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| | The Nasdaq was able to shake off the lousy jobs number today, and is up 31 points in mid-day trading. Apple, Dell, and Verizon are also way up – at around 3% each – as the market waits for Washington to come to terms on another bailout relief bill. The … |
 | Last week Apple and Microsoft released their fourth quarter MP3 player sales figures, which Apple chooses to call its first quarter for some odd reason, and the numbers were a startling contrast. On one hand you had Microsoft with a 54 percent drop off in sales from the fourth quarter … |
| | It’s a big bag, if a mixed one, for the financial markets and for technology companies today. Overall, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 42 points, buoyed somewhat by (finally) some good economic news. Check out Monday’s housing sales numbers, which unexpectedly rose off of record lows. Also, a …  |
| | Heartland Payment Systems, one of the biggest card payment processors in the US, has been the victim of what could well be the biggest security breach of its kind. Malicious software installed onto the Heartland network could have compromised as many as 100 million transactions according to numerous emerging reports. … |
 | What's more stable than a rock, faster than a spinning disk, more powerful than a Windows system twice its size, and able to leap platforms like no other operating system? Surprise! It's Linux. It's also recession proof. Can that be true? Yes, and here are the 5 reasons why: [B]1. … |
| | For the last 10 years Google has been on an upward trajectory making gobs of money and astounding us all with there seemingly endless fount of innovation. For a time, there seemed to be a new product announcement every week. Google has always been very savvy about exploiting the news … |
 | Security experts [URL="http://www.mcafee.com"]McAfee[/URL] confirm what we already know: when the [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3023.html"]economy starts to hurt[/URL], the purveyors of malware jump in to increase the pain. With the revelation of it's 2009 threat predictions, McAfee looks ahead to a dismal year of continuing cyberthreats. Like I say, with no hint of surprise … |
| | Slow day in the markets on Monday, but we’re going to see a lot of 4th quarter financials come out of tech stocks this week, and the viewing, I suspect, won’t be pretty. One piece of news that has come out today is Intel cutting some of its chip prices … |
| | According to numerous [URL="http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article5429969.ece"]reports[/URL] that is exactly what is being suggested. If the axe does fall, then it will be the first time that the company has had to make any really major cuts in the workforce during it's 32 year history. Of course, there has been no official confirmation … |
| | Let’s get the bad news out of the way first, and it starts with the semiconductor sector. Last month I wrote how the market for consumer electronics was one of the first to go as consumers buckled down as the recession hit home. That has set the semiconductor market in … |
| | I write a great deal about Google mostly because it is always trying new things and putting them out there for free for the world to try. The tools are easy to access and use from wherever you are--any device with a browser and an internet connection--and you can't beat … |
| | [I]Instant karma's gonna get you Gonna knock you right on the head ~John Lennon. [/I] It's 2009 and I'm sure the powers that be at Microsoft are hoping it's going to be a good one without any tears, but even as the old year closed, the news kept getting worse … |
| | This is the time of year for wish lists, so why not make a list of products I would like to see Apple make in 2009. I'm not under any illusions that Apple will actually listen to me, but this is a fun exercise and some of these would be … |
 | Quick, what segment of your IT setup uses the most electricity: your servers and network technology or the assorted PCs scattered around the cube farm? If you said the stuff in the server room, you're wrong. According to recent [URL="http://blogs.zdnet.com/green/?p=1599"]data released by Forrester Research[/URL], desktop computers, printers, and monitors account … |
| | There’s a light trading load on Wall Street this week, with trader’s thoughts turning to visions of sugarplum martinis dancing in their heads. Anything to help forget 2008, right? Although 2009 looks like it won’t be any better. This, from Subir Gokarn, chief economist at Standard & Poor’s, Asia Pacific. … |
| | If you're a tech worker that's been recently laid-off, [URL="http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/12/seeking-laid-off-tech-workers"]Silicon Alley Insider wants to talk to you[/URL]. Beware, though, what they're asking isn't for the faint of heart. The Web site is planning to chronicle the follies and foibles of five people searching for new jobs in the tech sector. … |
| | The stock market held its gains of earlier today, although doubts about how financial companies are going to raise capital when their balance sheets are in complete disarray are prevalent on the street. The Dow was up 70 points and the Nasdaq up 18 points - thus providing some relative … |
| | I've been a nag about how many media outlets have been wrong about the reasons for the current economic breakdown we're experiencing. So many pundits who don't understand Wall Street want to make it political, and subsequently blame President Bush for "deregulating" Wall Street (not the reason, and besides, President … |
| | No matter which political camp in which you choose to pitch your tent, it's hard to deny that technology is at the heart of President-Elect Barack Obama new plans for the United States. As we learn more about what ideas he has in mind to strengthen the economy and gird … |
| | I like to follow news about Apple and its products as much as anyone. It's interesting and fun and watching the speculation is a kind of voyeurism, a way to get inside a company that keeps a tight lid on information, but much like baseball trade rumors, which I also … |
| | Yesterday Adobe announced it would be laying off 600 employees worldwide, which represents, according to published accounts, 8 percent of the workforce. Reports suggested that Adobe was a victim of the overall economic slow down and the lower than expected earnings were due to selling fewer copies of the new … |
| | Today is Black Friday and people are going a bit insane standing on sidewalks overnight waiting for the the big deal on their desired electronics. Everyone from WalMart to Target to Best Buy to the Apple Store is getting involved. And so are online retailers like Amazon. And to be … |
| | Trying, ever so hard, to find some good news amidst the doom and gloom on Wall Street. At least the market went up for a second straight session, with the DJIA up 400 points on Monday trading; that after rising 500 points last Friday. Investors seemed cautiously optimistic about the … |
| | Barrons has a great article today on how tech industry chief information officers and chief financial officers can't keep up with the free-fall in consumer spending. That's why we're seeing so many downward adjustments in industry revenue estimates that, right now, seem to be spread way out into 2009. The … |
| | Following the [URL="http://www.btplc.com/News/Articles/Showarticle.cfm?ArticleID=27494718-77f6-4cd9-976f-ecc9c13f7559"]publication[/URL] of the second quarter and half year results to September 30, 2008 it seems that BT is to slash some 10,000 jobs before March next year. That is equivalent to some 6 percent of it's global workforce, and I understand that most are likely to be found … |
| | With all the focus on the imminent Obama presidency, the actual health of the economy has taken a bit of a back seat. That changed somewhat after President-elect Obama’s high level economic summit on Friday. In a press conference after the meeting, Obama called the economic data “sobering” and warned … |
| | [I]In time the Rockies may crumble Gibraltar may tumble They're only made of clay But our love is here to stay ~Ira Gershwin. [/I] These are heady days for Apple and its CEO Steve Jobs. In spite of a world economy that appears to be sliding out of control, and … |
| | Rumors are flying this week ahead of Apple's big Mac Book event on Tuesday that it will announce the long rumored sub-$1000 notebook. In fact, my friends at [URL="http://www.tuaw.com/2008/10/09/800-for-a-new-macbook/"]The Unofficial Apple Weblog[/URL] are reporting that someone has gotten their hands on a price sheet ahead of the announcement suggesting that … |
| | Some good news - rare good news - from the U.S. stock market late today as reports and rumors seem to point to a new U.S. government agency to assume and/or manage bad debts for financial services companies. The new agency, similar to the Resolution Trust Corp of the early … |
| | Technology workers are nervous enough without worrying about the health and safety of their investment deposits. While I think what I'm bringing to you now is nine parts hyperbole and one part reality, it makes for an interesting and even frightening discussion. Specifically, are your bank and investment deposits safe? …  |
| | In Part I of our look at the proposed economic policies of John McCain and Barack Obama, we found that each candidate brings his parties economic idealism to the table, whether that's a good or a bad thing. McCain will be a no-taxes, free-trading, domestic drilling supply sider right out … |
| | The UK economy has [URL="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/uk-economy-grinds-to-a-halt-906524.html"]officially ground to a halt[/URL], and is in danger of heading for recession. In the second quarter of the year growth was, well, zero actually. That means that the longest period of economic expansion in British history, some 16 years of it, has come to an … |
| | Italian Internet Service Providers have been ordered to block access to the Pirate Bay file-sharing Bit Torrent tracker site in Sweden by a judge in the Northern Italian town of Bergamo. This is the same judge, who has not been named, which only last month closed a leading Bit Torrent …  |
| | Markets are down about 50 points in mid-afternoon trading on Tuesday, mostly due to investor worries about continued woes in the financial services sector. In short, nobody is buying the notion put forward by Wall Street optimists that the credit crunch – now one-year-old – is coming to an end. … |
| | First, the not-so-good news, then on to some encouraging revenue numbers for Motorola. Below I’ve condensed today’s big economic news as reported by the Associated Press, with the second quarter gross domestic product numbers coming in less than expected . . . -- Economic growth clocked in at a 1.9 … |
| | Wow! That's a lot of kit being shifted by Apple. With the publication of its financial results for the fiscal 2008 third quarter ended June 28, Apple announces revenue of $7.46 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.07 billion, or $1.19 per diluted share. International sales accounted for 42 percent … |
| | The stock market is taking another major hit today after consumer confidence numbers came in well below expectations. The Conference Board, which measures the monthly consumer confidence number, reports that June’s number fell to 50.4%, down from 57% in May. Big investors had been anticipating consumer confidence numbers in the … |
| | Oh boy, just when we thought we were out of the woods, high oil prices are pulling us back in again. Oil prices skyrocketed by $7 a barrel today to $135 a barrel, gathering even more momentum after Thursday's big bump-up, and that, unfortunately, is the good news. A new … |
| | [URL="http://www.verdict.co.uk"]Verdict Research[/URL] has published a report which suggests that the credit crunch is benefiting web-based businesses as consumers in the UK flock to the Internet in search of money saving bargains. With £15bn ($30bn) spent online by UK consumers in the last 12 months, [URL="http://www.startups.co.uk/6678842909857992097/online-sales-rise-by-a-third.html"]according to the research[/URL], this equates … |
| | The [URL="http://www.messagelabs.com/intelligence.aspx"]MessageLabs Intelligence Report[/URL] for May 2008 has revealed that spam levels have risen across all industry sectors, but manufacturing remains the leading vertical as far as spam activity is concerned at 83.7 percent. The biggest rise, however, can be found in the non-profit sector with spam levels up by … |
| | Taxes, inflation, oil prices – even the price of corn are dominating the economic headlines these days. But should they overshadow the story of the (briefly resurgent) U.S. dollar? I don't think so - and I don't think anyone in the tech sector should sell the dollar story short, either. … |
 | American readers will have been delighted by l[URL="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7413099.stm"]ast night's announcement[/URL] ('last night' is relative, it was last night in the UK) that Microsoft is going to offer cash back on items bought through its partners from its search engine scheme. The idea completes a notion that began over a decade … |
| | The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and many other financial institutions run their most critical services and applications on Linux. The NYSE specifically uses RedHat Enterprise Linux because of its stability and support. Linux is the most-chosen operating system in the U.K, France, Germany, and other European countries due to …  |
| | Here's a good one, [URL="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/01/italy"]according to The Guardian newspaper[/URL] in the UK, the incomes of each and every single Italian citizen were published for each and every other Italian citizen to see on the web. Rather than being some terrible data breach, or the work of some sinister hacker, it … |
| | There's a lot of pressure on CEO's to keep costs down in a struggling economy. One way they can do that is by outsourcing their IT services to overseas firms, especially to India. Now, this isn't exactly breaking news, but the rate that company's are turning to lower cost outsourcing … |
| | Kind of a quiet day on Wall Street, with traders wondering if Bank of America's less-than-expected Q1 forecast was a bump on the road to a bull market or a legitimate roadblock. With the market off 35 points in Monday trading (as of 3 PM EST), after rising four percent … |
| | With the semiconductor market on the ropes, Intel is doing all it can to stay relevant - financially and globally. To that end, today's news that Intel has "doubled down" on China by rolling out its second venture fund in the burgeoning Far East Tiger. The fund, to be called … |
| | More turmoil at AOL today, as the technology giant fired the head of its Platform A ad-network business yesterday. Blodget, reporting on the ever-valuable Tech Ticker portal on Yahoo.com’s finance site, says that Curt Viebranz, was canned, but there was little love for AOL's senior management. One reason why Viebranz … |
| | Ugh. The tech meltdown turn toward the telecom sector this week, fixing its dark gaze on companies like AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint Nextel, among others. On Thursday, shares of telecommunications companies fell badly from the ongoing fallout amid credit concerns. The carnage was grim and deep. U.S. traded shares of … |
| | Well, not as rich as you might think. Well, not as rich as Warren Buffet anyway. In fact, not even as rich as Carlos Slim Helu. The Boy God, co-founder of Microsoft, has lost the richest man on the planet crown, a position he held for the last 13 years … |
The End.