Music Web site Last.fm announced Thursday that asking external developers to build complementary services has led to a boost in audience numbers to about 19 million users globally, who are using its services through applications and widgets on third-party sites, the Guardian reported.

These 19 million users are in addition to the 21 million users who access the site each month.

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The Business Standard is aggressively launching Hindi and Gujarati editions, agencyfaqs! reported Thursday.

It launched its first Hindi business Daily on February 16 in Mumbai and New Delhi. Over the next 10 days, the Business Standard it launched Hindi editions in Lucknow, Chandigarh and Bhopal, and Gujarati editions in Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Rajkot. Two more editions of the Hindi version are scheduled to be launched in Patna and Kolkata in March.

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Philadelphia's two largest dailies announced another round of job cuts - 68 non-newsroom employees lost their jobs as the recession of the newspaper advertising market continued, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

According to the union Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia, the papers’ parent company, Philadelphia Media Holdings, cut 68 jobs in advertising, circulation, customer service, finance, marketing and systems. The union said Wednesday that a "very small" number of managers will be laid off.

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Trinity Mirror reported a pre-tax profit of £203 million for 2007, due to improvements in the ad market and selling off of its south-eastern titles and The Racing Post, Brand Republic reported Thursday.

In 2006, the publisher of the Daily Mirror reported pre-tax profits of a loss of £11.5 million. When adding in the sale of several titles, such as the Croydon Post, its sports division and the South London Press, the publisher made £263 total in 2007.

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Mobile ad spending in Western Europe is expected to skyrocket within next few years, according to research firm eMarketer.

The mobile ad spending will exceed US$3.46 billion in 2011, from merely $454 million in 2006. The growth in Western Europe is nearly sevenfold.

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Eighteen months after combining three publishing companies into one multi-media group, Belgium's De Persgroep is ready to report on the lessons of its transformation at the World Newspaper Congress, to be held in Göteborg, Sweden, from 1 to 4 June next.

Christian Van Thillo, chief executive officer of De Persgroep, will discuss what worked and what didn't after the merger of Aurex, De Morgen and Magnet Magazines into De Persgroep in November 2006.

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