Archive for May, 2011

Google releases “Wallet”, rivals likely to follow

Monday, May 30th, 2011

Google became the first company to allow people to use their smartphones as credit cards when they released “Wallet”, and it is expected their rivals will follow suit.

Not everything went smoothly for Google though, with EBay filing a lawsuit accusing Google of stealing trade secrets to build the platform.

Apple, Amazon.com, eBay and Facebook are all believed to be working on similar technology, also allowing consumers to use smartphones to pay for goods or services.

You can read more at the sydneymorningherald.com.au

 

 

 

 

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Posted in Facebook, Google, smartphone | No Comments »

Internet boom 2.0 is here

Monday, May 23rd, 2011

Thomson Reuters Deals Intelligence data has revealed upwards of US $5 billion of venture capital investment has been injected into growing web companies in the first 4 months of this year.

This means 2011 is on course to be the busiest in dollars terms since way back in 2000, when the web was really starting to take off. More than US $55 billion was shared back then.

Valuations for Facebook (US $70 billion) and GroupOn (US $15 billion) are believed to be one of the reasons for the growing investments in web start ups.

You can read more at the sydneymorningherald

 

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Posted in Facebook, investment | No Comments »

New marketing potential as organisations set to get approval to register brands as domain names

Monday, May 16th, 2011

ICANN, the governing body for internet domain names, is set to announce on June 20 the decision to approve rules allowing businesses to register brands as internet domain names.

This means that we will no longer be limited to traditional domains such as .com, .com.au etc.

In an earlier blog post, on the 26th of April we posted that cities will be able to register their names as a domain, such as .sydney, but with businesses also likely to get approval you can expect to see domains such as .sony

Next time you want to buy a TV online, you may have to simply type in tv.sony

You can read more at theaustralian.com.au

 

Posted in domain names, Sony | No Comments »

Mozilla resists US request to help censor the web

Wednesday, May 11th, 2011

Mozilla, a Non Profit Organisation who develop the popular internet browser Firefox have resisted a request by the Government to remove a software tool that is claimed to assist in circumventing federal efforts at curbing internet piracy.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of the US Department of Homeland Security, have been taking over domain names it believes house piracy related information.

The MafiaaFire tool, available to Firefox via a third party matches these website domains with an alternate address, so that visitors can reach the sites.

You can read more over at the sydneymorningherald

 

Posted in Homeland Security, mozilla, piracy | 1 Comment »

Strong growth in online shopping

Monday, May 2nd, 2011

Online purchases via credit card have risen on average 15% a year since 2005, the Reserve Bank has announced.

These figures support the trend that more consumers are willing to shop online, both within Australia and internationally.

You can read more at sydneymorningherald.com.au

Posted in Online Sales | No Comments »