What were the top stories in online media during 2003?

I've returned to the relative safety of my office following a three-day stint of almost constant holiday shopping, spent mostly in the big-box electronic retailers in two states and three DMAs. Here's what I've learned:

Darien, Conn.-based Jupitermedia Corp. next year will begin Internet Planet, which Jupitermedia said would focus on the online business-to-business sector. Alan M. Meckler, chairman and chief executive officer of Jupitermedia, said beyond search, the other driver of the Internet is how to grow business online.

On the Internet, it was already beginning to look a lot like Christmas last month.

DSL may be locked in a death struggle against broadband cable in the United States, but a study released Tuesday finds that DSL gained 25 million subscribers worldwide in the past 12 months.

LookSmart will combine its sponsored listings with another paid-search product, LookListings.

For those of us who don't believe that criminal charges against spammers can stick, here's something to ponder from Virginia.

Despite lingering concerns about spam and legislation designed to fight it, email marketing is still pretty popular.

ESPN is moving further into the digital age. At a Credit Suisse First Boston media conference on Wednesday afternoon, both Disney Chief Financial Officer Tom Stuggs and ESPN President George Bodenheimer said that ESPN and the rest of Disney's companies were investing heavily in what it considers to be the future of entertainment.

Don't expect Time Warner Cable to get too far into pricing wars when it comes to broadband.