Boo two hit with fines
Two accountants at KPMG were fined £2,000 last week for their role in failed dotcom Boo.com.
As reported by Accountancy Age, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW) tribunal also ordered Philip Wallace and Michael McLoughlin to pay £40,000 each in costs.
Online gambling could fund terrorists, says US attorney
An influential anti-gambling campaigner has claimed that online bets could be used to fund terrorist attacks on the US unless regulations are tightened.
In an interview with The Guardian, Missouri's US attorney Catherine Hanaway said the government should keep tabs on where money from US bets end up.
Brand associations on both sides of the Atlantic
Online measurement company Hitwise has run a comparison of search terms associated with Yahoo!, MSN and Google in the US and UK, highlighting some differences in consumers' attitudes to the three portals on different sides of the Atlantic.
The study found that US consumers, for example, largely associate MSN with its portal content while in the UK, the brand is better known for communications tools Messenger and Hotmail.
Web launch delays blamed on lack of content
A survey of digital agencies reveals that website launches are delayed by as much as three months because content isn’t ready or suitable.
Priorities cited for website projects were design (75%), development (55%) and search engine optimisation (65%), with only 10% of agencies questioned saying website content was top of their agenda.
Beware the online behemoths?
There comes a time in every startup's life when you ask whether your bright idea will be stolen / pillaged / destroyed by a much larger 800–pound gorilla – where all you have effectively done is illustrate the potential of a market, enough at least for the gorilla to decide that he wants to eat, shoot and then possibly leave.
Study sheds light on complex Search conversion paths
Research by 360i and SearchIgnite will make interesting reading for search marketers who want to build their understanding of how consumers are interacting with organic and paid search listings before converting.Online card payments rise in UK
More than 50% of UK adults made an online purchase with their credit or debit cards last year, according to new research .
Payments association Apacs says 25 million adults (52% of all adults and 74% of internet users) bought goods online during 2005, an 11% rise over the previous year.
Ex-BetonSports boss pleads not guilty
Former BetonSports chief executive David Carruthers pleaded not guilty in his illegal gambling trial yesterday.
The 48-year-old, arrested two weeks ago in Texas and subsequently fired by the web gaming firm, is now being held in custody until negotiations over his bail arrangements are complete.
Blair gets lesson from Silicon Valley on innovation
Tony Blair took some time out from Middle Eastern politics on Sunday to pay a visit to Silicon Valley’s brightest and best.
Hopefully the PM will have left with some ideas about how to create an environment in which dotcom and tech start-ups can flourish here in the UK.
French government censors Greenpeace's mashup
The French government has instructed Greenpeace to remove a webpage featuring a customised Google Map with details of the locations of Monsanto’s genetically-modified cornfields.
The ban, issued via a French court, flies in the face of EU law, which states that this sort of information should be made available to the public by governments.
Social media: the best and worst of 2009
Email marketing: six steps to improving customer engagement in 2010
Web 2.0
Graham Charlton
Strategy & Planning
