Early Christmas for online retailers

Online retailers should begin gearing up for the Christmas period as the festive sales peak is set to come earlier than ever, according to a recent study, reveals Computing.

Online Christmas sales are expected to be 16% higher than last year, with expected online sales of £6.4 billion, according to the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index.

British shoppers have already spent a total of £4.8 billion online during September, marking a year-on-year growth of 24%, bucking the recent fall in sales on the high street. According to IMRG, the major product areas set to top consumers' wish lists are beers, wines and spirits, electrical goods, and health and beauty products

A developer of some of Facebook's most popular games has been hit by a federal lawsuit alleging it shared millions of Facebook user IDs with advertisers and data brokers, says the Register.

The lawsuit alleges that Zynga, maker of six of the top 10 Facebook games, collected and shared the IDs of 218 million users, in violation of federal law and terms of service. It seeks unspecified monetary damages and an injunction preventing the alleged practice from continuing.

The suit was filed in US District Court, in San Francisco, on behalf of Nancy Graf, of St Paul, Minnesota. It seeks class action status so other Facebook users may also be represented.

Football's rule-makers the International FA Board (IFAB) agreed to reconsider the introduction of goal-line technology in the game, notes AFP.

IFAB - made up of world governing body FIFA and the football associations of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - says any system to be considered would have to confirm if a goal had been scored within one second.

The decision was taken at a meeting in Newport, South Wales, and comes just seven months after IFAB had ruled out evaluating goal-line technology in the immediate future.

Seagate Technology executives deflected questions about a buyout approach, after an earnings disappointment underscored the industry's struggle to compete against a new crop of mobile devices, reports Reuters.

The world's largest hard drive manufacturer confirmed longstanding speculation last week that it had entertained an approach to be taken private. On an earnings conference call, however, CEO Steve Luczo and other executives refused to comment on ongoing talks, and refrained also from giving any sort of guidance for this quarter or next year.

Sources said private equity firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Bain Capital might be interested in Seagate.