Business Industry

Although it seems as if everyone was wrong about the Microsoft purchase of Yahoo, there have been a few other notable acquisitions online in the last few weeks. First, there was Google's incorporation of advertising firm DoubleClick, a move that ... should consolidate the big G's hegemonic presence on the web. Now, there's word that major television broadcaster CBS has soaked up Last.fm, a hugely popular Internet radio project. So, what is Last.fm? We all know CBS for its Dan Rathers, corny holiday made-for-TV movies, and CSI crime-o-ramas, but many web users may still be unfamiliar with Last.fm ... (view more)

The details of an unusual agreement have been released to rest of the technological world, as industry analysts learned that networking equipment manufacturers, Cisco Systems, are in the final stages of acquiring technology from social networking ... minnows, Tribe.net. Cisco Systems specializes in producing networking equipment for telecommunication providers and other large corporations. Currently, 55,000 people are employed by Cisco. Tribe.net provides social networking services that have been continually rejected by consumers, in favor of other immensely popular social networking alternatives ... (view more)

The spread of big box retail giants Best Buy and Circuit City is now having an impact on more specialized stores. In a recent announcement, CompUSA admitted that it will be closing some 126 of its American stores, or about half of the chain's total. ... CompUSA has been providing U.S. homes and offices with the latest in processing technology since it was founded in 1984. Although CompUSA, Inc. is a subsidiary company, it is largely controlled by common shareholder Carlos Sim, the millionaire resident of Mexico. (Source: slashdot.com ) The mass closings are meant to infuse the company with some $ ... (view more)

It seems that Hewlett-Packard's courtroom woes are far from over. The company's shareholders, who recently sued the company over the much discussed spying scandal, have amended the suit to include allegations of insider trading. The original lawsuit ... claimed "breach of fiduciary responsibilities" by HP executives. It alleged that the executives' spy-like tactics to uncover boardroom leaks harmed the company. (Source: macnewsworld.com ) Now, the lawsuit -- which asks for an undisclosed amount -- also implicates HP Chief Executive Officer Mike Hurd, former General Counsel Ann Baskins, Chief ... (view more)

Recently, Sony issued a statement claiming to have found defects in some of their popular Cyber-shot digital cameras. The problems with the Cyber-shot cameras follow a recent global recall of Sony-made laptop batteries that have affected almost ... every major laptop maker in the industry. Among the affected cameras are eight Cyber-shot models sold between September 2003 and January 2005. While the problem was predicted to be exclusive to electronic markets in Japan, some have also experienced similar complications in various pockets of the world. (Source: newsvine.com ) The specific problems are ... (view more)

In a recent press release, Hewlett-Packard (HP) announced that John W. McCain will be the new chief of HP Services, the $15.5 billion dollar division of the technology giant. The announcement comes less than two weeks after the departure of former ... chief Steve Smith. Smith left the company in late October to join rival Dell. (Source: channelregister.co.uk ) McCain, 47, began his time at HP in December 2005 when he signed on as the Senior Vice President of HP Consulting and Integration. Before joining HP, McCain held the position of CEO of iEnergizer, a business outsourcing services company. ( ... (view more)

Adobe Systems has announced the beta release of a new audio editing program called Soundbooth. Adobe made the recent announcement at the MAX 2006 Adobe user conference in Las Vegas. The company is touting Soundbooth as an alternative to their ... current audio editing program, Audition. Unlike Audition, which was designed for audio professionals, Soundbooth targets web designers and video editors who may not have extensive knowledge of audio editing by streamlining tasks into a simpler and more user-friendly form. (Source: news.com ) Hart Shafer, Senior Product Manager for audio products at Adobe ... (view more)

Microsoft has taken a swing at Adobe by releasing a promotional video that compares Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 to Adobe Dreamweaver 8. The bold move is part of Microsoft's attempt to increase Visual Studio sales in the midst of a ... Dreamweaver-dominated market. The comparison between the two software applications is somewhat incongruent, however, since Visual Studio is an all-purpose integrated development application while Dreamweaver is primarily a design tool. (Source: microsoft-watch.com ) The comparison video, titled "101 Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Features Compared to Adobe ... (view more)

It seems major industry acquisitions are becoming pretty common this summer. Popular MP3 player producer SanDisk recently announced that it has purchased Israeli-based Msystems for a reported $1.55 billion, a move that could expand SanDisk's ... interest in storage beyond the lower-end digital market. Although it hardly has the name power of Apple, SanDisk is the dominant maker of removable flash storage cartridges. The California-based company is perhaps the strongest producer in the (almost) iPod-free 1GB player and under range. Msystems -- which was once awkwardly named M-Systems Flash Disk ... (view more)

In the last few years -- perhaps even decade -- the cost of wages has forced many technological jobs to a place in our galaxy far, far away. Manufacturing as a whole has exploded in China and the Far East, but in recent years, the boom has expanded ... to include other nations in the near-Pacific theatre with a workforce capable of technological achievement. The most recent market for manufacturing outsourcing has been India, but as its wage rates increase, its appeal to the North American and European tech industry decreases. Outsourcing is most widely known as the delegation on internal duties ... (view more)