RefBan

Referral Banners

Monday, January 16, 2012

Technology Report: Plodding PC sales weigh down Microsoft profit

Reuters
If you are having trouble viewing this email or would like to view it in your web browser, CLICK HERE
01/16/2012
News Good afternoon
Online shoe retailer Zappos told customers this weekend that it has been the victim of a cyber attack affecting more than 24 million customer accounts in its database. The popular retailer, which is owned by Amazon.com, said customers' names, email addresses, billing and shipping addresses, phone numbers and the last four digits of credit card numbers and scrambled passwords were stolen. The company, which is well known for its customer service, said due to the high volume of customer calls it is expecting it will temporarily switch off its phones and direct customers to contact via email.

Hackers disrupted online access to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, El Al Airlines and three banks in what the government described as a cyber-offensive against Israel. The attacks came just days after an unidentified hacker, proclaiming Palestinian sympathies, posted the details of thousands of Israeli credit card holders and other personal information on the Internet in a mass theft. Israel opened an agency to tackle cyber attacks earlier this month.

A hacker who goes by the name of "Yama Tough" threatened Saturday to release the full source code for Symantec's flagship Norton Antivirus software on Tuesday. Last week, Yama Tough released fragments of source code from Symantec products along with a cache of emails. The hacker said all the data was taken from Indian government servers.

Use of microblogging in China quadrupled in 2011 compared with the previous year, with nearly half of all Chinese Internet users now taking to the near-instant service to gather news and spread views, a government Internet think tank said. Microblogging, or "Weibo" as it is known in China, allows users to send short messages of 140 characters or less to their followers. The total number of Weibo users rose 296 percent to 249.9 million in 2011, data from the China Internet Network Information Center showed.

The long-term approach of major Japanese investors, combined with an aversion to foreign and hostile takeovers and uncertainty over lawsuits stemming from the $1.7 billion accounting scandal, will likely make any change of ownership at Olympus a gradual process, writes Isabel Reynolds. Olympus is expected to stay listed for the time being and sources with the company's powerful main bankers, who are also shareholders, say they would be prepared to wait for the firm to recover on its own.
LATEST NEWS
Plodding PC sales weigh down Microsoft profit
January 16, 2012 12:18 AM ET
SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp is starting the new year much as it did the one just ended - grappling with weak computer sales tearing a hole in its core Windows business, while it gropes its way slowly into the faster-growing mobile phone and tablet markets. | Full Article
Wikipedia to shut for 24 hours to stop anti-piracy act
January 16, 2012 04:24 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wikipedia, the popular community-edited online encyclopedia, will black out its English-language site for 24 hours to seek support against proposed U.S. anti-piracy legislation that Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said threatens the future of the Internet. | Full Article
Friends turn to social media to find cruise ship survivors
January 16, 2012 01:02 PM ET
ROME (Reuters) - Friends and relatives of passengers who were on board a capsized Italian cruise liner carrying more than 4,000 people have turned to social media to search for loved ones and vent their anger and shock at the disaster in which at least six people died. | Full Article
Reprise for Nortel debacle as Toronto trial opens
January 16, 2012 12:53 PM ET
TORONTO (Reuters) - The fraud trial of three former executives at Canada's bankrupt Nortel Networks opens on Monday, a decade after their alleged crimes, as one of the most spectacular casualties of the 1990's dot-com bubble takes a curtain call in a Toronto courtroom. | Full Article
Samsung plans $1 billion debt sale to fund U.S. chip plant
January 16, 2012 10:13 AM ET
SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co said on Monday its U.S. operation plans to sell around $1 billion in bonds, its first major overseas debt sale in more than a decade, to fund its chip plant operations. | Full Article
BUSINESS NEWS
European shares stabilize, economic data eyed
January 16, 2012 02:49 PM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - European shares and the euro gradually recovered on Monday from early losses triggered by the mass downgrade of euro zone sovereign ratings last week, but they still looked vulnerable amid rising fears of a disorderly Greek debt default. | Full Article
S&P downgrades euro zone's EFSF bailout fund
January 16, 2012 04:22 PM ET
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Rating agency Standard & Poor's cut its credit rating of the European Financial Stability Facility, the euro zone's rescue fund, by one notch to AA+ on Monday, three days after it cut the ratings of France and Austria by the same margin. | Full Article
Retailers in for steady, modest growth in 2012
January 16, 2012 03:18 PM ET
NEW YORK/CHICAGO (Reuters) - Hopefully, retailers liked 2011, because 2012 is looking like it will offer more of the same. | Full Article
Germany rejects rescue fund boost, Greece under pressure
January 16, 2012 04:21 PM ET
BERLIN/MADRID (Reuters) - Germany, the only major euro zone member to retain a top-notch credit rating, refused on Monday to consider boosting the bloc's rescue fund, while Greece was under pressure to urgently break a deadlock in debt swap talks if it is to avoid an unruly default. | Full Article
Carnival and cruise sector count cost of disaster
January 16, 2012 02:11 PM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - The cruise ship industry faces an uphill task to restore confidence among customers spooked by images of the stricken Costa Concordia flipped on its side in Italian waters on Monday and could suffer a hit to sales in a key booking period. | Full Article
U.S. TOP NEWS
Huntsman ends campaign, endorses Romney
Stricken Italian liner shifts, rescuers despair
Protesters ready igloos to Occupy Davos
Nigeria unions suspend strike after fuel price cut
Greek default fears grow as talks stall
RELATED VIDEO
128 X 72
Pint-sized pick up from Smart debuts in Detroit

128 X 72
Viral spiral propels Unruly Media

128 X 72
Media Bite: Tebow, Beyonce & Jay-Z, Apple TV

Reuters Business Today
A daily digest of breaking business news, coverage of the US economy, major corporate news and the financial markets. Register Today.
Reuters Technology Report
Your daily briefing on the latest tech developments from around the world from Reuters expert tech correspondents. Register Today.
Reuters Deals Today
The latest Reuters articles on M&A, IPOs, private equity, hedge funds and regulatory updates delivered to your inbox each day.. Register Today.
» MORE NEWSLETTERS
ODDLY ENOUGH
140 X 101
Iran cracks down on moral peril of Barbie peddlers
Full Article
Troubled euro gains currency with counterfeiters
Banned Bulgarian soccer referee uses false identity
Modern trading killing off "barrow boy" market slang
- 3 Times Square New York, NY 10036 USA © Copyright 2010 Thomson Reuters
Ensure delivery of Reuters Newsmails, add mail@nl.reuters.com to your address book. Details
Subscribe to other Reuters newsletters.
Unsubscribe from this newsletter.
Follow us on Twitter Facebook Friend us on Facebook Forward this newsletter to a friend Forward to a friend

No comments: