by Eric Savitz in Voices at 3:58 pm PT
J.P. Morgan's Imran Khan theorized in a research note this afternoon that Amazon.com could eventually be a beneficiary of the demise of Circuit City, which earlier today said it would close all of its remaining stores and liquidate. Khan thinks Amazon could inherit as much as half of Circuit City’s online business. Read more »
by John Paczkowski in Digital Daily at 12:41 pm PT
“Difficult, but prudent, actions.” That’s how AMD describes its decision to sack 1,100 employees and reduce the base pay of those who remain. Come February, the chipmaker will reduce its workforce by roughly nine percent. It will suspend its 401(k) match for employees and slash their salaries. Read more »
by Nitrozac and Snaggy in Voices at 12:38 pm PT
Here is the latest comic from our Joy of Tech friends at Geek Culture, Nitrozac and Snaggy. Joy of Tech appears three times a week in the Voices section of this site. (Click on the image to see a bigger version.) Read more »
by John Paczkowski in Digital Daily at 11:53 am PT
Fewer than 60 percent of Europeans browse the Web with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, according to Web measurement outfit XiTi Monitor. So it’s understandable that Microsoft would try to bolster that figure a bit by bundling IE with its popular Windows operating system abroad. It’s also apparently illegal. In a Statement of Objections, European antitrust regulators this week notified Microsoft that its “preliminary view” is that the bundling of IE with Windows violates European competition law. Read more »
by John Paczkowski in Digital Daily at 11:31 am PT
What Apple might do if CEO Steve Jobs does not return from his medical leave of absence and how the company would fare without him have been the subject of much jawing this past week. And not without good reason. Wednesday’s announcement was certainly a stunner--one that shook Apple investors to the core of their timid little hearts. But analysts seem to think the company will continue to do just fine--with, or without, Jobs. Read more »
by Christopher Rhoads in Voices at 10:30 am PT
Worried that your broadband provider is slowing down your Web traffic?
If so, you might want to download the aptly named "Switzerland"--a tool that tests whether your Internet provider is violating the principles of so-called "network neutrality."
Network neutrality, which prevents carriers from blocking traffic or manipulating the speeds of traffic from certain Web sites, became a hot-button issue several years ago when carriers suggested they should be allowed to charge content providers more for using faster lanes on their networks. Read more »
by Peter Kafka in MediaMemo at 9:29 am PT
Big media outlets aren't threatened by Twitter and "citizen journalists"--they're happily accepting as much free stuff as they can ingest, and selling it for premium prices. Check your TV screen for proof. Read more »
by John Paczkowski in Digital Daily at 8:57 am PT
The lights are going out in Circuit City. Facing a bankruptcy court deadline to ink a deal with a buyer and no willing buyer in sight, the electronics retailer is closing up shop and sacking its entire workforce. A sad turn of events, but not an unexpected one; Circuit City filed for bankruptcy in November, and by the end of the year it had already shuttered 155 stores and sacked 17 percent of its workforce. Read more »
by Kara Swisher in BoomTown at 7:00 am PT
BoomTown is headed to the 2009 Sundance Film Festival today, an annual journey I make to moderate panels about the tech industry. The festival officially opened yesterday in Park City, Utah. While still largely a confab of independent filmmakers, Hollywood deal types and various celebrities rifling though swag orgies, a lot of geeks are there too. Read more »
by John Paczkowski in Digital Daily at 6:30 am PT
Playing videogames in a recession doesn’t make them any less fun--even if that recession is the worst we’ve seen in 50 years. Though the economy shuddered and slowed in December, videogame industry sales rose nine percent in the states. And for the year, sales of games, consoles and accessories grew 19 percent to $21.3 billion, from $18 billion in 2007.
Read more »
by Eric Savitz in Voices at 5:32 am PT
Akamai shares are trading lower this morning after Merrill Lynch analyst Garrett Bekker cut his rating on the stock to Neutral from Buy. Bekker writes in a research note this morning that he expects "competitive challenges and spending headwinds to persist in 2009," offsetting growing contributions from premium services and international expansion. He says the stock's valuation appears reasonable, but that there are "few catalysts on the horizon." Read more »
by Kara Swisher in BoomTown at 5:11 am PT
In an article in The Wall Street Journal yesterday, it was reported that newly installed Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz told an all-hands meeting "that she plans to spend a lot of time investigating whether to sell Yahoo's search business but that her 'gut' was not to do that."
Yahoo stock, no surprise, took a hit at the remark, which made it seem like Bartz--who has a tech background--was siding with the anti-search-sale geek squad burrowed deep in the heart of Yahoo and in its board too.
But as her gut was jabbering away, what was her head saying? Read more »
by Peter Kafka in MediaMemo at 4:54 am PT
Yes, you can still get someone to invest in a Web start-up with zero revenue. It helps if you can insert the word "Twitter" into your pitch, though. Meet TweetDeck, a one-man outfit that makes free software that organizes your Twitter stream. Read more »
by Peter Kafka in MediaMemo at 3:46 am PT
Web folk have a fairly justified suspicion of anything they hear from official music industry reps these days. But this stat seems about right to me: 95 percent of all songs downloaded on the Web last year were stolen, says the industry's international trade group. Read more »