BusinessWeek writes that “

[r]esearch firm eMarketer has some good news for online retailers: high gas prices are fueling more Web shopping. In a July 25 report senior analyst Jeffrey Grau points to several consumer polls showing more shoppers are opting to spend online and save at the pump.  In a June survey, Nielsen found that 11% of US consumers are shopping more online as the result of gas prices. The poll mirrors reports of declining foot traffic at retail stores.  ‘For the first time, I am seeing consumer surveys in which saving money on gas prices is actually a reason given for moving shopping from stores to the Internet,’ says Grau.”

The Wall Street Journal reveals that “[a] startup founded by engineers from Google Inc. and other tech giants is launching a search engine that claims to cover three times as many Web pages as Google.  The startup, Cuil Inc., plans to launch its product Monday and aims to deliver better results than other major search engines by searching across more Web pages and studying them more accurately. The site’s results page resembles an online magazine — a different look and feel from search juggernaut Google’s.  ‘You can’t be an alternative search engine and smaller,’ said Anna Patterson, Cuil co-founder and president, and one of the engineers who helped build Google’s search index.  ‘You have to be an alternative and bigger.’”

The Seattle Times points out that “[a]s major U.S. Internet companies stake their ground abroad in anticipation of the next billion people coming online – and the advertising revenue they might generate – the flags they are planting aren’t the Stars and Stripes.  Companies are trying to expand globally without seeming to, designing market-specific services with customized features that reflect differences in connection speeds, payment options and attitudes toward sex or violence.  The stakes are high as the United States faces a weakening economy and a slowing of online ad growth.  And the opportunities are large. People in two populous countries, India and China, are just getting online. The research firm IDC projects worldwide Internet ad spending at nearly $107 billion in 2011, compared with $65 billion this year.”

The Register reports that “SAP today rejected claims by British customers that its new support pricing scheme will unfairly slap small and medium-sized businesses with extra costs for services they won’t use.  The UK SAP users group released a statement on Friday urging the German software giant to rethink a compulsory hike in support costs from 17 per cent to 22 per cent of contract value. Over the next four years all customers will be shunted from Standard support to the Enterprise package, which includes cover for non-SAP software.  Company spokesman Bill Wohl denied the enforced changes are aimed at swelling SAP coffers.  ‘Our motivation here is not the bottom line,’ he said. ‘They [user groups] have their perspective, and customers never want to pay more.’”

ZDNet has an interesting blog post by Larry Dignan today on why companies should think twice before putting up a data centers in Russia.