By 2012, mobile phones will be a mainstream tool for accessing banking services, according to a TowerGroup report covered by WebProNews.

According to the report, more than 40 million US consumers will use their mobile phones for banking by 2012, most of whom will be new to the practice.

"Consumers view their phones as trusted devices, even more so than their desktop PC," TowerGroup chief analyst Bob Egan told WebProNews. "This perception will help fuel the adoption of mobile banking among non-online banking users."

The TowerGroup also estimated that up to 30% of online banking users would start using mobile banking in the next five years.

It’s so unpleasant having to mix with the hoi poloi when you shop. Happily, according to Springwise, you can now avoid having to by shopping with an exclusive boutique called Claseo – as long as you can get invited in, that is.

Claseo is a clothes shop that works like an old-style exclusive club. Each member gets a limited number of invites that they can share with friends. Those friends in turn can become members, provided they make a purchase themselves. But if you don’t happen to know someone who can give you an invitation you won’t be able to get in the door.

And just to reinforce the sense of exclusive clubbiness, each Claseo item has a unique code on it explaining who you are. Other members who see you can punch in the code to the Claseo website to get some info about you and how super-special you are.

And, as you’d imagine, the clothes are pricey. For a basic polo shirt, try $130.

Men are increasingly likely to take on part-time work to spend more time with their kids and help their partners advance their careers, according to a new HSBC survey.

According to the survey of 1000 Australian adults, 15% of men are now working part-time. More than 50% of men surveyed said that flexible working hours were important to allow their partners to pursue their careers.

And it appears their partners agree – 63% of working mothers surveyed said a crucial ingredient in achieving a successful career and home life was having a partner who acknowledged their responsibility to work flexible working hours so they can help with family care, reports The Australian Financial Review.

There may be some good news for employers in all this, too. Of the working women surveyed, 45% believed flexible working hours would also make their partner more productive at work.

Paid search advertising grew to take the largest share of Australia’s online advertising spend in 2006, according to a new report by online researchers Frost & Sullivan.

Spending on paid search advertising – in which the advertiser pays to have their link appear when certain key words are searched for – increased 65.5% to $416 million in 2006, according to the report, writes The Australian newspaper.

That beat spending on online classified advertising, which took $407 million, banner advertising on $384 million, and online directories such as Sensis’s Yellow.

According to the report, the total online market will grow 30% to $1.857 billion by 2008, with paid online search likely to continue to be the fastest growing category, likely to increase 38% to $574 million.

A rise in demand for entrepreneurship courses has led to a proliferation in university courses in the area.

There are now 21 universities offering entrepreneurship courses, from more postgraduate certificates to in-depth masters and PhD courses, according to The Australian Financial Review.

Alex Maritz, a professor in Swinburne University’s Graduate School of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, says he has seen a rapid rise in interest in the study of entrepreneurship in recent years.

“Entrepreneurship is the fastest growing academic discipline in the world,” Maritz told the newspaper. “There are now more positions vacant for professors of entrepreneurship in the US than any other discipline.”

A key trigger for the lift in interest is the realisation that a footing in entrepreneurship can be useful for staff within large corporates as well as for people looking to start or grow their own business.

“The purpose is not to open their own businesses, but to open up new businesses within existing big business, which we refer to as intrapreneurship,” Martiz says.

Another source of new demand for entrepreneurship courses are Gen-Ys eager to build their own business empires, according to Murdoch University professor of entrepreneurship and business innovation Michael Christie.

“There is a cultural shift in perspective about entrepreneurship as a real alternative to paid employment,” Christie says.

More than half of all computer users have secretly tapped into someone else’s Wi-Fi wireless broadband network, according to a Sophos study reported by The Times Online.

But what most them didn’t know – or preferred not to think about – is that by doing so they were committing a crime for which they could receive fines or a suspended jail sentence.

The survey of British computer users found that 54% of respondents have illegally tapped into a private Wi-Fi network. Wi-Fi networks are common home-based wireless broadband networks that can be created by purchasing a cheap Wi-Fi router.

According to The Times Online, police in Britain regard Wi-Fi tapping as a serious offence because the tapper can download illegal material to their own computer in a way that makes it appear the owner of the network is responsible.

Eleven people have been arrested for Wi-Fi tapping in Britain since it became an offence there.

For the owners of private Wi-Fi networks, the lesson is to ensure that security measures are in place to prevent unauthorised access.

Remember the telegraph system? Newspapers and magazines may be following in its steps if new stats are anything to go by.

The latest readership and circulation figures, released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations yesterday, show some publishers are suffering from the rise of news and information websites and new entrants onto the old media scene.

In the three months to September 30, The Australian fared the best among weekly circulation, with figures up 12% to 477,000. The Advertiser in Adelaide did the worst, slipping 6% to a readership of 528,000. In sales, The Sunday Age in Melbourne took the blue with an increase of 8.9%.

Victoria’s Herald Sun remains at the top of the weekly news-reader’s list, with a readership of 1,452,000, even though this reflected a decrease of 2% over the three-month period.

In the weekly magazine category, celebrity gossip was big, with Northern & Shell’s OK! Jumping up and down on top of rival titles, including the Seven Network’s Famous and Who, and PBL Media’s Woman’s Day and NW.

Studies show that a majority of buying decisions are made by consumers while they’re shopping. So what better time for advertisers and retailers to get their message to grocery shoppers than when they’re strolling down the aisle?

According to Springwise, that’s precisely what they are able to do with new shopping trolley handles with a small built in digital screen produced by Modstream. Advertisers can then purchase the opportunity to zap their message straight in front of the eyeballs of shoppers, perhaps informing them of a 2 for the price of 1 bread in aisle three. Alternatively, a message can be piped to shopping carts across a whole store chain to get a more generic product message out.

Apparently the handles, which are currently being trialed in Home Depot stores in the US, can withstand rain and snow – not sure about vandalism though - and have a 5-year battery life.