outlet and less from a laptop. But Benson Leung, a Google engineer and prolific USB-C cable reviewer on Amazon, suffered damage to his Chromebook trying to charge a device using the Surjtech 3M USB cable because the cord had been wired incorrectly, he said. “Serious damage has been done to components related to charging and managing the USB Type-C port's capabilities,” Leung said, calling the cable “fundamentally dangerous.” In a recent update of its prohibited items listing, Amazon said it wouldn’t accept for sale on the site “any USB-C (or USB Type-C) cable or adapter product that is not compliant” with standard specifications issued by the USB Implementers Forum. Leung, on a mission to weed out inferior USB-C cables from the market, applauded the Amazon move in a Google+ post: "Really great news, but we all have to continue to be vigilant and call out any bad products we find on Amazon and other stores (both online and brick and mortar) as we find them," Leung said. The most recent news release on the USB Implementers Forum website, dated Feb. 21, 2015, warns consumers to purchase "compliant products from trusted sources that display USB-IF certified logos on packaging, in product briefs or on the cable or device itself.” Noncompliant USB cables, whether USB Type-C, Micro-USB or otherwise, “pose a risk to the functionality and interoperability of USB products,” it said. Surjtech could not be reached for comment.

SaaS (software as a service) platform Shopgate added Apple TV apps to its roster of shopper channels, joining iPhone, iPad and Android apps, it said Friday. The Apple TV apps were to launch Saturday during Shopgate’s South by Southwest launch party, said Shopgate. The large-format interface for Apple TV apps is customizable with drag and drop widgets, said Shopgate. The company said it simplifies content management by connecting a merchant’s e-commerce store to its Shopgate account and automatically syncing products and orders. Shopgate’s persistent shopping cart allows customers to complete purchases in the Apple TV app or jump among devices without starting over, Shopgate said.

E-commerce shopping cart abandonment rates can exceed 90 percent, said Jacada, which plans a webinar on reducing abandonment and boosting conversion rates March 30 at 1 p.m. EDT. The webinar will address how to reduce abandonment, target at-risk buyers, increase conversion rates and drive additional revenue, the company said. Registration is open.

Amazon premiered its first daily live show Tuesday, an interactive program about fashion where viewers are encouraged to participate through live chat and shop while they're viewing. One goal of Style Code Live is to create a community, said Executive Producer Terence Noonan. Interactive features include live chat where the audience can ask questions and share tips during the show; a “style carousel” that highlights and dynamically updates products available on Amazon as they’re featured on the show; “style links” to products and topics discussed; and a chat host who responds to viewer questions. Style Code Live streams live Monday through Thursday at 9 p.m. ET, with a “best of” show on Friday. Viewers can watch at www.amazon.com/stylcodelive; a mobile version is coming soon, Amazon said.

Technavio projects the e-commerce software market will reach $6 billion by 2019, it said Wednesday. Consumers’ increased adoption of advanced technology is one trend driving the need for better and faster delivery of services, the researcher said. Retailers are developing innovative services to achieve high customer satisfaction, it said, including flexibility in product ordering, discounts and a selection of payment options. The pervasive use of smartphones and tablets has increased the need to integrate business applications such as enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management and supply chain management, it said. The tools give companies insight into customers’ buying behavior so they can understand buying patterns and predict customers’ buying preferences, it said.

The mobile shopping boom isn’t just for electronics and small-ticket items. Revenue from smartphone purchases during Presidents Day sales was up 65 percent year over year on the Blueport e-commerce platform for furniture retailers, the company said Thursday. Smartphone sales generated 35 percent of revenue on the Blueport Platform, said the company. The week’s top seller was a 139-inch-long sectional sofa with an average smartphone order of roughly $730, Blueport said. “The idea of purchasing a sectional on a phone was once unimaginable,” said Blueport Commerce CEO Carl Prindle. “Today, a responsive website that works as well on a phone as it does on a tablet or desktop is the cornerstone of a retailer’s omnichannel strategy.”

Super Bowl viewers Sunday will be able to buy products featured on 30 commercials, as well as other products, through LG, Roku Samsung and Sony TVs and streaming media devices, said ShopTV, which launched the “Big Game Store” Friday. Viewers can browse the ShopTV store and “securely check out from their TV” by entering their mobile number onscreen, the company said. When the mobile number is entered, the virtual cart is sent from the TV to the mobile device for checkout immediately or at a later date, the company said. The product assortment is also available online at ShopTV.com.

E-tailers lose as much as 42 percent of potential sales, or $150 billion a year, by making it too hard for consumers to complete the checkout process, a BlueSnap report said Tuesday. It's based on an analysis of 650 U.S. retailers representing three-fourths of U.S. e-commerce spending, said BlueSnap, which has launched a checkout conversion calculator to help retailers identify friction points that lead to missed sales. Those missed sales go instead to e-tailers such as Amazon that have a “simple, one-click checkout process,” BlueSnap said. The company’s Powered Buy Platform helps merchants address checkout conversion problems identified by the calculator, it said.

From counterfeit goods to weight loss scams, Google blocked more than 780 million ads in 2015 for violating policies, it said Thursday in a blog post. More than 12.5 million pharmaceutical ads that made misleading claims were blocked, while more than 10,000 websites and 18,000 accounts that pitched counterfeit products like fake designer watches were suspended. More than 30,000 sites that made misleading claims for weight loss through supplements -- a top user complaint, Google said -- were blocked, as were nearly 7,000 phishing sites. The company said it also disabled 10,000-plus sites offering "unwanted" software and slashed unwanted downloads through Google ads by over 99 percent. More than 17 million "trick to click" ads such as those that resemble system warnings from a person's computer were scrapped. Google said it also "stopped showing ads on more than 25,000 mobile apps because the developers didn't follow our policies." For instance, two-thirds of the violators had placed their ads so close to buttons that users accidentally clicked the ads. The company said more than 1.4 million applications from sites and mobile apps that wanted to display Google ads but didn't follow policies were rejected. Users also provided "4+ billion pieces of feedback" through the "mute this ad" functionality telling Google they didn't want to see an ad on a site again. Besides rolling out a new design to help users manage their ads settings last year, the company said it's updating policies on weight loss ads and new protections against malware and bots in 2016.

Brother printers, a General Electric dishwasher, Whirlpool smart dishwasher and Gmate Smart blood glucose monitor are among the first devices available for Amazon’s Dash Replenishment program, the retailer said Tuesday. Under Dash Replenishment, connected devices automatically order physical goods from Amazon when supplies are running low, the company said. A Brother smart printer will order toner or ink, for instance, and a GE smart dishwasher will request detergent when predetermined levels are reached, said Amazon. Customers who own one of 45 Brother smart printers can start using the service right away, and the GE and Gmate devices will be Dash-capable by the end of the month. Customers sign up to activate the service. Amazon will continue to add devices to the program through the year, said Daniel Rausch, Amazon Services director. Other manufacturers previously announced for Dash Replenishment: Samsung, Brita, August, Brita, Clever Pet, Oster, Petnet, Samsung, Sealed Air, Sutro, Thync and Whirlpool. Purell maker Gojo is launching a development project to connect smart dispensers with Dash to track the supply level of soap and hand sanitizer refills and automatically order refills when supplies are low, Amazon said. For device makers and developers, Dash Replenishment Service APIs (application program interfaces) are available for integration into any device that can connect to the Internet, either directly or through a proxy, Amazon said. Developers can begin an integration with a minimum of 10 lines of code using HTML containers and REST (representational state transfer) API calls, it said. Amazon billed Dash as a way for device makers to place orders on behalf of customers without having to build the back-end infrastructure to fulfill orders by leveraging its authentication and payment systems, customer service and fulfillment network.