Dell Surges as PC Demand Picks Up

On August 28, 2009

Dell Surges as PC Demand Picks Up

Dell's second-quarter results reinforce what other tech heavyweights have shown recently about the health of the personal computer industry: It's still wounded by the recession, but it is staggering back to its feet, thanks to consumers, bargain prices and little "netbook" laptops for surfing the Internet.
On August 28, 2009

Clash of the Consoles Gets Down and Dirty

Congratulations, patient cheapskates: You've won the waiting game. Now you can get a well-equipped video game system for a somewhat reasonable price. The two most-advanced consoles on the market have dropped in price over the last few days, just in time for all of that back-to-school homework to get ignored.
On August 28, 2009

Butterfly in the Sky…

When Geordi La Forge left his career as helmsman and chief engineer of the starship Enterprise , he found a new calling—as a champion of literacy to Earth’s children. Known to us as LeVar Burton, he took the helm of Reading Rainbow in 1983. (I know the television sequence of events runs backwards here, The [...]
On August 28, 2009

Hide a Password on a Floppy Disk

If you're the type of person who can't remember passwords for love nor money, here's an amusing-but-practical low-tech solution: Hide them on old floppies. No, we're not talking about writing the data to the actual media (as if that was even possible in this post-floppy era), but rather a typed or handwritten piece of paper literally hidden beneath the spring-loaded cover. Check it out: Think about it: While it's always a good idea to write down an important password in case you forget it, it's a bad idea to write it where someone can find it. But an old floppy sitting on your desk? Who's going to give that a second glance, let alone pick it up and slide open...
On August 28, 2009

Business Pitch for Fun and Profit

(I just posted this on my Up And Running blog over at Entrepreneur.com. For the record, I rarely post the same thing in both places, but today, because I’m announcing this new pitch site, I’m making an exception.) Consider yourself one of the first to know about the new bplans.com pitch site at pitch.bplans.com. That [...]
On August 28, 2009

Recessionary Shift in Medication Purchasing Favors Supercenters

Drug stores have been shifting strategies to become more proficient providers of health services based on their pharmacy operations, but the recession may be complicating their efforts. A new report from Information Resources Inc., a Chicago-based marketing firm, demonstrates that consumers have significantly changed their medication shopping habits in the economic downturn due to factors including drug prices and insurance reduction and elimination. Before the recession began, more than 63 percent of consumers bought medications at drug stores. The drop off to the next most popular channels was huge, down to nine percent for grocery stores, seven percent for supercenters and six percent for discount stores. The recession changed all that. Now just over 35 percent of respondents report that...
On August 28, 2009

AIG’s Benmosche Can Talk, But Can He Walk the Walk?

American International Group CEO Robert Benmosche's pay package is worth $10.5 million a year. And judging by the hype he is garnering for the once-crippled company, Benmosche is well-worth it. AIG shares have risen from $13, when it was first announced that the former MetLife CEO would come on board, to nearly $56 today. Even The New York Times is perplexed. "Who would want to buy a stock that's still 80 percent owned by the government?" asked an analyst in today's story. Like Madonna, Benmosche is his own best PR agent. Reinventing a company's image is a very important skill. Having taken up residence at his villa in Croatia, he is granting interviews to media like Bloomberg who have stopped...
On August 28, 2009

Download Netbook-Ready Movies at Film Fresh

If you want to watch movies on your netbook, you've got two basic choices: iTunes and the new Film Fresh movie-download service. Though Film Fresh doesn't specifically cater to netbook users (any Windows or Mac system will do), it does solve the problem of netbooks' lack of DVD drives. Better still, it's legal. The service runs on DivX, meaning you'll need to install the DivX software (which most video-savvy users already have anyway). That's a lot less system-intensive than iTunes, though I can't say I've done side-by-side tests of the video performance of each. Still, Film Fresh seems like an ideal download-and-go service for any portable PC-carrying traveler. Except for one thing: the prices. Most movies cost $9.99, but some,...
Next Page
Previous Page