California's ban on plasma-screen televisions to reduce energy consumption could cost as much as $50 million per year in sales taxes because consumers are free to buy the sets online or in other states. "At a time when the state of California is facing its worst money crisis in history, this is going to be disastrous," said Jennifer Bemisderfer, a spokesperson for the Consumer Electronics Association, which lobbied against the ban. The California Energy Commission's ban on plasma sets 58 inches ..
In what may remind many consumers of the Amazon Kindle's early days, Barnes & Noble expects shipments of its nook e-book reader to be delayed. On Friday, the giant book retailer said it has sold out its first batch of nooks amid high demand -- and new shipments won't be available until after the holiday shopping season ends. "While we increased production based on the high consumer interest, we've sold out of our initial nook allotment available for delivery before the holidays," the company ..
Dell's earnings are up and expectations are solid, but the company's stock still took a hit Friday afternoon after analysts signaled the company isn't playing a key role in the PC market recovery. Dell's shipments were flat in the third quarter and down five percent from the year-ago period despite improvements in the large-enterprise and small-and-midsize business segments and increased demand and revenue from business customers. Dell's total revenue for the third quarter was $12.9 billion, a ..
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer isn't talking turkey when it comes to the software giant's newest operating system. At a shareholder meeting Thursday in Bellevue, Wash., Ballmer told investors that Windows 7 sold double the number of copies in one month as its previous Windows Vista operating system. During the meeting, which was broadcast over the Internet, Ballmer wouldn't say exactly how many licenses or copies were sold to consumers and businesses, but previous reports that put Vista's sales in ..
On Friday, Cloud Engines released its newest version of the Pogoplug, a small "multimedia sharing device" that connects hard drives to the Internet and allows a user to access the files remotely. The company described Pogoplug as "your own personal cloud that broadcasts safely from your home." You connect Pogoplug to your router by Ethernet, attach hard drives or USB flash drives, and then access files by logging in from anywhere through a browser. You can also securely give access to others ..
Google is showcasing how its Chrome OS will change the user experience when it launches before next year's holiday season. The new operating system will initially appear on netbook-style devices that will feature bigger keyboards than today's netbooks offer, the company said. First and foremost, the Chrome OS design team is obsessed about speed, noted Group Product Manager Caesar Sengupta and Engineering Director Matt Papakipos. "We are taking out every unnecessary process, optimizing many ..
Air travelers nationwide scrambled to revise their travel plans Thursday after an FAA computer glitch caused widespread cancellations and delays for the second time in 15 months. The Federal Aviation Administration said the problem, which lasted about five hours, was fixed around 10 a.m., but it was unclear how long flights would continue to be affected. Doug Church, a spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Union, said controllers were still entering flight plans manually in some ..
Cell phone handset maker Sony Ericsson will move its North American headquarters from North Carolina to Atlanta and close a half-dozen sites worldwide as it retrenches against what it expects will be a tighter market and cuts about 1,600 jobs globally. The joint venture between Sweden's LM Ericsson and Japan's Sony Corp. will consolidate product development operations by closing sites in Research Triangle Park; Seattle; Miami; San Diego; Kista, Sweden; and Chennai, India, spokeswoman Stacy ..
Palm Inc. is fighting harder than ever to snag a chunk of the smart phone market, and just six months after releasing the stylish Pre it's back with a lighter, more petite and affordable version called the Pixi. It's too bad such a good-looking phone is so aggravating to use. With its trim candy bar-shaped body, full keyboard and $100 price tag (with a two-year Sprint Nextel contract and $150 in rebates), it's clear that Palm is aiming the Pixi at younger, text messaging-savvy consumers. The ..
World stocks slid Thursday after analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch reportedly downgraded their recommendations on a series of U.S. technology stocks, including Intel Corp. That feeded mounting concerns that current valuations are not justified by the pace of the global economic recovery. In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed down 74.43 points, or 1.4 percent, at 5,267.70 while Germany's DAX fell 85.43 points, or 1.5 percent, to 5,702.18. The CAC-40 in France ..
It was not so long ago that the spread of the mobile phone sent waves of fear through the reserved world of fine watchmaking. The practicality of a portable phone that doubled as an accurate digital timekeeper made the necessity for a wristwatch vanish almost overnight. But now, with the popularity of the iPhone and its myriad applications, the watch industry finally has been able to embrace a product that once was considered the biggest threat to its survival. A wide range of brands, from the ..
You have to really love TV to spring for a portable TV like the FLO TV Personal Television I've been testing. While you can already "snack" on live and pre-recorded mobile TV offerings on some cell phones, this brand new FLO handheld is a dedicated television you might schlep in addition to a phone. FLO's pitch is that you can use this stand-alone digital TV to keep you and the troops entertained on the go. You might watch on the bus or train to the office. You might pass FLO TV to the kids in ..
Shoppers face a dizzying array of offers of help in the form of new Web sites, services and mobile phone applications as they set out for their holiday shopping this year. To make the most of new services, experts advise employing them often and early, even before the season kicks off with Black Friday next week. Here are four ways to track down holiday bargains and a look at whether each could work for you: 1. GET SOCIAL. Many consumers are following their favorite brands and retailers to ..
AT isn't holding back in responding to attacks from Verizon Wireless. After losing a court fight to stop Verizon from airing commercials that pointed out holes in AT's 3G service, AT is responding with its own commercial. On Wednesday, the wireless carrier unveiled a commercial featuring actor Luke Wilson. In the commercial, Wilson gives AT an X for everything he said AT provides to subscribers, including a 3G network, the ability to surf the Internet while on the phone, and access to ..
In a move to make YouTube's massive inventory more accessible to deaf and hearing-impaired people, Google announced plans to add automatic captioning technology to the video site. Google has combined its automatic speech-recognition technology with the existing YouTube caption system. Called auto-caps for short, the captions rely on the same voice-recognition algorithms in Google Voice to automatically generate captions for YouTube videos. Ken Harrenstien, a Google software engineer who is ..
With the public beta of Office 2010, Microsoft is offering an intriguing future for the world's most popular productivity suite. The new version features integration with web-based, lightweight versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint; a mobile version; and social-networking features bolted onto Outlook. One long-awaited development is Office Web Apps, Microsoft's competition for Google Docs and other online office suites. While the current beta only makes Excel and PowerPoint available to ..
Google sketched out more details Thursday about its Chrome operating system, which is slated to become available before the end of next year. Google said the project's initial target is to get Chrome OS up and running on the computing devices that depend most on Internet connectivity. Chrome OS marks a radical departure from today's operating systems because all the applications and even the user's data will reside in the cloud, noted Google Vice President Sundar Pichai. "We are initially ..
After announcing a spin-off from parent company Time Warner on Monday, AOL is moving to reduce its head count about one-third. AOL is looking for employees who are willing to resign from their jobs at the once-dominant Internet firm. As part of a voluntary layoff program that will begin Dec. 4 and run through Dec. 11, AOL will accept up to 2,500 resignations. That would shave about 30 percent of its 6,900 employee base -- if the packages are healthy enough to convince employees to quit their ..
Like Elvis, there have been so many sightings and rumors of an upcoming, groundbreaking Apple tablet that it has taken on legendary status. But now the legend is undergoing revisions, with new reports that the tablet will be delayed and that a major publisher is getting ready -- and still no word from Apple. Taiwan-based DigiTimes reported Thursday that the launch of the tablet computer is being delayed from March to the second half of 2010 so it can include a model using a 9.7-inch OLED ..
With Cyber Monday, the unofficial start of the Internet holiday shopping season nearing, a Senate committee Tuesday condemned three online companies, saying they are tricking consumers into signing up for subscription services they don't want. Internet companies Affinion, Vertrue and Webloyalty are using aggressive sales tactics to scam millions of customers, the Senate Commerce Committee said. According to a committee report, the three companies enter into agreements with other more familiar ..
Cumbria floods: 'once in a thousand years' .. - Telegraph When Workington's flood defences were rebuilt following the great storms of 2005, residents were assured they could withstand a "once in a century" flood.
Teoh exhumation begins - Themalaysianinside KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 21 - The exhumation of Teoh Beng Hock's body for a second autopsy, ordered by the inquest into his recent death, has begun.
Afternoons without Oprah Los Angeles Times - Joe .. - Latimes Who will fill the void, and who will watch, when the queen of daytime TV departs for cable in 2011? By Joe Flint and Meg James Oprah Winfrey told her audience Friday that she had made up her mind to end her hit daytime talk show in September 2011 ...
California unemployment hits 12.5% San Francisco .. - Sfgate California employers added 25700 jobs in October, the first such gain since April of 2008. But the state unemployment rate still rose to 12.5 percent, its highest level in nearly 70 years, as a report issued Friday depicted a downtrodden labor market ...
Climate scientists accused of 'manipulating global .. - Telegraph Some of the world's top climate scientists have been accused of manipulating data on global warming after hundreds of private emails were stolen by hackers and published online.
UK Climate Research Center Confirms Data Breach - Themoneytimes According to Robert Graham, CEO with the consultancy Errata Security, it's quite possible, judging from the data published that either the hacker is an ...
Mobile Phones - Breakingnewsonline It will make things difficult for the Chinese mobile phones that do not have IMEI numbers. The government has already made it clear that the mobile phones ...
Big Bang collider restarted - Swissinfo Scientists at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (Cern) have restarted the world's largest atom smasher built to reproduce "Big Bang" conditions ...
Ageing Santa gets $100,000 facelift for Christmas - Yahoo Reuters - A Santa in New Zealand with a droopy eye has received a NZ$100,000 ($74,000) face-lift in the run-up to Christmas so that his aging face does not scare children.
