The third annual study of the UK's top 20 retailers, EPiServer's Mobile Commerce 2014, has revealed that many retailers are struggling to deliver the sophisticated and friction-free mobile commerce experience that consumers now expect, reflected by an average score of 47%, compared to 55% in 2013. The criteria for the report were updated for 2014 to reflect the evolving demands of multiple device-owning, connected consumers, who expect to be able to contact retailers and buy products and services on desktop, tablet and smartphone, via social media, email, chat, phone and in person.

Advertisers pay for guaranteed views of that article or video, and nothing more. There is no charge for the content creation or promotion - and there is no additional cost for impressions. "The last couple of years have ushered in an explosion of content marketing and native advertising," says Matt Sanchez, CEO of Say Media. "These concepts are not new, but what is new is that we've been feverishly working on standardisation, scale, and efficiency in the name of truly making content marketing a meaningful part of the digital advertising revenue pie."

Writing for breakingtravelnews.com, Dream Plan Go president Scott Severson claimed that traditional online marketing methods for the travel industry were broken and no longer effective. That needn't be a concern, though, as content marketing was hailed as "the solution". Severson said that much marketing spend on the travel industry is spent at the bottom of the funnel - when users have already chosen a destination and maybe even an agent, but need the extra push into finally making a booking. This is deemed ineffective, though, as all the marketing messages are the same, regardless of the business from which they …

With Apple, Intel, Google and Facebook, already in Ireland in strength, tech startups from California are are now flooding across the Atlantic to the Emerald Isle. But Ireland's low corporate tax isn't the primary draw for startups: U.S.-based companies are taxed on their profits, which startups generally do not have, reports the San Jose Mercury News. "These Silicon Valley startups are setting up their first overseas offices hoping the booming tech city of Dublin will become their launchpad to global success.”

The New Statesman is to launch two new websites: CityMetric.com (to explore 'the business of cities'), and May2015.com (to provide coverage of the next UK general election). CityMetric team will use proprietary data to explore topics including demographics, transport policy, economics and urban planning.

The German government is ditching Verizon as its network infrastructure provider, and it's citing Edward Snowden's revelations about NSA surveillance as a reason. The aftermath of the Snowden leaks has seen China institute heavy vetting of U.S. equipment and Brazil cancel big orders of U.S. military kit. However, despite the fact that the bugging of Chancellor Angela Merkel provided a major diplomatic upset, until now Germany's response has been more bark than bite.

Conducted by research and strategy consultancy MTM on behalf of the Internet Advertising Bureau UK, the "Media Owner Sales Techniques" study shows that of the GBP1.86 billion spent on display ads across the internet and mobile in 2013, 28% (about GBP500m million) was traded programmatically. 'Programmatic' refers to display ads that are bought and sold using automated systems and processes such as real-time bidding.

Streaming audio service SoundCloud has revamped its iPhone app, with Android to follow, as it looks to capitalise on the fact that two-thirds of its listening now happens on mobile devices - up from half six months ago. The update has removed the ability to record audio and upload it to SoundCloud in order to focus on listening, boiled down to three key features. First, there's a feed of music, either from friends and followed artists, or trending tracks from specific genres.

Channel 4 has launched a short-form content hub on 4oD to tap into the demand from mobile users for bite-sized videos. As well as original Channel 4 content, the hub will carry commercial shorts and will kick off with Rimmel London, British Gas and Alfa Romeo as partners. The first shorts will go live next month.

Google said Thursday that it has started removing results from its search engine under Europe's new "right to be forgotten," implementing a landmark May ruling by the European Union's top court that gives individuals the right to request removal of results that turn up in Internet searches for their own names.