Richard Maven

Richard Maven helps run the E-consultancy blog as well as contributing to our Buyer’s Guides and other reports. He’s 29 and has several years’ experience in the telecoms/media/ecommerce space, both in the UK and the Middle East. You can contact him at richard@e-consultancy.com.

Mobile internet not catching on

Three quarters of UK consumers don't use their mobiles to access the web, according to research.

The survey of 1,500 people, commissioned by hosting firm Hostway, found that 38% of mobile internet users are annoyed pages load too slowly, while over 25% find sites too hard to navigate on small screens.

by Richard Maven 07 August 2006 15:34pm 1 comment

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.

by Richard Maven 07 August 2006 13:15pm 1 comment

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.

by Richard Maven 07 August 2006 13:17pm 1 comment

Google issues malware warnings

Google has begun issuing warnings to users if they are about to access a site containing harmful code.

Forming part of the 'Stop Badware' initiative, the alerts appear if users click on a link to a page known to host spyware or other malicious programmes.

by Richard Maven 07 August 2006 11:54am 0 comments

Windows Live Spaces launch hits problems

The launch of Microsoft's revamped blogging and social networking service has got off to a bad start after a flood of user complaints.

The Windows Live Spaces service, an updated version of blogging site MSN Spaces, was hit by problems with the statistics page and emoticons, as well as issues with email publishing, Friends Explorer and Firefox.

by Richard Maven 04 August 2006 14:16pm 0 comments

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.

by Richard Maven 04 August 2006 13:47pm 0 comments

.eu watchdog probes more "abnormalities"

The .eu watchdog said it is investigating evidence of further breaches of its registration rules since the launch of the top level domain (TLD) in April.

After confiscating over 70,000 Cyprus-based domain names last month, EURid said it is "looking into" relatively high numbers of registrations in other European countries such as Malta and Luxembourg.

by Richard Maven 04 August 2006 11:57am 0 comments

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.

by Richard Maven 03 August 2006 14:45pm 1 comment

PartyGaming snaps up sports betting firm

Online casino and poker firm PartyGaming has branched out into bookmaking with the £70 million purchase of Gamebookers.

The deal will see PartyGaming paying Gamebookers' owner, Isle of Man-based Trident Gaming, £55 million on completion and £15 million in 18 months' time.

by Richard Maven 03 August 2006 11:59am 1 comment

Ipwalk study shows more .eu domain irregularities

More evidence of irregularities in the registration of .eu domain names has been uncovered in a study by internet monitoring group Ipwalk.

The research, which comes after the suspension of over 70,000 names by the .eu watchdog, shows a "very high" number of registrations in certain countries with smaller populations and lower internet uptake.

by Richard Maven 03 August 2006 11:07am 1 comment