2008 News Archive
23.12.2008
Tesco is to help host a talent show to be broadcast on the internet, the retailer said. The supermarket giant has agreed to create small audition studios in a trial to allow entrants to perform and upload their own acts for free. The videos will be shown on the internet and voted on by the public. The competition - called 1Click2Fame - will be launched next month with the winner collecting £100,000. Enrich Social Productions, the company behind the project,...
Read more >03.12.2008
From 3rd December companies will be able to buy addresses associated with a new web domain. Called .tel, the domain is intended to act as a universal contact point rather than as a hook on which to hang websites. Owners of .tel domains will be encouraged to populate it with details about how they can be contacted. The domain is designed to work on the web and with mobile phones such as the Apple iPhone and Blackberry. "All other top...
Read more >01.12.2008
In a recent pre-budget report the Chancellor introduced a reduction in VAT rate from 17.5% to 15% to help kick start the economy and increase consumer spending. VAT has been set at 17.5% since before E-commerce was invented and this latest change is going to cause a huge headache for E-commerce websites. Some systems are likely to have VAT hard coded into the E-commerce systems but even advanced programs will still need to be adjusted to reflect the new rates....
Read more >28.11.2008
Illusion Media has successfully completed its migration to hosted exchange services, in a move to offer an improved communication platform across it's multiple sites and mobile devices. For Illusion Media (and like most organisations of our size), running an email infrastructure has always been a expensive and thankless job. When it is all going well, you’re lucky to get an odd spout of appreciation, but the bulk of the feedback generally comes in the form of complaints and criticism when...
Read more >25.11.2008
Mobile internet use is growing while the number of people going online via a PC is slowing, analyst firm Nielsen Online has found. Some 7.3m people accessed the net via their mobile phones, during the second and third quarters of 2008. This is an increase of 25% compared to a growth of just 3% for the PC-based net audience - now more than 35m. It also found that the mobile net audience was younger and searched for different things. Searching...
Read more >23.11.2008
Online payment service PayPal announced Monday that it has added a new layer of security for mobile phone users. The PayPal SMS Security Key gives users the option of receiving a unique six-digit security code via text message prior to logging in to their accounts. According to the company, the SMS (Short Message Service) security key generates the code every 30 seconds. Members will be required to input the code along with their user names and passwords to sign in...
Read more >23.11.2008
Google has unveiled a tool that will allow users to customise and refine their search queries. The company's SearchWiki lets users re-order, remove or add specific web search results. This means the next time they perform the same search, the personalised version will pop up. "I would call this revolutionary. It's a huge step, not a baby step in the world of search," Google's product manager, Cedric Dupont, told the BBC. "This is part of an obvious movement of the...
Read more >19.11.2008
iPerceptions Inc. (TSX.V:IPE), a leading provider of web-focused Voice of Customer analytics, today released new data that indicates that E-Commerce and retail companies are risking millions in sales by undeserving site visitors in the run up to a challenging holiday season. iPerceptions' 4Q website survey data collected from over 50,000 site visitors shows that consumers are often unable to accomplish what they came to the site to do -- and 1 out of every 2 visitors with a clear intent...
Read more >14.11.2008
Internet shoppers will not have to pay customs duty on items they have bought for less than £105 from outside the EU. The change, which comes into force on 1 December, extends the duty-free limit for goods bought online from £18, HM Revenue and Customs says. The move will benefit thousands of consumers who buy items such as DVD players from the US, which have a 14% duty rate. VAT will still be charged on most items that cost more...
Read more >13.11.2008
Barack Obama is turning to the web as he prepares to become US president. Via a website called Change.gov, the Obama campaign plans to provide a guide to the transition process. The site also solicits suggestions from US citizens about their vision for America, and lets them apply for a post with the new administration. On its transition website, the US governmental watchdog has listed the 13 most urgent issues that will soon confront President-elect Obama. Job ads The US...
Read more >12.11.2008
A text conversation has revealed a big problem with the G1 mobile phone - powered by Google's Android software. The newly discovered bug causes the phone to restart when owners type in the word "reboot" soon after starting up the device. Google hurried to repair the problem, which causes the phone to interpret any text entered just after the phone was turned on as a command. Google has rushed out a fix for the bug which will soon be available...
Read more >11.11.2008
What do you think has more potential to influence buying decisions online: links in blog posts or a burgeoning social network? If you chose social network, you would probably be using common sense. If you chose bloggers, you're on to something that Jupiter Research and Web metrics firm BuzzLogic have uncovered in recent research. For avid blog readers, the links found within posts are the preferred method for retrieving related content from other blogs, Jupiter found. The results of its...
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