Cisco Systems this afternoon posted slightly better-than-expected results for its fiscal third quarter ended April 30. But the struggling networking equipment company also issued lower-than-expected Q4 guidance, and said it plans to cut expenses by $1 billion by the end of FY 2012 off the Q4 base level. That will include reductions of both the employee and contractor workforce, although the company gave no details on how many people will lost their jobs. read »
Several weeks after navigation services provider TomTom attracted ire for providing traffic data that Dutch police used to place speed cameras, the company’s chief executive is cautiously optimistic the public is moving on. read »
NEW ORLEANS – While over 80,000 people visited New Orleans over the past week for Jazz Fest 2011, top officials from the State of Louisiana were meeting with executives from game development studios. Louisiana is serious about video games. So serious, in fact, that the state is offering the most lucrative incentives in the United States to entice game studios of all sizes to relocate to New Orleans, Baton Rouge or Shreveport. read »
I am terrible at Pro Evolution Soccer, so I appreciate the slimmed-down version for Nintendo 3DS. It's less complicated, so I don't lose as badly. And the 3D screen actually adds to the gameplay, making it easier to see down field and get a feel for distance between players. read »
Intel this morning raised its quarterly dividend rate by 16.7%, to 21 cents a share, from 18 cents. That boosts the annual rate to 84 cents, for an annual yield of 3.6%. That's the second dividend hike in six months; the company upped the rate by 15% in November. read »
Since it was announced on March 20, the proposed $39 billion merger between AT&T and T-Mobile USA has been examined from multiple angles. It will be the subject of more analysis on May 11 when the Senate Judiciary Committee evaluates the deal’s merits in a Washington, DC hearing. read »
On the Street, skepticism about the prospects for Research In Motion continues to rise. read »
Microsoft is paying almost 40% more for Skype than the Internet calling service has said the business was worth itself, according to Bloomberg. The $8.5 billion deal for Luxembourg-based Skype is 32 times larger than Skype’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, Bloomberg adds, and 39% more than the multiple Skype used to value its own equity in an April regulatory filing. read »