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Scams scaring shoppers …
The Internet retailing industry needs to “pull its socks up’’ and tighten credit-card security, following some dramatic Web site break-ins, according to a U.K.-based computer security specialist. Last year a hacker stole 300,000 credit card numbers from CD Universe and publicized several thousand of them after the retailer refused to pay a ransom. More recently, RealNames, an Internet search service with 20,000 credit-card numbers on file, was infiltrated. If merchants fail to maintain the highest standards, they will lose customers, Alex van Someren, the specialist and head of nCipher, which develops security hardware, told the Associated Press.

King scares them, too
An electronic stampede followed the release of Stephen King’s latest novella, “Riding the Bullet,” which is available only via computer downloading. About 400,000 people ordered it the first day, overwhelming many retail Web sites. The novella was available for $2.50, although some sites offered it free. Once downloaded, the material was digitally locked to prevent it from being printed or e-mailed.

Argentina gets wired
People living anywhere in Argentina, however remote their village, will be able to shop in a mall owned by financier George Soros by the end of next year. Computers will be put into 230 public telephone offices nationwide, through a venture between Soros-backed AltoCity, a Web site creator, and Telefonica Argentina, the national phone company. Soros, who owns the real estate fund Inversiones y Representaciones Sociedad Anonima (IRSA), is putting his malls on the Internet, enabling customers to shop from more than 400 retailers by using a single electronic “shopping cart.” “We will reach those places where it makes no sense to build a $70 million to $80 million mall,” said AltoCity’s CEO Daniel Kielmanowicz.

You can’t lick ’em
Green Stamps are back. The 104-year-old Sperry & Hutchinson, which has been bought and relaunched on the Internet, is offering “Green Points’’ for electronic purchases made on more than 60 Web sites, including Borders.com and SmarterKids.com.

Shoppers also can accrue points by shopping at brick-and-mortar stores with an S&H-brand credit card or loyalty card. For decades consumers earned S&H’s little green stamps, the ancestors of frequent-flier miles and credit-card reward programs, and redeemed them for anything from silver-plated tea sets to garden furniture.

In 1964 S&H printed more than three times as many stamps as the U.S. Post Office, and its gift catalog was one of the most popular publications in the country. But they all but disappeared in the 1970s, and only five redemption centers remain today. Analysts are predicting a rebound for the Green Stamp concept — only this time you won’t need to lick them.

Dinner and a movie
Consumers in 12 major U.S. markets can now dial up dinner and a movie of their choice following a deal between Blockbuster and Food.com, a privately held San-Francisco-based company that offers home delivery of food. The combined food-and-movie delivery service, which follows Food.com’s acquisition of restaurant-delivery service Takeout Taxi, will become available this summer.