Taipei - Hon Hai, the world's largest electronics components manufacturer, said friday its 2008 sales rose but income fell amid the global financial crisis.

Sales surged by 19.2 per cent to 1.47 trillion Taiwan dollars (42 billion US dollars), but net income dropped by 29 per cent to 55.1 billion Taiwan dollars (1.6 billion US dollars), compared with 2007.

ComScore has released January 2009 data from the comScore Video Metrix service indicating that U.S. Internet users watched 14.8 billion online videos during the month, which represents an increase of 4% as compared to December 2008.

YouTube topped the growth charge with 91% of the incremental gain in the number of videos viewed against December, as it exceeded 100 million viewers for the first time.

On-demand content will soon be delivered to TV by means of a common high-speed Internet connection, thanks to a newly-set up custom-made TV service, ZillionTV, and its deals with its stakeholders - five key Hollywood studios!

The service – which is presently in beta testing - will be offered in conjunction with Walt Disney Co; General Electric Co’s NBC Universal; Time Warner Inc’s Warner Bros; News Corp’s Twentieth Century Fox; and Sony Corp. It will also be an option for Internet providers.

IT & BPO services and consulting firm Hexaware Technologies has decided to put 350 of its employees on 'virtual bench' in a bid to control costs and to mitigate the impact of global slowdown on its business. Recently, Mumbai-based IT firm Mastek had taken such step on similar grounds.

The fraud hit Indian IT firm, Satyam Computer Services is looking for a strategic partner in a bid to achieve adequate growth rate in the aftermath of disclosure of largest ever corporate fraud committed by its founder chief, B. Ramalinga Raju and other executives of firm. The company is currently under the control of Government-administered board, which is struggling to wash its bad image and retain the clients.

In light of the highly uncertain global economic conditions, Hexaware Technologies Limited (HTL), an IT and BPO service provider, has announced that it will implement cost control measures to improve its current utilization.

In a disclosure to the Stock Exchange, the Mumbai based company said that it will put about 350 people who are currently non-billable on a virtual bench and retain them in the organization though there are no immediate billable opportunities for them.