Business news for Mon, 31 Dec 2007 & with word online. 19 news.

Google shares edged below the $700 mark Monday as investors sussed out a report that the Internet giant is exploring a method of selling newspapers’ advertising space online.

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, online sales rose 21 percent in 2007, slower than the 26 percent growth recorded in 2006.

Shoppers spent nearly $28 billion in online purchases this holiday, the smallest online sales...

Rather than carve out a safe little niche, Ooyala is essentially out to create an entirely new online video ecosystem.

St. John Bosco School, 16035 S. 48th St., will be open on Monday, Jan. 31 from noon to 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 31, for last minute 2007 Arizona tax credit donations, forms, online assistance and hot chocolate.

Mark Pasetsky, the former Life and Style editor and general manager is moving to the online world.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Technology stocks began the last trading day of the year in the red Monday on what was expected to be a relatively light session ahead of the the New Year's Day holiday. Among bellwether tech stocks, Google Inc. shares fell $4.67 to $697.81 amid a report that the company is in discussions with several newspaper publishers to sell advertising space online. Declines also came from Apple Inc. , Microsoft Corp. , Dell Inc. and Texas Instruments Inc. . The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell 11 points to 2,663.

Less than a year since its launch, Wal-Mart has scrapped its online video download service. The decision to end its downloading operation resulted from Hewlett-Packard discontinuing the technology that powered the service.

According to the fifth annual consumer returns survey commissioned by Newgistics, Inc. and conducted by Harris Interactive, nine out of 10 direct shoppers cited a convenient returns policy as very important, important or somewhat important to encouraging them to shop with a new or unknown online or catalog retailer. 68% said the ability to make a return from home was very important or important when deciding whether to shop with an online or catalog retailer.

eMarketer is forecasting U.S. online ad spending to reach almost $28 billion in 2008--with the market buoyed by the presidential election and the Beijing Olympics, among other factors. That's up nearly 29% from this year.

Sales in the US by online retailers rise 19% between 1 November and 27 December, comScore says.

TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- International Business Machines Corp., the Armonk, N.Y., tech giant, is in advanced talks to buy an Israeli storage-technology startup, XIV, for $300 million to $350 million, the Israeli business daily Globes reported in its online edition. Citing sources, Globes said the company is chaired by Moshe Yanai, a former executive with EMC Corp., the Hopkinton, Mass., technology-infrastructure provider. Yanai laid out the $3 million that's funded XIV from its founding in 2002 to date, Globes reported.

HULL-BASED entrepreneur Diane Rothwell has launched an online lingerie business with support from Partnership Investment Finance (PIF).

According to both armchair critics and advertising pros, 2007 ranked with the best of times for TV and online video commercials ...

The rise of social networks such as Facebook and wireless gadgets such as the iPhone has set off a small stampede of companies hoping to build on or replicate their success. Many are counting on advertising to pay the bills.

Zach Brooks pocketed $1,000 this month blogging about the cheap lunches he discovers around midtown Manhattan ($10 or less, preferably greasy, and if he's lucky, served from a truck).

Internet sales by U.S. retailers rose at the slowest pace on record as $3-a-gallon gasoline and rising mortgage defaults weighed on holiday...

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- The Chinese government has said it will allow direct election of Hong Kong's governmental leader, called the chief executive, by 2017, according to a media report. The decision, while seen as a concession to growing pro-democracy forces, disappointed advocates who had hoped for a direct election in 2012, when current executive Donald Tsang's term ends, The Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition. The chief executive now is picked by an 800-member assembly that includes dignitaries and legislators appointed by the Beijing government, according to the report. Free election of the chief executive were promised when China took possession of the territory from the United Kingdom in 1997, the Journal said.

Women who have become frustrated trying to find that perfect dress in the post-Christmas sales may have more luck using StyleShake, a new website which allows customers to design their own dress for less than £100.