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Class Blog
About Me
- Mr. Freer
- These diverse blogs can attest to my varied interests. I've taught many classes in many different subjects. The world is so interesting, I just can't specialize :)
Mr. Freer's shared items
Welcome to Class!
We use blogs, RSS feeds, word processing software, search engines, and many different forms of technology to better understand the world.
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2006
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August
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- Stock Market Challenge!Use the information and dir...
- Fourth period blog regrades.
- Re-post third period blogs in comment.
- Find two articles related to advertising directed ...
- First Period makeup blogs.
- Next we are going to examine some hypothetical bus...
- Today, Friday August 25th 2006, we are going to re...
- Fourth Period...leave your URL and initials
- Third Period Class blogs and initials
- Now I want you to post your list of definitions on...
- Material for tomrrow's first quiz:Capitalism: econ...
- Read this article:Which do you think are the top f...
- Class,I'm very pleased to be your teacher this yea...
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August
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4 comments:
Business article
"I.B.M. to Buy a Security Software Company for $1.3 Billion"
By STEVE LOHR
Published: August 24, 2006
I.B.M. took another step yesterday in its strategy of blending software and services when it announced plans to buy Internet Security Systems of Atlanta for $1.3 billion.
The purchase of the company, which makes security programs for computer networks, is the latest in a recent string of software acquisitions by I.B.M. In the past, the company has often pointed to how the software being purchased would help I.B.M.’s $47-billion-a-year services business, as more services tasks rely on software to improve efficiency.
But Internet Security Systems is the first large software purchase that will be actually folded into I.B.M’s services business, rather than becoming part of the company’s software group.
Internet Security Systems would be the largest acquisition added to I.B.M.’s services business since it bought PriceWaterhouseCoopers Consulting for $3.5 billion in 2004.
“It’s clear that the services business is not going to grow at the rate it needs to for I.B.M. to reach its corporate financial targets, if it depends on indigenous growth alone,” said Bob Djurdjevic, president of Annex Research, a consulting firm. “They need to go out and buy things, and this is a step in the right direction.”
I.B.M.’s stated financial goal is to achieve high-single-digit growth in revenue and low-double-digit growth in profit. A strong performance by I.B.M. Global Services, which accounts for more than half of the company’s revenue, is crucial to reaching that target.
In the last two years, the sluggish performance of I.B.M. Global Services has held back the company’s growth, Mr. Djurdjevic said.
Computer security, analysts say, increasingly lends itself to being delivered as an integrated service instead of as a collection of separate software products. And with the steady proliferation of Internet worms, viruses and other malicious software, corporate technology managers consistently rank security at or near the top of their priorities.
“Computer security and systems management used to be separate, but that is less and less the case,” said Paul Stamp, an analyst at Forrester Research. “Security has become so important that people don’t talk about information technology anymore. Now, it’s about secure information technology. So the standalone market for security is shrinking.”
Mr. Stamp noted that other suppliers of security software, including Computer Associates, Symantec and McAfee, are increasingly taking a systems approach to their offerings and marketing them as subscription services.
Internet Security Systems, founded in 1994, has been an innovator in intrusion-detection and vulnerability-analysis software tools. Its customers include large banks, corporations and government agencies.
Thomas E. Noonan, the chief executive of Internet Security Systems, said joining the I.B.M. services group would put his company’s technology and its 1,300 employees at the forefront of an industry trend.
“The next generation of security is to deliver software as a service,” Mr. Noonan said in a conference call.
For its part, I.B.M. sees security as a growth market and a field ideally suited for the company’s strategy of using software to help automate services, reducing labor costs while increasing efficiency and profitability, said Val Rahmani, a general manager in the company’s services group.
Last year, Internet Security Systems earned $38.5 million on revenue of $330 million.
The acquisition is the third sizable software purchase announced by I.B.M. this month alone. On Aug. 10, I.B.M. said it would pay $1.6 billion for FileNet, whose software helps companies manage documents and other digital information. On Aug. 3, I.B.M. agreed to buy MRO Software, whose programs are used by companies to track vehicles and equipment, for $740 million.
I.B.M. is offering $28 a share for Internet Security Systems.
After the bid was announced, Internet Security’s stock price rose $1.62, or 6 percent, to close at $27.62 a share. I.B.M. shares slipped 28 cents, to $78.67.
Science article
"Dell Quits The Digital Music Player Business Altogether"
Dell continues its retreat strategy and gave up the flash-based music player business: Dell's DJ Ditty is now dead and buried. Back in February, the company announced it would no longer produce hard-drive based MP3 players. With this new decision on the table, Dell exist completely the digital player business
At first it appeared that Dell's player was a real threat to the iPod Shuffle. Both players features 512M of Flash RAM and the same price, $99. Furthermore, Dell's device also had an FM radio, a small LCD screen, not to mention an audio compression technology which allowed users to store on the Ditty twice as many songs as they could on a Shuffle player.
And still, Dell was crushed. While the very idea might seem ridiculous at first, Dell probably has realized that the battle was not won based on hardware gizmos, but on music to consumer supply chain. Apple had it, Dell didn't.
Business article...
Aug 24, 2006 "Apple to Recall 1.8M Laptop Batteries"
Apple Computer will recall 1.8 million batteries used in its iBook G4 and PowerBook G4 laptop computers after receiving nine reports of the batteries overheating and in some instances causing minor burns to their users, Reuters reports via USAToday.com.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission called the recall the second largest in the country’s history, behind Dell’s massive recall of 4.1 million laptop batteries last week. All of the batteries recalled in both cases contained cells manufactured by Sony, which has already stated that it would help foot the bill for the Dell battery recall.
Apple is to recall some 1.1 million batteries from notebooks sold in the United States and roughly 700,000 batteries from laptops sold overseas, according to Reuters. The machines at issue were bought between October 2003 and August 2006, Reuters reports.
Two of the complaints Apple received in relation to its laptops’ battery issued involved individuals who received minor burns from the incidents, according to Reuters.
Sony issued a statement—which is posted on The Wall Street Journal’s website—saying that it is backing Apple on its move and doesn’t foresee additional recalls of batteries it supplied power cells for.
“Sony is committed to the safety of consumers and supports this recall of battery packs using these particular battery cells,” the statement reads.
Sony also said it has introduced new safety procedures to its battery cell production process.
“We believe the issue has been addressed to the satisfaction of our customers.”
In the release, Sony estimates the cost to it of both recalls to be between $171.7 million and $257.7 million.
The news comes on the same day that the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry ordered Sony and Dell to perform further investigations into the faulty batteries.
Science Article....
Number of planets in solar system drops to 8
PRAGUE, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- The International Astronomical Union (IAU) on Thursday adopted a resolution on planet definition, according to which Pluto had been stripped of the planetary status.
Pluto had been regarded by international astronomers as a planet along with other eight planets since its discovery in 1930.
The decision, made by the IAU at a meeting in Prague, defines a planet as "a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a ... nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit."
This is the first time that scientists have a formal definition of a planet, which disqualifies Pluto as its oblong orbit overlaps with Neptune's.
Thursday's definition left just eight classical planets in the solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
The IAU, the world's largest astronomical society, was founded in 1919. It holds its international conference every three years. Enditem
Editor: Mu Xuequan
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