News

• 1

  US House passes $819 billion stimulus package

  The US House of Representatives has passed an US$819 billion economic stimulus package, with money for broadband deployment, health IT and a national electric smart grid included.

• Laid-off Nortel workers lobby for severance

  Workers laid off from Nortel are pleading with the company to restore their severance packages.

• With global revenue dropping, Symantec posts big loss

  Symantec posted a big loss Wednesday, citing the tough economic climate, but the company's quarterly earnings still were better than analysts had expected.

• Union: IBM layoffs now 4200 -- may go higher

  IBM's not-so-secret layoffs may have reached 4200 Tuesday, according to Alliance@IBM, which believes that thousands of other employees will be loosing their jobs as well before the cuts end.

• IBM CEO urges support of $825B US stimulus bill

  President Barack Obama's US$825 billion economic stimulus package got the enthusiastic endorsement Wednesday of IBM CEO and Chairman Sam Palmisano and other business leaders.

• How companies are cutting costs

  Nearly half of companies working to reduce costs attempt to avoid permanent layoffs, according to recent survey results, opting instead to freeze salaries and cut travel expenses.

• Obama details recovery plan but short on broadband goals

  Barack Obama used his first weekly address as U.S. president to provide more details of his proposed US$825 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that, among other things, will upgrade classrooms, invest in renewable energy and expand broadband Internet access.

• Qimonda's woes will zap gamers, PC and servers users

  The bankruptcy filing by Germany's Qimonda AG last week marks a first for a major technology company amid the current global economic downturn, and it likely won't be the last.

• Sony eyes innovative mobile products to beat slump

  Sony CEO Howard Stringer hinted on Thursday that the company has a number of new mobile devices in the pipeline.

• Sony slashes forecasts as global downturn hits home

  Sony revealed on Thursday the extent to which the global economic downturn is hurting its business, as it slashed its annual sales forecast by US$15 billion, reversed a forecast profit to a loss and readied its domestic workforce for job cuts.

• Report: Sony to shut Japan TV plant, cut financial forecast

  Sony will disclose on Thursday how a restructuring plan announced in December will hit its domestic operations in Japan, the Nikkei business daily reported Thursday morning.

• IT careers expected to survive global economic storm in 2009

  With an abundance of projects on the cards for 2009, the outlook for IT recruitment remains positive, according to Melbourne-based IT recruiter Peter Acheson.

• Will technology drive global recovery?

  On November 6, Sam Palmisano, chairman, president & CEO of IBM, made an important speech entitled "The Smart Planet: The Next Leadership Agenda" at the Council of Foreign Relations in New York City. That speech is only now getting public press attention.

• IT economy goes further off the rails

  The drumbeat of economic bad news louder in the IT industry last week, as Intel reduced its fourth-quarter revenue forecast by as much as 20 percent and Sun Microsystems announced plans to lay off up to 18 percent of its workforce.

• With Sun's job cuts, tech sector layoffs in '08 hit 140,000

  The economic downturn that has resulted in tens of thousands of layoffs in the housing and financial services sectors is now bearing down on the tech industry. The job cuts announced by Sun Microsystems on Friday are only the latest in the growing toll.