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The Irish Independent reports on the job losses at videoconferencing company Spectel, which has cut some 45 staff in the face of a declining market. Get the full story on ElectricNews.Net.
The Irish Times reports on the growth of Irish budget travel booking company Web Reservations International, an on-line service which claims around 40 percent of the people who start a transaction on its Web site finish it. The company says its sales have grown by an average of 20 percent per month, and although it has spent very little on promotion it has reached profitability.
The same paper says that Microsoft has agreed to tighten the security of its .NET Passport Internet service as part of a settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission, as reported by ElectricNews.Net.
The Irish Times also carries a story from the Guardian on growing anger among hackers over Magic Lantern, a technology which will let the US Federal Bureau of Investigation plant a software "spy" to capture keystrokes on certain computers. The technology is being characterised as the latest salvo in the corporate and government battle against computer attacks. But hacker groups have said that Magic Lantern threatens civil liberties, and that it could be used to plant evidence on suspects' computers.
The Financial Times reports that troubled telecommunications equipment maker Marconi has slashed another 1,000 jobs in the UK as market conditions continue to be depressed. A spokesperson for the company told the paper that it was becoming "more difficult to avoid compulsory redundancies" at the company, which has cut the workforce in its core UK units from 15,000 last year to just 7,000.
The paper also reports that Vodafone will not sell any 3G mobile phones outside of Japan this year due to a lack of suitable handsets. The decision means that the company will not begin actively marketing 3G services in Europe until well into next year, the paper said. Previously Vodafone said it would launch 3G services in the UK, Germany and Spain in the second half of 2002.
The Wall Street Journal reports that on-line hotel bookings are predicted to reach USD15.5 billion in the next four years from just USD3.8 billion in 2000, according to a new report. Research due out on Friday from Bear Stearns is expected to say that the lion's share of the earnings will go to third-party travel Web sites, including Expedia, instead of to the sites run by hoteliers like Marriott International and London-based Six Continents.
The paper also reports that Xerox discriminated against black sales representatives by assigning them to accounts that had fewer sales and commissions, according to a ruling from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Xerox, which is facing a lawsuit from five sales representatives, said it was "surprised and disappointed" by the ruling and had previously found no evidence of discrimination following its own internal investigation.
The same paper reports that international transactions now make up one quarter of all deals on eBay, according to the company's Chief Financial Officer Rajiv Dutta. Speaking at a US Bancorp Piper Jaffray conference in Boston, Dutta also said that the volume of computer products sold on eBay rose 41 percent in the second quarter. The average sale on eBay during the quarter was USD432, Dutta said, and new categories like motors are showing rapid growth.
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