IN THE PAPERS
In the papers 27 November
27-11-2007
by Sylvia Leatham
US online retail sales surge over Thanksgiving weekend | Google prepares data storage service
The Irish Times reports that Microsoft Ireland has appointed Paul Rellis as its new managing director, as reported by ENN on Monday.
The paper also says that Zamano has bought Red Circle in a deal worth as much as EUR24.4 million. Read the full story on ENN.
The same paper reports that Data Electronics is investing EUR25 million in a new facility that will allow it to double its staff numbers. Read more on ENN.
The paper also notes that Dublin-based Corvil has won a contract worth more than EUR500,000 for Deutsche Borse to use its technology for its new Eurex market data service, to be launched this month. Corvil, whose technology makes trading electronically on an exchange more efficient and secure, recently signed a similar deal with the London Stock Exchange.
The Irish Examiner reports that nearly one in every two Irish organisations cite malicious employees as a potential financial threat to their business, according to a new survey by Citrix. Read more on this story on ENN.
The paper also says the Government is to use social networking websites such as Bebo and Facebook in the next phase of its war on drugs. Drugs Minister Pat Carey confirmed that an information campaign targeting young people will be rolled out shortly and that the initiative will use "youth-friendly" media to spread the message.
The Financial Times reports that US online retail sales have been growing at better-than-expected rates in the run-up to the Christmas season. Raul Vazquez, chief executive of Walmart.com, said the retailer had seen sales on the Friday after Thanksgiving "exceed our expectations" of 40 to 60 percent annual growth. Ron LaPierre, president of PriceGrabber, a comparison shopping site, said sales through its site had been running "at or above expectations" so far. Over the holiday weekend, sales had grown 45 percent on last year, although the seasonal pick-up in demand had come later than last year.
Meanwhile, according to the Wall Street Journal, Yahoo's popular e-commerce system buckled under the strain of Monday's surge in online shopping, and left some merchants disappointed and angry over lost orders. The infrastructure behind Yahoo Merchants Solutions business was overwhelmed "by heavy holiday traffic". As a consequence, some of the 40,000 websites that rely on the feature couldn't complete orders, and their customers were told to try again. "We are aware of the issues and are working toward a solution as quickly as possible," a Yahoo spokeswoman said late Monday.
The paper also says that Google wants to offer consumers a new way to store their files on its hard drives, a strategy that could accelerate a shift to web-based computing and intensify the internet company's competition with Microsoft. Google is preparing a service that would let users store on its computers all of the files they might keep on their PC hard drives -- such as word-processing documents, digital music, video clips and images. The service could let users access their files via the internet from different computers and mobile devices when they sign on with a password, and share them online with friends. The service could be released as early as a few months from now, according to sources.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 