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Ebay to Buy Paypal Service
It didnt come as the biggest surprise, but online auction house eBay last week said it was purchasing online payment company PayPal in a stock swap worth about $1.5 billion.
PayPal is a way for users to make payments online.
Widely used by many eBay customers, PayPals principal competition came from eBays in-house system, which is called eBay Payments by Billpoint.
The acquisition has been rumored for months, given PayPals popularity among eBay customers and eBays inability to gain traction with its own payment system.
Pioneer Mourned by Community
The suicide of Gnutella programmer Gene Kan late last month sent shock waves through the file-swapping community. It also kicked off a wave of conspiracy theories surrounding his passing.
Kan, 25, died June 29. It wasnt until last week that his death was ruled a suicide by San Mateo County, Calif., officials.
Kan was a founder of the InfraSearch search engine, which was later acquired by Sun and combined with that companys Jxta peer-to-peer technology.
User comments on the Gnutella.com Web site last week were wrought with emotion, with several calling him a hero in the P2P world. Others wondered if Kan was the victim of foul play at the hands of organizations angered at the file-swapping phenomenon.
FBI Appoints John as CIO
The FBI last week appointed Darwin John as the agencys new CIO.
John, who replaces outgoing CIO and Assistant Director for Information Resources Bob Dies, spent the past 12 years as managing director of information and communications systems for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to the agency.
The FBI has been working hard since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 to shore up its IT defenses and upgrade its computer systems.
Source: Webmergers Inc.