ComScore: Holiday etail spending jumps 19 percent
It’s indeed a happy new year for e-retailers, who saw a big bump in online holiday spending this year, according to comScore, which tracks internet usage. Analysts found that online shoppers spent nearly $28 billion from Nov. 1 through Dec. 27, 2007. That’s a 19 percent rise compared with the same period in 2006, despite rising gas prices and lower home values. “Even as the holiday shopping season winds down after Christmas, we continue to see some relatively strong online spending days,” said comScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni in a statement. Online sales the day after Christmas more than doubled the sales for the same day last year for a total of $545 million. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas alone, sales rose 21 percent. Comparatively, brick-and-mortar stores saw spending rise a mere 3.6 percent in that period, after averaging 6.5 percent the two years prior.
Click! Vonage no longer hung up on patent disputes.
If you are one of Vonage’s 2.4 million subscribers, you have one less thing to worry about. And if you are a stockholder in the internet phone provider you may be even happier to hear that the voice-over-internet-protocol company is settling its final suit in a string of patent disputes. Vonage agreed this week to settle with Nortel Network without having to pay any monetary damages. Last year Vonage settled some expensive patent suits with Sprint for $80 million, as well as others including communications giants AT&T and Verizon. Vonage spokesman Charles Sahner said in a statement: "This is the last of them and we're quite happy to put it behind us." The Nortel dispute involved patents for “911” and “411” emergency and information call numbers.
FCC: Stations may end analog service before 2009
The new year is bringing new rules for broadcasters making the switch from analog to digital television signals. The Federal Communications Commission agreed this week to allow some broadcasters to phase in their transition to digital as the Feb. 17, 2009, deadline looms for providers to end analog service altogether. FCC chairman Kevin Martin said the new rules that allow stations to end their analog service before the deadline are an attempt to give broadcasters flexibility while ensuring minimal disruption for over-the-air TV viewers. Discount coupons, two $40 ones per household, are now available from the government to help with the cost of purchasing a digital-analog converter box for those who still own analog TV sets. Digital TV owners and cable and satellite subscribers won’t be affected by the switch, which is being made partly to free up public airwaves for police and firefighters.
AOL poll: Tabloid girl Lohan was year's worst actress
Sometimes being a train wreck can help bring a celebrity some welcome added attention, but in Lindsay Lohan's case, it’s not helping. According to AOL's Moviefone poll, the actress who bounced in and out of rehab, jail and headline-grabbling relationships this year turned in the year's worst performance by any actress in her film "I Know Who Killed Me." Nearly 4 million voters participated in the online poll, and 58 percent chose Lohan's performance as the most awful of the year. They also chose her film "Georgia Rule" as one of the biggest wastes of money spent on a movie ticket, second only to the Eddie Murphy comedy "Norbit." On the more positive end of things, the best on-screen duo went to Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf of "Transformers," and "300" won the honor of being most worthy of the $10 movie ticket price. The funniest movie was "Superbad," and the best sequel was "The Bourne Ultimatum."
