Artificial Intelligence

Walmart may have been slow to embrace the online space in the mid 90’s when dot-com fever first heated up, but it isn’t making the same mistake the second time around as the digital world undergoes the mobile and social revolution.

While an abundance of celebrities and references to Walmart founder Sam Walton gave this year’s shareholders meeting a familiar feel, there also was an unmistakable emphasis on e-commerce and social media.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — eBay Inc. announced that it has agreed to acquire Magento Inc., the creator of Magento, a leading open source e-commerce platform. The deal follows eBay’s acquisition of a minority stake in the company in 2010. Upon closing of the transaction, eBay will own 100% of the outstanding shares of Magento. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

By Harry Herget, syntelllc.com

SAN FRANCISCO  — PowerReviews, a provider of social commerce solutions, announced that it has appointed former Google executive Keith Adams as CFO. 

SECAUCUS, N.J. — Panasonic Corporation of North America has appointed Betty Noonan to lead its marketing and branding functions. Noonan, who was most recently VP and director of Kodak's worldwide consumer marketing operations, will be responsible for integrating the company's marketing and enhancing the Panasonic brand.  

PAWTUCKET, R.I. — Hasbro announced that it is reorganizing its global games business and moving its games marketing and games development employees from East Longmeadow, Mass. to Rhode Island. 

Jerry Inman has joined 7thOnline to help the provider of retail merchandise assortment planning, forecasting and optimization solutions grow its visibility within the retailer and supplier communities.

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Lowe’s has announced plans to hire up to 300 information technology professionals, including 150 new positions. 

Lowe's reported that positions are now open across all IT professions, including business analysis, engineering, communications network, ecommerce, application development, program management and project management. The positiobns will be based at Lowe’s corporate headquarters in Mooresville, N.C.

New York -- Apple on Sunday rolled out dedicated iPad stations in its stores nationwide. The iPads are positioned near products for customers to use as tools for comparision shopping and customer assistance. 

Apple's in-store iPads, which feature a special in-store app, are designed to answer questions from customers and keep them in the store. Customers can also tap a button for help and the photo of an available sales assistant pops up with a promise that he or she will be over shortly to help.