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Posts Tagged ‘economy’

UK Government Extends Copyright Crackdown To All Open Wifi

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

The UK Government will not exempt libraries, businesses such as cafes or bookstores, museums, or even universities from it’s copyright enforcement policy. Open wifi networks will be a thing of the past now that the UK Government will hold the owners of open networks responsible for violations in copyright laws committed from within it’s network.

The efforts related to the Digital Economy Bill imposes strict enforcement policies for copyright protections. This new policy will make it impossible for small businesses and the like to offer Wi-Fi access. A scenario described by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) in a document Online Infringement of copyright: Libraries, Universities and Wi-fi providers, Feb. 10, 2010, regarding the new policy for open wifi access would essentially “outlaw open Wi-Fi for small businesses.”

Source:
http://www.openrightsgroup.org/assets/files/pdfs/bis/B2_-_Libraries,_Universities,_and_Wifi_Providers-Factsheet.doc

World Bank Data Added To Google Results

Friday, November 13th, 2009

Google recently added World Bank data to their search results. Now, you can compare the US to other countries using an interactive chart and specific figures. The goal of Google’s effort is to make public information more usable and findable.

Web search data - internation statistics - World Bank

The data provided by the World Bank displays 17 key indicators, including population growth, gross national product, fertility rate, and energy use.

One obvious implementation of the World Bank data will appear at the top of search results of certain topics and displayed in a chart format with some text information.

California May Pass Power Restrictions On Big TVs

Saturday, October 17th, 2009

California regulators may place a ban on big, power hungry TVs. Similar regulations were set with refrigerators, air conditioners and other products. Commissioner Julia Levin stated that such regulations will not hurt the economy. TVs and related devices consume 10% of California’s power supply.

Such regulations will not eliminate 50 inch TV sets. The goal is to make them far more efficient and encourage the development of clean products and a clean industry.

Netbooks Are A Game Changer In PC Market

Friday, September 11th, 2009

Netbooks are small, light and inexpensive laptop computers, and they are very portable. Built for web access and basic office applications, netbooks are not high powered tools. Their low cost has helped popularize netbooks during this recession–in fact the netbook market was the only PC sector that experienced growth this year.

In the first half of 2009, 13.5 million netbooks were sold globally. Even phone companies have jumped into the market, and telco deals may have helped in the popularization of netbooks. Some 50 telco operators began selling netbooks and aiming their huge marketing budgets towards the advertising of netbooks.

Amazon takes 10 percent profit decline

Sunday, July 26th, 2009

Amazon takes a 10 percent profit decline in the second quarter and misses analyst expectations. The company’s net income dropped from $142 million ( $0.32 a share ) from $158 million ( $0.37 a share ) from one year ago.

Net sales for the Seattle-based Internet Retail company climbed to $4.65 billion ( or 14 percent ), which fell below Wall Street expectations for the quarter. $4.67 billion was the growth projection for the quarter.

A settlement with Toys-R-Us hurt the company’s growth for the period. Fluxuations in the global market also hurt the company’s growth.

Shares were down by 6.6 percent after the statement was issued by the company.

IBM Becomes Model Of Stability In A World Of Delays

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

IBM announced the on time release of it’s new server chip: Power7 Chip, which is a rarity in the current environment where many companies are forced to announce delays and project cancellations. The chip is planned to release in the first half of next year.

Servers that currently use the Power6 chip will be able to replace it with the newer technology at the time of release. IBM and Sun, companies that build Unix based powerhouse servers for banks, telecommunications companies and other large businesses, build their own chips which has been a great source of profit for the companies.

With the bleak economy, Sun has struggled as many businesses have held off new purchases — making due with existing technologies. Oracle caused a big disruption in the server market with its take over of Sun. Sun has claimed about one-third of the Unix server sales.

Could Amazon’s Kindle Help Save The New York Times?

Monday, May 18th, 2009

There has been a lot of debate about how and if the internet is killing the New York Times and the newspaper industry in general. Google has been close to the center of the blame–by absorbing millions of advertising dollars while distributing content from the news industry in general. Others may blame the emergence of blogs and blog technology on the internet, which may have pushed some readership away from the larger publishers.

Silicon Valley has been looking for solutions to help prop up the newspaper industry–as they are the spearheads of investigative journalism–a form of checks and balances for politics and business corruption.

The Kindle, Amazon’s electronic reader (a software and hardware platform for reading electronic books), may be one of many solutions that could help the industry. Amazon has been partnering with the New York Times to lower the cost of Kindle when purchased alongside a long-term NY Times subscription.

Obsessable.com went so far as to say that the Times should give away a free Kindle to all its subscribed readers, since it would reduce production and delivery costs overall–and outweigh the cost of the Kindle. The idea proposed by obsessable.com would only work for subscribers who have memberships longer than two years, and it would have to replace their paper delivery.

Virgin Announes Flat 49.99 Mobile Plan, Shares Rise 17%

Friday, April 10th, 2009

With the current rise in unemployed and a growing economic terror, companies are trying to find new ways to stay afloat or in a few cases thrive. Virgin Mobile just announced a flat 49.99 mobile rate and it’s share price in turn rose 17% or 26 cents. Another action the mobile company has taken was to give those who have become recently unemployed breaks on their phone bills during the economic hardship.

Virgin Mobile currently has 5 million subscribers worldwide.