More EBay shoppers bought via cellphone during holidays
EBay shoppers used cellphones to make more purchases this holiday season than in past years. And it was not just to buy the hot toy Zhu Zhu Pets.
The online marketplace operator said that people used cellphones to buy 1.5 million products in the last several weeks -- three times the number for the same period of 2008, from the day after Thanksgiving until Christmas Eve.
EBay said holiday mobile purchases include a 1966 Chevrolet Corvette that sold for $75,000 and a 23-foot boat for $19,108. Other items bought through mobile applications included watches, phones and video games.
EBay, based in San Jose, said that nearly 6 million people have EBay’s applications on iPhones and that people use mobile applications to visit its site more than 2 million times each day. For the full year, EBay users completed more than $500 million worth of transactions on cellphones.
LEGISLATION
New real estate laws for new year
California begins the new year with a series of laws boosting protections for home buyers and punishing loan brokers who mislead borrowers.
Statutes requiring loan officers to register with the state and making it a crime to give false information on a mortgage application are among hundreds of laws that took effect Friday. Other new laws forbid restaurants from cooking with trans fats, create a day of recognition for gay rights activist Harvey Milk and make it easier for celebrities to sue the media for invasion of privacy.
The highest-profile legislation was a package of bills that seeks to change how the state uses water and manages the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Included in that package is an $11.1-billion bond measure that will appear on the November ballot.
HOME
The lighting is on the wallpaper
A British company plans to make light-producing wallpaper after winning government funding, potentially reducing emissions of carbon dioxide from British homes.
Lomox Ltd., a developer of optoelectronics, has been awarded $726,000 by Britain’s Carbon Trust to finance development of organic light-emitting devices, or OLEDs, the trust said. These may be coated onto a film to make wallpaper, replacing the need for traditional light bulbs, it said.
OLEDs may be 2.5 times more efficient than current energy-saving light bulbs, according to the trust, which was set up by the government in 2001 to speed up the delivery of low-carbon technologies.
Lomox plans to sell its first OLED products by 2012.
RECALLS
Dehumidifiers can short-circuit
About 98,000 portable dehumidifiers, manufactured in China by LG Electronics Tianjin Appliance Co., are being recalled because the power connector can short-circuit, posing a fire hazard. The company has received 11 reports of incidents, including four fires that caused significant smoke or water damage. The dehumidifiers were sold by Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Heat Controller Inc. between January 2007 and June 2008. Information: (877) 220-0479, www.30pintdehumidifierrecall.com or www.cpsc.gov.
* About 213,000 Safety 1st Disney Care Center and Eddie Bauer Complete Care play yards, manufactured in China and imported by Dorel Juvenile Group Inc. of Columbus, Ind., are being recalled because the metal bars supporting the floorboard on the bassinet attachment can come out of their fabric sleeves, creating a suffocation hazard. The play yards were sold by Babies R Us, Kmart, Sears, Target and Wal-Mart between January 2007 and October 2009. Information: (866) 762-2166; www.djgusa.com or www.cpsc.gov.
-- times wire services
