“Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt, the company today reported in an SEC filing, plans to sell about 3.2 million of the Class A common stock he currently owns through a stock trading plan, which would reduce his share in the company by about 42 percent. At Google’s current stock price, this transaction would be worth about $2.5 billion.” Read Full Article >
“Global e-commerce sales reached $1.08875 trillion in 2012, up 21.9% from $893.33 billion in 2011, according to digital marketing research firm eMarketer. While North America continued to claim most of those sales, this year Asia-Pacific will take the lead, eMarketer says.” Read Full Article >
“Is the world of big data one in which information about us allows us to personalize services and benefit from that personalization, or is it one in which our data is used against us by companies and governments?” Read Full Article >
“Have you noticed that you’ve been receiving less emails about cheap, offshore financial opportunities and pills? No, spammers haven’t just decided to leave you alone. What you’re seeing is the decline of spam emails in general, worldwide.” Read Full Article >
“Few things in this world are more personal than your DNA. For this reason, databases like the Human Genome Project have always respected the privacy of their participants. By separating individuals’ identities from their donated DNA samples, researchers have upheld a standard of ‘genomic anonymity.’ Those days are now officially over.” Read Full Article >
“Etsy put out its December 2012 weather report today (a blog post listing various company stats), and revealed, among other things, that it saw 1,441,833 new members join the Etsy community during the month. That’s an increase of 314,922 (27.9%) from November, when it surpassed 20 million members.” Read Full Article >
“‘Mobile traffic is increasing at a significant rate each year. In January 2011 we found mobile traffic accounted for only 6% of total web site visits. Now, nearly two years later, mobile accounts for nearly a quarter of all web site visits,’ says John Fairley, director of web services and social media at Walker Sands.” Read Full Article >
“Same-day shipping became the big retailer craze this holiday season. Why? As the New York Times points out, retailers are living in fear of Amazon.com and trying to match what the online retailer offers. The fear factor — Wal-Mart once had a trance on retail. Now it’s Amazon.com. But it’s not just retail that has begun to show deeper anxiety about Amazon. It’s the enterprise giants, too, that pay far more attention to the moves Amazon makes. Commerce came first, and now Amazon is prepping to have the same impact on big data and the software markets.” Read Full Article >
“The post-Christmas sales opportunity is an important one for web retailers, say retail analysts. For starters, such sales help retailers sell excess inventory. Many shoppers extend their purchasing into the New Year because they purchase items for themselves instead of as gifts. The post-Christmas period also gives web merchants one more chance to engage with some of their best and motivated holiday customers, says Paula Rosenblum, managing partner of research and advisory firm Retail Systems Research LLC. ‘Between gift cards and the lure of more discounts, the holiday season now goes into the middle of January at minimum,’ Rosenblum says. ‘The consumer is looking for a deal and retailers have inventory to get rid of. It makes for an active period.’” Read Full Article >
