EMC offers SaaS to the enterprise

[Newsfactor] The release indicates a "growing acceptance of software-as-a-service offerings," Charles King, principal analyst with Pund-IT, said in a telephone interview. "Salesforce.com has turned the corner on the traditional reticence." The cornerstones of SaaS adoption are expense and simplicity, King added. "Software as a service plays well where there's an enterprise-class product that's easier to use and more cost-effective than running the solution in-house," he said.

Last.fm offers free on-demand streaming

[Reuters] Last.fm said the streaming service is funded by advertising revenue, which is shared with the music companies.The move comes nearly six years after Last.fm first started reaching out to music companies to license songs to stream on its site. "They wouldn't even take our calls back then," said Last.fm co-founder Martin Stiksel. (OBTW, when I tried it, it was buffering like crazy-RK)

MSFT hires Staples exec to market Windows Mobile

[InfoWeek] At Microsoft, Peters will be charged with promoting the company's mobile software brands, including Windows Mobile and Windows Live for Mobile. He will report to Pieter Knook, senior VP of the mobile communications business unit at Microsoft. The move is the latest turn of what has become a revolving door executive suite at Microsoft.

eBay's ailing outlook

[Forbes] The world’s largest Internet marketplace, eBay, reported a whopping profit on Wednesday spurred along by strong growth from PayPal online payments, StubHub, Skype, classifieds, and advertising as well overseas auctions. But its weaker-than expected forecast for 2008 sales and profit sent shares tumbling, overshadowing the departure of long-time Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman.

Airlines to offer Wi-Fi

[NYT] Southwest announced Wednesday that it will test satellite-delivered broadband Internet access on four aircraft this summer, the airline said in a statement. Southwest passengers with Wi-Fi-enabled devices would have Internet access for e-mail and Web browsing after the tests and subject to approval by the Federal Aviation Administration.