I’ve recently discovered that Smartparts, makers of Wi-Fi enabled picture frames, is going out of business and will no longer be supporting their products. Your best bet is to wait until their junk is on clearance and then pick it up cheaply. Otherwise, steer clear. A word from the company after the jump. → Read More
Remember Motorola? They used to make phones. Anyway, co-CEO Sanjay K. Jha (the other CEO is Batman, but you never see Sanjay and Batman in the same room so…) works for the company and apparently spent most of last year and all of this year fishing, taking dance classes, and spending time with his kids because Motorola has done fuck-all to save itself in the face of high-powered feature-phone competitors like LG and Samsung let alone Palm which, just fifteen minutes ago, was ready to croak. → Read More
Oh noes! IBM withdrew its $7 billion bid to buy Sun Microsystems. The company has no other offers outstanding, which may mean that the well-known and well-loved Unix server supplier will have to go it alone in an uncertain economy. One interesting point, from NYT:
The Sun board did not reject the offer outright, but wanted certain guarantees that the I.B.M. side considered “onerous,” according to that person.
Ritz Camera will close almost 50% of its stores in a move to reorganized after a court-supervised bankruptcy. The closing will leave 400 stores in the U.S.
Ritz was one of the first and finest camera chains but, as we all know, these chains are about as useful now as a dinosaur with a buggy whip. Online news sources provide most of the camera advice we need and online stores make it easy to get that latest 12-megapixel wonder. Besides, who needs some guy telling you what to buy when every point-and-shoot is basically the same now. → Read More
Google has cut 200 jobs in sales and marketing, a first for the search giant. According to VWag a tipster wrote:
A friend of mine in the San Francisco office’s AdWords division (who wants to remain nameless) was laid off this morning. She also said there were 200 people total. They are still on payroll for two months and have the opportunity to apply for other jobs within the company. If they don’t have another job at the end of the 60 days they get a severance package.
Populist outrage in 3…2…1. IBM is laying off 5,000 U.S. employees and “building its work force in India and other locations,” according to the WSJ. Foreign workers now make up 71% of IBMs workforce of 400,000. → Read More
Here’s a simple question: has the recession negatively affected your gaming? That is, are you buying less games; renting more games in lieu of buying them; selling old titles to scrap up cash for new ones (or other items)? Because if you ask GameStop’s Bob McKenzie, who’s a senior vice president of merchandising, as VentureBeat did, he’d likely say “no.” Sales there haven’t plateaued or dropped off or anything, and plenty of folks are still buying new games (like Resident Evil 5) and pre-ordering things like the Nintendo DSi. → Read More
Palm’s third quarter earnings have been reported, and they’re as bad as anyone might have expected. But with the Pre just around the corner and everything on track, according to CEO Ed Collligan, nobody should be worrying about that. It’s a fair assessment, really: it’s like a boxing match where you know your fighter’s got a win in him. He’s battered and bloodied from being beaten and bullied, but suddenly his opponent is flat-footed, caught off guard, and your guy is winding up for what could be a knockout punch. Would you cut your losses and leave the arena? Hell no! I can’t wait to try the Pre, and I hope it brings Palm all the success they deserve. So buck up, Palm-lovers, and see if they can’t land that haymaker. → Read More
Hitachi, for those not in the know, also makes parts and motors for cars and trucks in Asia. The new economy, however, has forced the company to split into consumer electronics and automotive and they’ve just fired their current president as all as reduce costs by $5.1 billion by cutting 7,000 jobs. Whomp.
The company hit a $7 billion loss last year and will slow investment over the next year. → Read More
Oh, Nokia. Over the next few months, the handset maker plans on cutting 1,700 jobs. These cuts will effect the handset and marketing unit, as well as corporate development and global support functions. It’s all because the company is expecting the weakest first quarter since the first part 2001. So, help ‘em out, will ya? Buy a N96 or two. (or just win the one we’re giving away next week) → Read More
Sony employees locked Sony France execs Serge Foucher and Roland Bentz in a meeting room for a night because they were upset about getting fired and not getting the same relocation package as other workers. After the CEO agreed to continue negotiations, the workers set him free. And it’s not the first time this has happened (or worked). → Read More
Ooma – the $250 VoIP box that lets you make free calls in the US (and that lets you call the US for free from international locales, an undocumented perk to be sure) – is getting more and more popular thanks to the downturn. With a new Chief Marketing Officer, Rich Buchanan, and a new price the system is now selling like cakes that are hot. The boxes are now sold at 1,300 stores and a new version is coming this year so we can expect great things from this little company. Great things! → Read More
IDG is reporting that Foxconn, the largest contract electronics maker in the world (they make almost everything you own. Seriously), is working with IBM to modernize factories in China. They’re planning on spending a “few billion” on new technologies including LED lighting and solar panels. → Read More
So the rumors were correct. Apple laid off 50 folks in enterprise sales. The rumors that it was a major lay-off were untrue and anything larger than about 50 would have required them to file a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) act. Oh well. Back to consuming iPods. → Read More
Some women are getting creative trying to make some quick cash in these troubled times: they’re trying to sell their eggs to fertility clinics. Inquiries to one fertility clinic in Illinois, for example, were up 40% in 2008. It sure beats stripping, but according to one clinic only 5-7% of potential egg donors are actually accepted. Egg donations may seem like an easy way to mak big bucks, but t actual payouts are often far less than the rumored $10,000, averaging $4,200 nationwide. Plus you need to go through a full background check, as well as medical, psychological and genetic tests. → Read More
And so the economic crisis hit America’s largest digital camera retailer: Ritz Camera. The retailer just filed for Chapter 11 thanks to lower than expected sales during the ’08 Holiday season. Thankfully for everyone involved, Chapter 11 bankruptcy is simply a reorganization which means they will probably stick around for a bit. That is if a judge approves $85 million in financing. Hopefully the retailer will make some changes; lots of ‘em. → Read More
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