12 Months

Square makes pass at Lara Croft, Warner laughs heartily — Earlier today, gaming news site MCV learned that Square Enix is preparing to bid against Warner Interactive in an attempt to purchase Eidos, or at least a part of it. Given the fact that Warner Interactive already owns a percentage of Eidos, and last month they were given the opportunity to buy more shares, industry pundits still expect Warner to close the deal. Given the financial problems that Eidos has experienced in the last 12 months, this may be the only way for them to continue to exist. While Tomb Raider: Underworld has been released recently, it has been met... [Tags: 12 months, eidos, gaming news, highest bidder, industry pundits]

A Look Back At Hypebot's Predictions For 2008 — I've starting to think about my annual predictions for the music industry and thought a good place to start were my predictions for this past year. Written 12 months ago in December of 2007, here they are and for a chuckle you can also look back at my predictions for 2007. HYPEBOT'S 10 MUSIC 2.0 PREDICTIONS FOR 2008 Despite major layoffs and promises of change, the EMI at the end of 2008 will look much like the EMI of today only smaller and with new faces at the helm. The major labels groups will try to buy their way out... [Tags: 12 months, artwork, decline, emi, free music]

Entrepreneurs create marketplace for bulk real estate purchases — ReoLynx, a new online marketplace, is trying to help investors buy cheap real estate in bulk. Buyers can look through homes listed on the site, build portfolios and make bids. The company makes money by charging a 3% commission that is split between the buyer and seller. The cost is about half the standard commission rate. The idea is to cut out the middlemen, said Christopher Wiley, the company's co-founder in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. It's too early to tell how the company will do. The first bidding cycle closed last month and brought in more... [Tags: 12 months, ap photo, co founder, commission rate, estate purchases]

Insight Communications to raise cable rates in January — Filed under: Industry, Cable We already counted four major cable providers who either already have or soon will increase their rates in one aspect or another, and now you can make it an even five. Insight Communications will be hiking rates for many customers by around $3 per month come January, and while it would be easy to link said increases to the recent Digital 4.0 update, spokeswoman Sandy Colony says it's actually just due to "higher programming costs from various channels." Of note, those who subscribe solely to basic cable won't see a change, but anyone utilizing the "classic... [Tags: 12 months, basic cable, cable providers, cable rates, cable service]

Desktop Wallpaper Calendar: December 2008 — Desktop wallpapers can serve as an excellent source of inspiration. However, if you use some specific wallpaper for a long period of time, it becomes harder to draw inspiration out of it. That’s why we have decided to supply you with smashing wallpapers over 12 months. And to make them a little bit more distinctive from the usual crowd, we’ve decided to embed calendars for the upcoming month. So if you need to look up some date, isn’t it better to show off a nice wallpaper with a nice calendar instead of launching some default time application? This post... [Tags: 12 months, calendar series, creative designers, default time, desktop wallpaper calendar]

Security risks increase as phones become smarter — An independent study reveals number of EU citizens receiving mobile spam has increased by almost a quarter in last 12 months.... [Tags: 12 months, citizens, independent study, security risks, spam]

Symantec: Underground cybercrime economy booming — The underground economy is thriving despite an apparent economic downturn, according to a newly-published report from Symantec. The company watched the efforts of cybercriminals for 12 months in order to get a feel for how things operate.Read More...... [Tags: 12 months, cybercriminals, economic downturn, symantec, underground economy]

London, Tokyo, New York Office Rents Fall First Time Since 2002 — Office rents in London's West End, midtown Manhattan and Tokyo fell in the third quarter for the first time in almost seven years as the global financial crisis cut demand, CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. said. The total office occupancy cost in the West End was 139.50 pounds ($248.66) per square foot a year in the 12 months ended Sept. 30, down 5.1 percent from a year earlier, Los Angeles-based CB Richard Ellis said today in its semiannual global-office survey. Rents in London, midtown Manhattan and central Tokyo last fell from a year earlier in January 2002, during the last... [Tags: 12 months, cb richard ellis, cb richard ellis group inc, central tokyo, ellis group inc]

OmniVision: Trading Near Cash; Time To Buy? — OmniVision (OVTI) shares this morning have gotten a lift from Broadpoint.AmTech analyst Doug Freedman, who raised his rating on the stock to Buy from Neutral. (Apparently, American Technology Research was acquired by Broadpoint Securities, thus creating the incredibly awkward Broadpoint.AmTech name.) Freedman notes that as of yesterday’s close, shares of the image sensor company were trading at 1.2x its cash position, while the company continues to generate cash while keeping operating expenses flat. He notes that the stock is trading at an Enterprise Value/trailing 12 months revenue ratio of 0.06. Freedman trimmed his target on the stock to $10, from... [Tags: 12 months, american technology, amtech, cash position, enterprise value]

Ofcom: Where's the broadband beef? — Mobile grumbles down, silent call complaints up UK regulator Ofcom has been looking into what customers dislike in their communications, culminating in the publication of the third annual report on what's been riling users most over the last 12 months.…... [Tags: 12 months, annual report, ofcom, uk regulator]

Is RPX’s “Defensive Patent Aggregation” Simply Patent Extortion By Another Name? — Patent litigation is getting so bad that a new startup, RPX Corp. (aka, Rational Patent) is gearing up to help companies defend themselves specifically against patent trolls (organizations that buy up patent portfolios with the express intention of forcing other companies to license those patents or face a lawsuit). RPX markets itself as a “defensive patent aggregator.” It buys up its own patents, or strikes licensing deals on behalf of its members, and charges companies $35,000 to $4.9 million a year for perpetual licenses to those patents. In other words, pay up now and any patents in RPX’s portfolio... [Tags: 100 million, 12 months, acquisitions, amster, billions of dollars]

California unemployment jumps to 8.2%, third-highest in the U.S. — The state's unemployment rate rises half a percentage point in October from the month earlier. In the past 12 months, more than 100,000 jobs have been lost. California's unemployment rate rose dramatically in October to 8.2%, its highest level in 14 years, the U.S. Department of Labor reported this morning.... [Tags: 100 000 jobs, 12 months, california unemployment, department of labor, percentage point]

Buckeye Cable gearing up for HD VOD, Start Over-type service — Filed under: DVRs, Set-top boxes, CableBuckeye Cable, which serves upwards of 150,000 customers in the greater Toledo / Sandusky, Ohio area, is looking to make some pretty big changes. The carrier has just upgraded its SeaChange VOD infrastructure in order to "dramatically expand" its HD video-on-demand offerings, and on top of that, it's also hoping to launch a Start Over-type service to help those who notoriously show up late for their favorite show. Better still, the company is looking to expand its linear HD lineup by adding in 15 to 25 new ones over the next 9 to 12 months.... [Tags: 12 months, boxes, buckeye cable, engadget, favorite show]

iPhone: Failure Is Not An Option. (Compared to Blackberry and Treo, That Is...) — A study carried out by a mobile-phone warranty firm has found that iPhones have a lower rate of failure in their first year of use than Blackberries or Treos. The SquareTrade study looked at more than 15,000 handsets that were covered by the company's policies. It found iPhones had a malfunction rate of 5.6 percent in the first year, compared to 11.9 percent for Research In Motion's BlackBerry smartphones. Palm's Treos fared even worse, with 16.2 percent having some sort of malfunction in the first 12 months of use.  Also noted: fewer than half-a-percent of iPhone owners reported battery problems... [Tags: 12 months, accidental damage, accidents, battery problems, blackberries]

New Technology, New Headaches — A recent survey conducted by Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project offers some interesting statistics to keep our techno-lust in check. While every day seems to see the launch of some new gadget, application, or other efficiency-boosting device, Pew reveals that our experience with the latest technology is often far from efficient.  Specifically: Nearly half (48%) of American adults who use the internet or have a cell phone say they usually need someone else to set up a new device up for them or show them how to use it. 44% of those with home internet access say... [Tags: 12 months, american adults, amp, cell phone users, efficiency]

Dell: Costs Come Down, But So Does Demand — As I noted earlier, Dell’s results for the fiscal third quarter ended October 31 included weaker-than-expected results at the top line, but better than expected profits, thanks to significant cost cutting and improving gross margins. Here are a few key tidbits from the company’s conference call and closer perusal of the numbers: Gross margin of 18.8% was up from 18.5% a year ago, and 17.2% in FY Q2. Operating margin of 6.7% was up from 5.3% a year ago, and 5% in Q2. SG&A of 11% was down from 12.1% a year ago, and 11.2% in Q2. Cash flow from... [Tags: 12 months, amp, asia pacific, cash flow, commercial business]

Fixing Yahoo What’s The Big Debate - It’s So Easy - Yahoo Turnaround Plan — The what to do with Yahoo debate is raging, but this isn’t rocket science. Fixing Yahoo is so easy and clear. Gets someone with “testicular fortitude” to pivot quickly. Yahoo is huge in numbers and they have a gigantic platform. Step 1: reshuffle the cards in the management ranks Step 2; operate efficiently - get lean and mean emphasis on mean Step 3: nail 3 great new freaking products in the next 12 months Step 4: server the users by providing better navigation on and off site Step 5: get advertising yields up both to advertisers and publishers Step 6:... [Tags: 12 months, advertisers, attitude, cards, guts]

AdMob reveals that iPhone is popular for browsing. Really! — Not really a news flash to most folks, but if you're a numbers-crunching kind of person, the latest AdMob metrics report might give you something to chew on. I'll cut to the chase: they say that the iPhone is the number one smartphone worldwide in mobile browsing. Here in the U.S., their metrics show the iPhone is only behind the RAZR in terms of web-browsing. I honestly can't say when I ever last saw someone immerse themselves on the Internet with a RAZR, but how can I argue with AdMob? They provide ads to over 6,000 mobile content publishers,... [Tags: 12 months, admob, canada france, chase, content publishers]

Goodyear announces five more GPS units in time for Christmas — Filed under: GPS The folks over at The NCC just hit us with details and pictures of their five new Goodyear-branded GPS models, three of which are due out in time for Christmas. Starting at $179.99 for the entry level, 3.5-inch GY130, and working their way skywards to $499.99 for the GY440 4.3-inch widescreen with Bluetooth and 12 months free MSN Direct, all models feature touchscreens, Instant Rerouting (the device calculates all alternate routes in a one-mile radius of the vehicle, so recalculation isn't needed if you get off course), a SiRF GPS receiver, turn-by-turn spoken directions and 3D view.... [Tags: 12 months, 18 nov, alternate routes, bluetooth, christmas]