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2005 Business News History Archive


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2005 Business Archive:

20051230

Intel - Computer - Marketing - "Inside Intel." ... "Andrew S. Grove, the revered former Intel Corp. (INTC ) chief executive and now a senior adviser, had stepped up to the microphone in a hotel ballroom down the street from Intel's Santa Clara (Calif.) headquarters, preparing to respond to a startling presentation by new Chief Marketing Officer Eric B. Kim." ... "Kim's plan, cooked up with new CEO Paul S. Otellini, was a sharp departure from the company Grove had built. Essentially, they were proposing to blow up Intel's brand, the fifth-best-known in the world." ... ""I want to say," he [Grove] boomed, "that this program strikes me as one of the best manifestations incorporating Intel values of risk-taking, discipline, and results orientation I have ever seen here. I, for one, fully support it."" ... "Central to the effort will be the first new corporate logo in more than three decades and a $2.5 billion advertising and marketing blitz, BusinessWeek has learned." ... "The changes go far deeper than the company's brand." ... "Instead of remaining focused on PCs, he's [Otellini] pushing Intel to play a key technological role in a half-dozen fields, including consumer electronics, wireless communications, and health care. And rather than just microprocessors, he wants Intel to create all kinds of chips, as well as software, and then meld them together into what he calls "platforms."" -By Cliff Edwards -BusinessWeek
Intel - Computer - Marketing - History - Consumer - Entertainment - CA - NV - "Intel Drops Logo After 37 Years; Seeks to Take Image Beyond PCs." ... "Intel Corp., whose marketing made its computer chips a household name, is changing its logo for the first time in 37 years." ... "The dropped ``e'' in Intel will be shed in favor of a swoop around the company's name with the tag line ``Leap Ahead.'' The ``Intel Inside'' phrase, a fixture since 1991, will be dropped, Santa Clara, California-based Intel said yesterday." ... "Intel's image change, to coincide with next week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas [Nevada], is part of an effort by new Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini to push Intel into home entertainment. The company, whose processors run more than 80 percent of personal computers, is trying to gain a foothold in the consumer market to counter slowing growth in PC chips." -By Ian King -Bloomberg
Indonesia - US - Business - Police - "Indonesian military admits being paid by US mining firm." ... "Indonesia's military admitted yesterday that officers received payments from a local subsidiary of the American mining giant Freeport-McMoRan to guard its huge Grasberg copper and gold mine in Papua, the western, Indonesian, half of New Guinea island." ... "The admission comes after a report in the New York Times claimed that Freeport Indonesia paid military and police officers, and several army units £11.7m from 1998 to 2004. Some officers allegedly received tens of thousands of pounds. If they kept any of the money themselves, it would be a criminal offence." -By John Aglionby -Guardian.co.uk
Hackers - Music - Entertainment - Computer - Business - Technology - Consumer - Privacy - "Sony BMG tentatively settles CD software suits." ... "Sony BMG Music Entertainment has reached a tentative settlement with consumers who filed a class action lawsuit over the music company's copy-protection software on CDs, court papers show." ... "Consumers complained that the technology -- known as XCP -- violated their rights by potentially leaving computers vulnerable to hackers and allowing the company to track listening habits." -Reuters
Auto - Company - Retiree - History - Government - "How Bedrock Promises Of Security Have Fractured Across America: Companies are discarding traditional pensions -- or making government foot the bill. Delphi workers struggle with the changing landscape." ... "[Oct. 8,] That's when Delphi Chief Executive Robert S. "Steve" Miller, citing global competition and crippling "legacy costs," ushered the $28.6 billion-a-year company into one of the largest industrial bankruptcies in U.S. history. In short order, Miller called for slashing workers' compensation by almost two-thirds, threatened to void the company's union contracts, and hinted broadly that he would follow the playbook he had used elsewhere of pushing responsibility for paying the firm's pensions to the federal government and dumping its retiree health benefits altogether." ... "Delphi is at the cutting edge of a crisis that's engulfing the U.S. auto industry, much as it did steel and airlines. Its actions are adding to a gathering trend, a shift of economic risks once largely borne by business and government to the backs of working families." ... "Before the trouble is over, some believe, a corporate icon such as Ford Motor Co. or GM could be swept from the American landscape. So too could much of what remains of the already frayed relationship between millions of working people and their employers." -By Peter G. Gosselin -LAtimes

20051229

Military - Auto - Airplane - "Corps pays $100K for retooled jeep." ... "The Marine Corps is paying $100,000 apiece for a revamped Vietnam-era jeep as part of its program to outfit the hybrid airplane-helicopter V-22 Osprey, Pentagon records show." ... "That's seven times what a deluxe commercial version of the vehicle costs. It's also three times what U.S. Export-Import Bank records show the Dominican Republic paid four years ago for a military version of the vehicle, called the Growler, a recycled version of the M151 jeep." -By Steven Komarow -USATODAY
Economy - "U.S. Economy: Home Resales Fall to Lowest in 8 Months (Update4)." ... "Sales of existing homes fell to an eight-month low in November, leaving the number of houses on the market at the highest since 1986 and suggesting one pillar of the U.S. economy will weaken next year." ... "Home sales dropped 1.7 percent to a 6.97 million annual rate, the National Association of Realtors said today in Washington. Mortgage rates are higher than a year ago and today's report showed the median price rose 13.2 percent since November 2004 to $215,000, making homes less affordable." ... "The housing industry accounts for only about 5 percent of the U.S. economy and yet generated half of the growth in this year's first six months and more than half of the private jobs added since 2001, Merrill Lynch & Co. said in an August report. Price appreciation helped add $5.2 trillion to Americans' balance sheets during the current expansion, or 68 percent of all wealth creation, according to the Federal Reserve." -By Courtney Schlisserman and Andrew Ward -Bloomberg
Labor - "Executive pay to be new year's hot topic." ... "Investors plan to make executive pay the number one issue at companies' annual meetings this spring." ... "New evidence suggesting that executive pay growth is accelerating, coupled with outrage at big severance packages for some bosses, has pushed the issue to the top of investors' concerns." ... "The AFSCME union, whose pension fund is worth $800m, is calling for UK-style votes by shareholders on executive pay at the 2006 annual meetings of US Bancorp, Merrill Lynch, Bank of America, Home Depot and Countrywide Financial." ... "The union claims to have identified excessive compensation at these companies and warns it may try to oust directors on their compensation committees if they do not take steps to align bosses' pay with company performance." -By Andrew Parker -FT.com via -MSNBC
Business - Accounting - Law - "SEC calls for clarity in executive pay." ... "Public companies in the US could have to provide investors with valuations of the pensions and stock options of senior executives as part of a far-reaching overhaul of the disclosure rules on executive pay by the Securities and Exchange Commission." ... "The chief US financial regulator is preparing the first update of its disclosure rules on executive pay in more than a decade, because of concerns that investors do not receive adequate information about compensation. An important requirement could focus on executives' pensions and options." ... "The median total pay of chief executives increased by 30 per cent in 2004, according to a survey of 1,522 chief executives by the Corporate Library, a corporate governance watchdog, published in October." -By Andrew Parker -FT.com via -MSNBC
Russia - Political - Business - "Russia threatens to cut off Ukraine's gas." ... "Ukraine's natural gas company declared Thursday that it has enough gas in storage to see the country through the winter if Russia halts shipments in a standoff over prices." ... "Russia's state-run natural gas monopoly, Gazprom, which provides about a third of the gas used in Ukraine, says it will stop selling gas to the country on Jan. 1 unless it agrees to a fourfold price increase." ... "Ukraine currently pays $50 (U.S.) per 1,000 cubic meters of gas. Gazprom is demanding that the price in 2006 rise to $220 to $230, saying that is more in line with world markets." -By Henry Meyer -AP via -GlobeAndMail
Russia - Business - "Russia to significantly up gas imports." ... "Russia on Thursday agreed to significantly increase its imports of natural gas from Turkmenistan in 2006, buying 30 billion cubic meters at US$65 (euro52) per 1,000 cubic meters, the state-controlled gas monopoly Gazprom said in a statement." -AP via -BusinessWeek

20051228

Terrorism - Business - Politics - "Sept. 11 loan recipients weren't hurt by attacks." ... "Most companies interviewed about the government-backed Sept. 11 loans they received have told investigators they weren't hurt by the suicide attacks and didn't know they were getting terrorism assistance, an internal government investigation found." ... "The Small Business Administration's inspector general also reported Wednesday that lenders who doled out billions of dollars in such loans failed — 85% of the time — to document that recipients were actually hurt by the terrorism attacks and therefore eligible for the federal aid." -AP via -USATODAY
NY - Internet - Messaging - Telecommunications - Patent - Search Engine - Business - "Google Talk faces patent lawsuit." ... "A New York company [Rates Technology (RTI)] is suing Google for patent infringement over the voice-over-Internet portion of its Google Talk instant messaging and voice chat program." ... "It alleges infringement on two of its patents for minimizing the cost of long-distance calls using the Internet."" ... "RTI President Jerry Weinberger returned a call seeking comment on Thursday and said his firm also has sued Vonage and Cablevision over patent infringement." ... ""When a VOIP call can be transferred to the regular PSTN (telephone network), the switching of that call infringes our patents," Weinberger said." -By Elinor Mills -CNET /News
Enron - Accounting - Business - "UPDATE 5-Ex-Enron chief accountant pleads guilty to fraud." ... "Enron's former chief accountant, Richard Causey, on Wednesday pleaded guilty to securities fraud in exchange for a maximum seven-year jail sentence for his role in the financial scandal that led to the 2001 collapse of the power-trading giant." ... "Causey, 45, had been scheduled to go on trial next month with former Enron chief executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, facing the possibility of more than 20 years behind bars, but now may cooperate with federal prosecutors against them in a switch legal experts said could hurt his former bosses." ... "Causey pleaded guilty to a single count of securities related to false filings and statements about Enron's financial performance. He also agreed to forfeit $1.25 million as part of a sentence that [U.S. District Judge Sim] Lake said would be set April 21." (1, 2, 3) -By Jeff Franks with contributions by Deborah Charles and Ben Berkowitz -Reuters
Texas - Enron - Accounting - Energy - Business - "Enron's Causey pleads guilty: Judge grants two-week delay to Lay, Skilling trial." ... "Rather than face trial next month, Enron's former chief accounting officer pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges stemming from the scandal that brought down the energy company in late 2001." ... "Richard Causey's plea bargain, made in U.S. District Court in Houston [Texas] before Judge Sim Lake, can't be welcome news for Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, the two top ex-Enron executives federal investigators claim were kingpins in one of the biggest scandals ever to rock corporate America." ... "At the same time, the deal requires Causey to cooperate with federal prosecutors honing their case against his onetime bosses and raises the possibility of his taking the witness stand against them." -By Jim Jelter -MarketWatch

20051227

UK - EMail - Business - EU - Privacy - Telecommunications - "Businessman wins e-mail spam case." ... "A businessman has won what is believed to be the first victory of its kind by claiming damages from a company which sent him e-mail spam." ... "Three years ago the EU passed an anti-spam law, the directive on privacy and telecommunications, which gave individuals the right to fight the growing tide of unwanted e-mail by allowing them to claim damages."-BBC /News
Russia - Economics - "Outspoken Putin aide set to quit: An outspoken aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered his resignation in protest against what he called the end of political freedom." ... "Economic adviser Andrei Illarionov said Russia was no longer politically free but run by state corporations acting in their own interests." ... ""It is one thing to work in a country that is partly free. It is another thing when the political system has changed, and the country has stopped being free and democratic," Mr Illarionov told reporters in Moscow."-BBC /News
Japan - Business - Employment - Politics - "Japan backs gender equality plan." ... "Japanese Prime Minister Junichuro Koizumi's cabinet has approved a gender equality plan that aims to put more women in leadership positions." ... "It gave the green light to a series of measures to improve employment conditions for women and encourage their return to work after maternity." ... "The changes, known as the female re-challenge plan, have been pushed through by the prime minister himself." ... "They come in response to Japan's plunging birth rate." -By Leo Lewis-BBC /News

20051224

Christmas - Consumer - "Last-minute shoppers flock to stores on Christmas Eve." ... "Shoppers — some holding out for the best deals, others just not inspired to shop earlier — headed for the nation's malls and stores for last-minute gifts and gift cards on Saturday, the day before Christmas." ... "With shoppers delaying their holiday shopping even longer than last year, merchants are depending even more on the final hours before Christmas and post-holiday business to salvage the season. The exceptions have been online shopping, sellers of consumer electronics, and luxury stores, which have continued to generate strong gains." ... "The good news this year, analysts said, is that many retailers haven't reacted with a frenzy of bargains beyond what was in their strategy, recognizing that there is a second shopping season after Dec. 25." -By Anne D'Innocenzio with contributions by Brian Witte -AP via -StarTribune
Government - Terrorism - Law Enforcement - Law - Telecommunications - Business - Internet - Privacy - Politics - "Spy Agency Mined Vast Data Trove, Officials Report." ... "The National Security Agency has traced and analyzed large volumes of telephone and Internet communications flowing into and out of the United States as part of the eavesdropping program that President Bush approved after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to hunt for evidence of terrorist activity, according to current and former government officials." ... "The volume of information harvested from telecommunication data and voice networks, without court-approved warrants, is much larger than the White House has acknowledged, the officials said. It was collected by tapping directly into some of the American telecommunication system's main arteries, they said." ... "As part of the program approved by President Bush for domestic surveillance without warrants, the N.S.A. has gained the cooperation of American telecommunications companies to obtain backdoor access to streams of domestic and international communications, the officials said." ... "The government's collection and analysis of phone and Internet traffic have raised questions among some law enforcement and judicial officials familiar with the program." -By Eric Lichtblau and James Risen (1, 2) -NYTimes

20051223

Jerry Lewis - Randy "Duke" Cunningham - Government - Military - Money - Law - Politics - California - "Close ties make Rep. Lewis, lobbyist Lowery a potent pair." ... "From powerful positions on the House Appropriations Committee, California [Republican Representative] Rep. Jerry Lewis has greenlighted hundreds of millions of dollars in federal projects for clients of one of his closest friends, lobbyist and former [Republican Represenatative from California] state Congressman Bill Lowery." ... "Meanwhile, Lowery, the partners at his firm [Copeland Lowery Jacquez Denton & White] and their clients have donated 37 percent of the $1.3 million that Lewis' political action committee received in the past six years." ... "One of the defense companies that received federal contracts with [convicted California Republican Representative Randy "Duke"] Cunningham's support was a Lowery client [Brent Wilkes' ADCS Inc.]. And some of the money was disbursed when Cunningham was a member of the defense appropriations subcommittee and Lewis was the committee chairman." ... "Lowery, his partners and their spouses have contributed $135,000 to Lewis' campaigns and political action committee over the past decade, routinely giving the maximum allowed by law. Lowery also organizes and hosts Lewis fundraisers. And many of Lowery's defense-contractor clients contribute to Lewis as part of their lobbying strategy." ... "Taken together, they have contributed $480,000 to Lewis' political action committee since 2000." ... "Last year Lewis used some of that money to wow the Republican leadership with checks for $650,000 in "excess campaign funds" to help maintain Republican control of the House." ... "In 1999 Lewis became chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee, which oversees more discretionary spending than any other congressional body." ... "Despite that early demonstration of fiscal toughness, earmarks in the defense bills exploded on Lewis' watch." ... "Many of the earmarks went to clients of Lowery's firm, which grew even more prosperous when Lewis' principal defense-earmarks gatekeeper, Letitia White, joined the firm in 2003." -By Jerry Kammer with contributions by Denise Davidson, Erin Hobbs and Peter Uribe -CopleyNews.com via -SignOnSanDiego.com
Washington - Microsoft - TV - Web - Business - "NBC Universal Buys Control of MSNBC From Microsoft (Update3)." ... "NBC Universal bought a controlling interest in the MSNBC cable news television channel it created with Microsoft Corp. in 1996, with an option of getting full ownership in two years." ... "NBC Universal increased its stake in MSNBC to 82 percent from 50 percent in a cash transaction, Microsoft spokesman Adam Sohn said today, declining to comment further. Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft and General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal will continue to own equal parts in the MSNBC.com Web site." -By Alex Armitage -Bloomberg
California - WalMart - Employees - Business - Food - "Wal-Mart hit with $172.3m lunch bill." ... "A jury in Oakland, California on Thursday ordered Wal-Mart, the largest US retailer, to pay $172.3m to current and former employees, after finding that the company had failed to respect their right to a 30-minute unpaid lunch break." ... "The verdict is the largest penalty of its kind imposed by a court on the retailer in a range of lawsuits that have accused it of deliberately allowing its employees to work unpaid overtime, or to work during legally required breaks." ... "State law in California requires employers to grant its workers the 30 minute unpaid break, or to compensate them if they decline to take the time." -By Jonathan Birchall -FT.com via -MSNBC
South Korea - People - Labor - Business - "Cloning allegations put spotlight on S. Korea's competitive culture." ... "Six-day work weeks from morning until night. Companies trumpeting bigger and bigger flat-screen TVs. A government that proclaims it wants to be a ''hub" for everything from finance to robots. South Korea is fiercely committed to being No. 1, and doing it yesterday." ... "As South Korea's top scientist Hwang Woo-suk falls from his lofty perch amid a wave of allegations questioning his research, the country's competitive culture of always hurrying -- coupled with a healthy sense of national pride and craving for international recognition -- could be partly to blame." ... "The dynamic culture has its upside, helping South Koreans build their country from the ruins of the Korean War into the world's 11th largest economy." -By Burt Herman -AP via -BostonGlobe

20051222

Jack Abramoff - Florida - Political - Business - "Talk of Plea by Lobbyist Has Hill on Edge." ... "[Jack] Abramoff, a once-powerful lobbyist who is the subject of a federal influence-peddling investigation, is considering a deal to plead guilty and cooperate with prosecutors, according to sources familiar with the probe. That could open the prospect that Abramoff will implicate any number of lawmakers and aides who were part of his vast network of access." ... "Abramoff's former business associate, Michael P.S. Scanlon, last month pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe public officials and to defraud tribes. He promised to cooperate with the investigation." ... "In separate federal proceedings in Florida, Abramoff has been indicted on fraud and conspiracy charges in connection with his purchase of the Florida-based SunCruz Casinos gambling fleet. His co-defendant, Adam R. Kidan, last week pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Abramoff. Abramoff's trial is set to begin Jan. 9." -By Janet Hook and Chuck Neubauer -LAtimes
Government - Law - Military - Terrorism - Alaska - Oil - Environment- Health - Education - Jobs - Money - "Senate Extends Patriot Act, Kills Alaska Drilling (Update1)." ... "The U.S. Senate broke a legislative logjam and cleared the way for its holiday departure last night with a series of short-term compromises that extended the Patriot Act and blocked drilling for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge." ... "Democrats prevailed in getting Senate Republican leaders to abandon the oil-drilling plan, which was attached to the defense budget." ... "[House] Lawmakers passed a $142.5 billion budget for health, education and jobs programs that cuts funding from last year's spending plan, sending the measure to Bush for his signature. The House approved the measure 215-213 on Dec. 14." ... "The health budget reduces funding for the No Child Left Behind education initiative, special education and job training. It freezes funding for the National Institutes of Health and low- income heating assistance." -By Catherine Dodge -Bloomberg
Karl Rove - Dick Cheney - Military - Environmental - Political - Business - "Department's Mission Was Undermined From Start." ... "[Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom] Ridge, who had won a Bronze Star as an infantry staff sergeant in Vietnam, knew he might be stepping into another quagmire at DHS. "Part of him was excited," said then-EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] Administrator Christine Todd Whitman. "Part of him thought it was a no-win situation."" ... "Clearly, he could not count on unlimited financial support. And working in the White House, he was already learning he could not count on absolute political support, either." ... "One stark example was the White House's blockade of a Ridge-supported plan to secure large chemical plants. After Sept. 11, Whitman had worked with Ridge on a modest effort to require high-risk plants --especially the 123 factories where a toxic release could endanger at least 1 million people -- to enhance security. But industry groups warned Bush political adviser Karl Rove that giving new regulatory power to the Environmental Protection Agency would be a disaster." ... ""We have a similar set of concerns," Rove wrote to the president of BP Amoco Chemical Co." ... "In an interagency meeting shortly before DHS's birth, White House budget official Philip J. Perry, who also happens to be Cheney's son-in-law, declared the Ridge-Whitman plan dead." (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) -By Christopher Lee with contributions by Spencer S. Hsu and Julie Tate -WashingtonPost

20051221

Florida - Business - Disaster - Water - Divers - "Chalk's grounds fleet for inspection after fatal crash off Miami Beach." ... "An airline voluntarily grounded its fleet Wednesday for inspection after investigators said cracks in the support beam of a wing apparently caused it to fall off a seaplane that then crashed, killing all 20 people aboard." ... "Chalk's Ocean Airways operates four other seaplanes, all the same model that crashed. The grounding came the same day federal investigators said they were trying to determine why the airline had apparently not discovered the cracks." ... "Salvage crews and divers worked for a second day Wednesday to haul up the plane's wreckage from about 35 feet of water in a channel off the southern tip of Miami Beach [Florida], where it went down Monday." -By Curt Anderson -Sun-Sentinel via -Newsday.com

20051220

Alaska - Gas - Business - Consumer- "Alaska sues BP, Exxon Mobil over natural gas: State claims oil giants conspired to keep prices high." ... "An antitrust lawsuit filed against Exxon Mobil Corp. and BP PLC claims the two oil giants are restricting the nation's supply of natural gas and keeping prices at record highs." ... "The lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Fairbanks, says the two companies acted together to eliminate competition for the exploration, development and marketing of natural gas from Alaska's North Slope to U.S. markets." ... ""The only reason for them to collusively not to sell is to try to continue the scarcity that has driven natural gas prices to historic highs," said David Boies, the attorney for the Alaska Gasline Port Authority, which filed the lawsuit." (1, 2) -AP via -MSNBC

20051215

IP - Microsoft - Wireless - EMail - Computer - Net - Business - Texas - "Microsoft Sued Over Mobile E-Mail Patents: Mobile E-mail vendor Visto has sued Microsoft, claiming Windows Mobile violates its patents. Visto also teamed with NTL, which sued RIM." ... "Mobile e-mail technology vendor Visto Thursday claimed that Microsoft's Windows Mobile 5.0 platform violates its patents and has signed a licensing agreement with NTP, which has sued Research In Motion for alleged patent violations." ... "In addition, NTP has acquired an equity stake in Visto, the company said in a statement." ... "Visto said in a statement that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Microsoft in U.S. District Court in Texas that covers three specific patents owned by Visto. The complaint asks the court to prohibit Microsoft from improperly using Visto's intellectual property and asks for compensation." -MobilePipeline.com via -InformationWeek

20051214

US - World - Oil - "Oil imports help push trade gap to record high." ... "The U.S. international trade deficit jumped to a record $68.9 billion in October, the government said Wednesday, prompting economists to warn that growth could be slower than forecast in the fourth quarter of 2005." ... "Still, stock markets rallied on a separate Labor Department report showing prices for imported goods fell 1.7% in November, as oil prices dropped from post-hurricane highs. Tamer inflation could relieve pressure on the Federal Reserve to keep raising interest rates. Also Wednesday, a group of top CEOs predicted strong growth ahead." -By Barbara Hagenbaugh -USATODAY

20051213

Internet - Media - "AOL founder calls for breakup of Time Warner: Merger weighed online company down, Case says." ... "Steve Case, architect of the $112 billion merger of Time Warner Inc. and America Online, joined Carl Icahn this week in pressing for a breakup of the company." ... "Case, who holds about $250 million of Time Warner shares, wrote that he hasn't spoken with Icahn or his advisers." -Bloomberg via -SeattlePI.NWsource
Web - Business - Microsoft - "Adobe merger may help it fend off Microsoft." ... "Adobe Systems and Macromedia spent more than a decade as fierce rivals in the software market. Now they are hoping that by banding together they can be better positioned to face increasingly aggressive competition from Microsoft." ... "Early this month, Adobe completed its $3.4 billion acquisition of Macromedia, giving it control of Flash, Macromedia's crown jewel, a software tool for developing multimedia applications for the Web. The move cements Adobe's dominant position in the market for electronic document management and helps round out its collection of software for art directors, Web designers and video producers." -By Laurie J. Flynn -NYTimes via -SeattlePI.NWsource
Microsoft - IM-Messaging - Telecom - Computer - Business - "Microsoft, MCI team on Net phone service: Initial offering to allow only outbound calls from PC." ... "The agreement, announced late Monday, gives the Redmond [Washington] company a bigger stake in the consumer segment of the burgeoning online phone business. But for now, at least, Microsoft says it will offer only outbound calls from PCs to regular phones -- unlike some rivals that will offer the ability to receive calls on a PC from a phone, as well." ... "The decision to partner with a telecom company could give Microsoft an important ally as it moves further into the online voice market. The company sees the service as a "natural extension" of the free PC-to-PC voice and video features already offered as part of its instant-messaging program, said Brian Arbogast, an MSN corporate vice president." -By Todd Bishop -SeattlePI.NWsource

20051212

Wireless - Telecommunications - Business- Law - "Cellphone rulings could mean billions in tax refunds." ... "Phone customers are due $9 billion in tax refunds and a 3% cut in wireless phone and long-distance bills, according to a series of federal court decisions." ... "But the federal government continues to collect the tax and requires so much paperwork for refunds that only big corporations are likely to benefit." ... "The Bush administration has not said whether it will appeal to the Supreme Court." -By Dennis Cauchon -USATODAY
Telecommunications - Computer - Business - "Companies Embracing Skype—With Reservations." ... "With more than 13 million users worldwide [other sources cite 54 million users], Skype has quickly become the Internet's favorite free peer-to-peer voice-over-IP application." ... "Like most grass-roots Internet technologies, Skype (developed by Skype Technologies S.A., in Luxembourg), started as a hobbyist tool that soon began to take root in the business market. The company says that almost half of its customers are now using Skype for business communications." ... "Currently, PC-to-PC calls, aka Skype-to-Skype calls, are free. Skype calls that cross the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) to reach a land-line or mobile phone must use the SkypeOut service. The company charges for SkypeOut: a few cents per minute in addition to the cost of terminating the call—a cost that can increase dramatically if the receiving party is international, on a mobile phone or both." (1, 2) -By David Spark -eWEEK
Money - Texas - California - Florida - Opinion - "Can Congress police its ethics? Criminal probes are exposing corrupt practices in Congress, prompting calls for reform of ethics standards." ... "With a flurry of corruption indictments and related plea agreements threatening to become a storm, Congress is feeling the heat on ethics reform." ... "Criminal investigations in Texas, California, and Florida are shining a bright light on standards of conduct in Congress, helping sink public confidence in the institution to its lowest point in more than a decade." ... "Since 1998, lobbyists report spending some $13 billion to influence Congress, the White House, and federal agencies, according to the Center for Public Integrity. Over the same period, more than 200 former members of Congress and 42 former agency heads have registered as federal lobbyists." ... "Nearly 90 percent of Americans say that political corruption is a serious problem, according to an AP-Ipsos poll." -By Gail Russell Chaddock -CSMonitor
Alaska - Oil - Business - Environment - Law - "White House pushes Congress on Alaska drilling." ... "Bush administration officials on Monday urged Congress to include opening Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling in a broad budget-cutting bill that could see a vote this week." ... "The Senate included ANWR in its package of spending cuts. But the House-passed budget bill dropped the ANWR drilling provision after a group of moderate Republicans threatened to vote against the measure if the drilling language was included." ... "The Bush administration stepped up its lobbying efforts to give oil companies access to the refuge." (1, 2) -By Chris Baltimore with contributions by Richard Cowan -Reuters

20051209

Japan - "Mizuho Says Trader Error to Cost It at Least $224 Mln (Update1)." ... "Mizuho Financial Group Inc., Japan's second-biggest bank, said a typing error at its brokerage arm, which triggered $3.5 billion of trades, has cost the bank at least 27 billion yen ($225 million)." ... "The error at Mizuho Securities Co. sparked trades in shares of J-Com Co., a company valued at $93 million. More than 700,000 J-Com shares changed hands in its stock market debut yesterday, following an erroneous sell order from Mizuho." ... "At 9:27 a.m. yesterday, Mizuho's brokerage wrongly put an order to sell 610,000 shares for 1 yen each, [Mizuho Securities' president, Makoto] Fukuda said. It had intended to sell 1 share for 610,000 yen for a client." -By Takahiko Hyuga-Bloomberg

20051208

IM-Messaging - Telecom - Computer - Business - "Yahoo to offer cheap PC-to-phone calls." ... "Yahoo Inc. (YHOO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) said the company plans to allow computer users to make and receive calls from phones at rates that undercut eBay-owned (EBAY.O: Quote, Profile,Research) rival Skype and are significantly below traditional phone companies." ... "Yahoo said on Wednesday a new version of its Yahoo Messenger text, voice and video communications software to be introduced in the next few days will include "Phone Out," with low per-minute charges for calls from computers to phones, and "Phone In," a low-cost subscription service for phone callers to call computer users." ... "Blair Levin, an analyst with Stifel Nicolaus and a former staff member of the Federal Communications Commission, said in a report to investors that Yahoo's move is part of a broad and growing challenge to traditional telecommunications carriers." -By Eric Auchard -Reuters

http://voice.yahoo.com

Music - Entertainment - Business - Secret - Privacy - Computer - Web - Hacking - "New security flaw vexes Sony BMG piracy battle: Expert says patch makes problem worse." ... "Sony BMG Music Entertainment has acknowledged a new security problem affecting nearly 6 million of its CDs, and a Princeton University computer expert said yesterday that a patch the company designed to fix the problem may only make things worse." ... "The problems for the company began last month, when computer programmer Matt Russinovich found that Sony BMG was shipping many of its music discs with a program called XCP." ... "XCP was designed to limit the number of times a user could copy the tunes on the disc, and to ensure that these copies could not be played on other computers. But the software also concealed itself on users' computers and was extremely difficult to remove. In addition, XCP secretly sent information about users' listening habits over the Internet to Sony BMG." -By Hiawatha Bray -Boston/Globe

20051207

US - South Korea - Microsoft - Computer - Business - "Microsoft To Appeal Korean Antitrust Ruling: The company said it will appeal the decision, a process that could take years, and added that it does not plan to leave the Korean market as it had previously threatened to do." ... "Microsoft said Wednesday that it plans to appeal a sweeping decision leveled against it by the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) and added that it does not plan to leave the Korean market as it had previously threatened." ... "The KFTC's six-page findings were replete with complaints of "tying" of various Microsoft products. The regulatory agency also leveled a $31 million fine against the firm." ... "A translated version of the findings said, "The KFTC found that the tying practices by Microsoft proved to have eliminated competition and exacerbated monopolization of tied product market including streaming media server, streaming media player and instant messenger."" (1, 2) -By W. David Gardner-InformationWeek
Government - Education - Money - Seniors - "Court: Disabled Can't Escape Student Loans." ... "America's seniors and disabled cannot escape debts from old student loans, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday, freeing the government to pursue Social Security benefits as part of an effort to collect billions in delinquent loans." ... "The Bush administration had argued that the ability to withhold Social Security benefits is an important tool in the pursuit of $5.7 billion in student loan debt that is over 10 years old. Overall, outstanding loans total about $33 billion." -By Gina Holland -AP via -SFGate.com
US - Iraq - Military - Terrorism - Intelligence - Opinion - Economy - "Poll: Bush's Ratings Bump Up." ... "The President’s overall approval rating has risen from 35 percent in October to 40 percent now, and his ratings on handling the economy and the war in Iraq have also improved." ... "The Bush Administration continues to face criticism from many Democrats and other war opponents about the way pre-war intelligence was handled, and whether there truly was a compelling connection between Iraq and the terror threat to the United States. Fifty-two percent of Americans think the Bush Administration deliberately misled the public in making the case for war, while 44 percent say it did not." ... "An overwhelming majority of Americans think this Congress should be asking questions about pre-war intelligence. Fifty-six percent call it a very important line of questioning, and another 24 percent call it somewhat important." -CBSNews

20051206

GOV - Air - Water - Health - Politics - Business - Kentucky -