eBay mobile apps rake in $2bn

Internet shoppers spent more than $2 billion last year through various mobile applications of eBay, the world's largest online auction site, reports the Financial Post.

That figure is more than three times the $600 million spent through the Web site from smartphone users in 2009.

It also lends a fair amount of credence to the theory that smartphones are replacing wallets for many consumers, as cash payment becomes an increasingly distant memory.

Since mid-December, Google has been handing out hundreds of kits to local businesses in Portland, Oregon, as part of a trial called Hotpot, says Bloomberg Businessweek.

The applications include window decals that use near-field communication, a low-power technology that beams and receives wireless information from up to four inches away.

When customers with NFC-equipped phones - including the latest models running Google's Android software - scan one of the window decals, they'll see the business's operating hours, reviews, and other relevant information. "It's something that helps local businesses," says Sara Heise of Voodoo Doughnut, one of the merchants taking part in Hotpot."

Financial institutions deploy multiple business critical applications in order to be competitive and meet the informational demands of their internal users and customer base, writes Information Week.

These applications are either online or batch processing for next business day. Customer relationship management, risk management, tax liability business intelligence, and data warehousing are just a few examples of applications that are storage I/O intensive.

Unfortunately, Information Week adds, today's storage technologies have not kept up with the sophistication or performance of systems, networks, databases, and applications, adding 80% of applications' and databases' performance issues are related to storage I/O bottlenecks as a result of disk latency.