Fri

Options Update: CME Group Enters into Seven-Year Licensing Agreement with CBOE —

Filed under: Options

CME Group, Inc. (CME) announced it has entered into a seven-year license agreement with the Chicago Board Options Exchange that will allow CME Group to list futures and options on futures for volatility indexes on a variety of asset classes. These contracts will be listed with, and subject to, the rules and regulations of the particular exchange where the products will be traded.

CBOE Volatility Index: The VIX was down 1.38 to 17.34.

Options Update is by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Options Update: CME Group Enters into Seven-Year Licensing Agreement with CBOE originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Via [bloggingstocks]

Share This

Denny’s Shareholder Trashes Chain in WSJ Interview —

Oak Street Capital Management and Dash Acquisitions own a combined 6.5% stake in Denny’s Corporation (DENN), and recently launched a proxy fight to add three new members to the company’s board of directors. Calling themselves the Committee to Enhance Denny’s, the group opined in a letter that “Shareholders cannot afford to allow the board and management to have more time to implement an effective strategy. We will not linger on the sidelines at this critical juncture.”

Dash Acquisitions president Michael Dash, one of the group’s three nominees, has been eating at Denny’s a lot lately and he isn’t happy. He talked with the Wall Street Journal today — making him possibly the first major shareholder in a publicly-traded restaurant company to trash the company’s food in an interview with a national publication.

Continue reading Denny’s Shareholder Trashes Chain in WSJ Interview

Denny’s Shareholder Trashes Chain in WSJ Interview originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Via [bloggingstocks]

Share This

Filed under: Hirings/Firings/Layoffs, Motorcycle, Electric

You may have read our latest report regarding the future of recently canned Buell Motorcycles. Everyone's favorite American sportbike company hit the chopping block a few months back at the hand of industry giant Harley-Davidson, and its cropping of the division has led Erik Buell to forge ahead with his competitively obsessed Erik Buell Racing brand. However, a key player in the now defunct company may have sparked a bright future with another American motorcycle company.

Zero Motorcycles, the little electric motorcycle manufacturer that could, has announced the hiring of former Buell Vice President of Engineering Abe Askenazi. Coming off of a 14-year stretch with Buell, Askenazi will no doubt bring a level of experience and insight to Zero beyond its years. With funding at an all time high and the obvious future in electric vehicles, the transition from combustion to current should be rewarding for both Askenazi and Zero. Click past the break to view the complete press release.



[Source: Asphalt & Rubber]

Continue reading Zero Charges Forward: Electric motorcycle company hires top talent from Buell

Zero Charges Forward: Electric motorcycle company hires top talent from Buell originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 08:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Best Buy to Unleash Yet Another Online Video Streaming Service —

Filed under: Products and Services, Launches, Best Buy (BBY)

Best Buy (BBY) will be joining Vudu — which was recently bought by Walmart (WMT) — Netflix (NFLX), Roxio’s CinemaNow, Amazon.com (AMZN) On Demand, and others in streaming video content directly over the Internet to your favorite television set. Details are sketchy so far, but the large question is this: do we need another one of these services? The market is already saturated. What’s the benefit?

For one, Best Buy’s Reward Zone Premier Solver members will receive one free video rental per month. That’s quite a benefit for a customer that spends $2,500 per year at the largest consumer electronics chain in the U.S. — not. You need to throw a bigger bone to these customers, Best Buy. That’s like giving a dime back for every few hundred dollars spent. Not impressive.

Continue reading Best Buy to Unleash Yet Another Online Video Streaming Service

Best Buy to Unleash Yet Another Online Video Streaming Service originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Via [bloggingstocks]

Share This

New $15 Billion Jobs Bill Demonstrates Democrats’ Fissure —

Filed under: Employees, Politics

There’s good news and bad news regarding the new $15 billion jobs bill just passed by the U.S. House, 217-201.

The good news is, as a result of the Senate’s passage of the bill earlier, and only minor alterations, the Senate should make speedy work of approving those revisions, before the bill is sent to President Barack Obama.

Continue reading New $15 Billion Jobs Bill Demonstrates Democrats’ Fissure

New $15 Billion Jobs Bill Demonstrates Democrats’ Fissure originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Via [bloggingstocks]

Share This

Filed under: Odds and ends, Freeware, iPhone, iPod touch

Siri for the iPhone was quite a hit when it came out earlier this year. You could ask it questions like, "where is the best pizza nearby?" and Siri would find the answer. My favorite response was when I asked if there was a God, and Siri gave me directions to the nearest churches.

As much as people loved the app, iPod touch owners were left out in the cold. Not now. The app has been updated to run on the iPod touch with OS version 3.0 or above. And if you've already been using it, the app has been improved with more data, a larger vocabulary and some improvements to its reasoning algorithms.

You can also give it integer math problems and you'll get an answer. The app uses Microsoft Instant Answers from Bing for the heavy lifting.

Siri uses the speech recognition from Nuance Communications, which also powers the Dragon Dictatation and Dragon Search apps for the iPhone and iPod touch. It is uncannily accurate in my daily use, so Siri has gotten a bit smarter and learned a few new tricks. For free, it's a must have.

TUAWSiri updated for iPod touch and gets some new features originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Multimedia, iPhone, App Review

I love Flickr (and alliteration, apparently). That is, I love Flickr on my desktop, and often on my Apple TV. I've never really been in love with the mobile experience, mostly due to long wait times and cumbersome navigation. When Mike Bernardo from Green Volcano Software contacted me about Flickit Pro, his Flickr app for the iPhone, I was definitely game to try it. I bought a copy the same day in the hopes that it would bring a little joy to my mobile Flickring.

We've played with Photon before, so we know that Green Volcano knows how to make photo handling fluid and fast. That interface dexterity carries over to the iPhone app. I was impressed by the overall aesthetics, and as I played with it I quickly confirmed that it wasn't just eye candy. There are little details that made me smile, and then ask, "Why all apps don't do things like this?" My favorite of these interface gems has to be the ability to zoom a photo in quite far, drag it to the edge and hold it a sec, and watch it suck back down and load the next image. Whether or not you dislike the usual double-tap-before-you-slide on most iPhone photo browsers as much as I do, it's still a great feature and demonstrates some serious attention to detail.

The speed is impressive, the background loading isn't cumbersome or even noticeable, and the overall experience left a great impression. It was $3.99US well spent. There's a free version, Flickit (without the Pro), but I haven't tried it. I assume it's a cool app, but if you're a Flickr fanatic (or really like well-designed apps), check out Flickr Pro.

I put together a little gallery below, so in case you don't buy that whole "nice interface" spiel, you can dive in and see for yourself.

TUAWFlickr faster with Flickit Pro originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Half of Households Will Pay No Federal Income Tax —

Filed under: Economic Data, Personal Finance, Politics

According to estimates by the Tax Policy Center, nearly half of households — 47%, or 71 million — will pay no federal tax. Why is number so high? The answer lies in the myriad refundable tax breaks. And the number has risen since the enactment of the recent $787 billion stimulus package.

The great majority of households making under $30,000 fall into this category. Here is a breakdown by income:

Continue reading Half of Households Will Pay No Federal Income Tax

Half of Households Will Pay No Federal Income Tax originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Via [bloggingstocks]

Share This

FCC Fridays — We here at Engadget Mobile tend to spend a lot of way too much time poring over the latest FCC filings, be it on the net or directly on the ol' Federal Communications Commission's site. Since we couldn't possibly (want to) cover all the stuff that goes down there, we've gathered up all the raw info you may want (but probably don't need). Enjoy!

Phones
Read - Kyocera SA002
Read - Casio CA005
Read - Casio HIY02
Read - LG KM570
Read - LG VS740
Read - LG VS750
Read - LG GT400
Read - LG GT405
Read - LG GD550
Read - Samsung S3370D
Read - Samsung SGH-i707
Read - Samsung SHW-A180S
Read - Samsung SCH-M519
Read - Ezze Mobile Tech S1

Peripherals
Read - Samsung HM3500
Read - Sierra Wireless MC8201

FCC Fridays originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Hey Steve, can the iPad tether with the iPhone? —

Ämne: Re: Dear mr. Jobs
Från: Steve Jobs <sjobs@apple.com>
Datum: 5 mars 2010 17.01.29 CET
Till: Jezper Söderlund <>
Return-Path: <sjobs@apple.com>

No.

Sent from my iPhone.

Well, that settles that.

Hey Steve, can the iPad tether with the iPhone? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The iPhone Blog  |  9to5Mac  | Email this | Comments

Unemployment Held Steady in February —

Filed under: Before the Bell, Good news, Economic Data, Recession

For the 25th time in the past 26 months, U.S. nonfarm payrolls fell during February. The Labor Department announced that 36,000 jobs were lost during February, lower than the expected figure of 50,000. The unemployment rate remained at 9.7%, which was better than expectations the rate would rise to 9.8%.

Perhaps all of the government’s pre-report hand wringing over the impact of the snowstorms was unwarranted. Some economists believed that the storms could have inflated job losses by 100,000 or more. If the storms indeed caused such losses, it would mean there was a net gain of jobs last month. An increase would have been the second increase since the recession started back in December 2007.

Continue reading Unemployment Held Steady in February

Unemployment Held Steady in February originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Via [bloggingstocks]

Share This

NVIDIA 3D Vision Surround eyes-on, triple the fun — What's better than gaming on one 3D screen? Gaming on three, of course. We're no strangers to NVIDIA's 3D Vision along with the Acer and Alienware displays, but the company has unveiled its 3D Vision Surround capability at CeBIT that lets you play 3D games on three 1080p 3D displays simultaneously. Yeah, it's as crazy as it sounds -- we got to throw on a pair of the glasses and it's one seriously panoramic and immersive experience. What won't be as pleasing is how much a set-up like this will cost you -- you'll need three 3D screens, and a rig with an GeForce GTX 260 SLI configuration or higher (the desktop we saw had two GeForce GTX 280 GPUS). NVIDIA will officially launch the whole platform along its new GeForce GTX 480/470 GPUs later this month.Thinking about digging into your savings? Maybe the video after the break will put an end to your wavering.

Continue reading NVIDIA 3D Vision Surround eyes-on, triple the fun

NVIDIA 3D Vision Surround eyes-on, triple the fun originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Windows Phone 7 Series demo video reveals new apps, screens —

Continue reading Windows Phone 7 Series demo video reveals new apps, screens

Windows Phone 7 Series demo video reveals new apps, screens originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Windows Phone 7 Series demo video reveals new apps, screens —

Continue reading Windows Phone 7 Series demo video reveals new apps, screens

Windows Phone 7 Series demo video reveals new apps, screens originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink My Microsoft Life  |  CNET  | Email this | Comments

Autoblog Weekender: 'Around the World in Video' Edition —

Filed under: Etc.

It's a feast of moving pictures this week, an ensemble cast telling 18 tragi-comi-dramatic stories such as: Volvo doing some naughty things forward and backward in its new S60, capitalist Communists in love with the Porsche Cayenne, Optimus Prime getting a Michael Bay makeover otherwise knowns as a Bay-kover, the Audi RS5 grumbling about everything, the 918 getting groped in two parts, don't ever, ever rent a car in Miami without a Haz-Mat suit, and what kind of awesome can you hear when you mix Bruce Willis and The Gorillaz? Follow the jump to find out...

Continue reading Autoblog Weekender: 'Around the World in Video' Edition

Autoblog Weekender: 'Around the World in Video' Edition originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Steve Jobs emails Swede that the iPad won't tether to the iPhone —

Not content with answering tech questions from Americans, Steve Jobs this week answered a question from all the way over in Sweden.  

The question was a good one, and one we've had on our minds as well: 

I'll keep it short.

I'm Jezper from Sweden, a long time Apple fan, currently about to replace the very last computer at home with a brand spanking new iMac i7. I'm also awaiting the release of the iPad. However, I have one question:

Will the wifi-only version somehow support tethering thru my iPhone?

Two devices, based on the same OS, with already built-in technology to share one data plan suggests a secondary contract could possibly be redundant.

From the look of your keynote, where the iPad sits well between my MacBook Pro and my iPhone, I was hoping the three of them could interact as seamless as possible.

All the best,
Jezper Söderlund

Jobs' answer?

No.

Sent from my iPhone

We got the header information below to help prove that this one was legit. Oh, and yes, Jobs is still rocking that 3.1.2 iPhone.

Reply:

Ämne:  Re: Dear mr. Jobs
Från:  Steve Jobs <sjobs@apple.com>
Datum:  5 mars 2010 17.01.29 CET
Till:  Jezper Söderlund <>
Return-Path:  <sjobs@apple.com>
X-Original-To: 
Delivered-To: 
Received:  from mx-h.b-one.net (mx-h.one.com [91.198.169.55]) by mail38.b-one.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6DB8D182594E for <>; Fri,  5 Mar 2010 17:01:31 +0100 (CET)
Received:  by mx-h.b-one.net (Postfix, from userid 106) id 61BDF2A46C90; Fri,  5 Mar 2010 17:01:31 +0100 (CET)
Received:  from mail-out4.apple.com (mail-out4.apple.com [17.254.13.23]) by mx-h.b-one.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id E10C42A4D1D4 for <>; Fri,  5 Mar 2010 17:01:30 +0100 (CET)
Received:  from relay14.apple.com (relay14.apple.com [17.128.113.52]) by mail-out4.apple.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1751E8F10874 for <>; Fri,  5 Mar 2010 08:01:30 -0800 (PST)
Received:  from gertie.apple.com (gertie.apple.com [17.151.62.15]) by relay14.apple.com (Apple SCV relay) with SMTP id FE.E6.04098.9DA219B4; Fri,  5 Mar 2010 08:01:30 -0800 (PST)
Received:  from [17.248.4.122] by gertie.apple.com (Sun Java(tm) System Messaging Server 6.3-7.04 (built Sep 26 2008; 32bit)) with ESMTPSA id <0KYT0030CGHJON60@gertie.apple.com> for ; Fri, 05 Mar 2010 08:01:29 -0800 (PST)
X-Virus-Scanned:  by one.com
Received-Spf:  pass (mx-h.one.com: domain of sjobs@apple.com designates 17.254.13.23 as permitted sender)
X-Greylist:  domain auto-whitelisted by SQLgrey-1.7.4
X-Auditid:  11807134-b7cd9ae000001002-f8-4b912ad9dce7
Mime-Version:  1.0
Content-Type:  text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed; delsp=yes
Message-Id:  <57BA46CD-5F7C-460A-9724-71CB12C5FD14@apple.com>
In-Reply-To:  <>
Content-Transfer-Encoding:  quoted-printable
X-Mailer:  iPhone Mail (7D11)
References:  <>
X-Brightmail-Tracker:  AAAAAQAAAZE=

Entelligence: Will Android fragmentation destroy the platform? — My friend and colleague Harry McCracken recently bought a brand new Droid from Motorola. He says it's a "loaf of day old bread." He's right. The Droid and Android 2.0 were introduced with much fanfare in December, but have already been eclipsed by Android 2.1 running on Google's Nexus One, and there are some serious ramifications for being behind. For example, Google recently touted the latest mobile version of Google Earth, which is a cool app that you won't be able to use unless you're running 2.1. Sure, Google says "Google Earth will be available in Android Market on most devices that have Android 2.1 or later versions," but that's most, not every. And what does Google mean when it says "as devices like the Droid get updated..." to 2.1? When will they get updated? Is it any wonder that some Android users are starting to get pangs of buyers remorse?

When Android was announced, I wrote that if "Google can deliver, the impact could be huge," but I caveated a major issue: Google would need to prevent the market from fragmenting and allow it to succeed where other mobile and desktop Linux implementations had failed. Linux fragmentation remains one of the many reasons the open-source OS has failed to capture a meaningful share of the PC desktop market, and Android is rapidly following a similar path by fragmenting into different versions with different core feature sets, different users experiences and run different applications.

Continue reading Entelligence: Will Android fragmentation destroy the platform?

Entelligence: Will Android fragmentation destroy the platform? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Entelligence: Will Android fragmentation destroy the platform? — My friend and colleague Harry McCracken recently bought a brand new Droid from Motorola. He says it's a "loaf of day old bread." He's right. The Droid and Android 2.0 were introduced with much fanfare in December, but have already been eclipsed by Android 2.1 running on Google's Nexus One, and there are some serious ramifications for being behind. For example, Google recently touted the latest mobile version of Google Earth, which is a cool app that you won't be able to use unless you're running 2.1. Sure, Google says "Google Earth will be available in Android Market on most devices that have Android 2.1 or later versions," but that's most, not every. And what does Google mean when it says "as devices like the Droid get updated..." to 2.1? When will they get updated? Is it any wonder that some Android users are starting to get pangs of buyers remorse?

When Android was announced, I wrote that if "Google can deliver, the impact could be huge," but I caveated a major issue: Google would need to prevent the market from fragmenting and allow it to succeed where other mobile and desktop Linux implementations had failed. Linux fragmentation remains one of the many reasons the open-source OS has failed to capture a meaningful share of the PC desktop market, and Android is rapidly following a similar path by fragmenting into different versions with different core feature sets, different users experiences and run different applications.

Continue reading Entelligence: Will Android fragmentation destroy the platform?

Entelligence: Will Android fragmentation destroy the platform? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Motorola i1: we've seen it, and it'll likely be out soon — Well, that was quick: thanks to some new information we've received, we're now able to confirm that the Motorola i1 is indeed the so-called Opus One that the company has been rumored to preparing for its iDEN carrier partners with Android on board -- and it's exactly the leaked device we saw back in December. We don't know much in the way of specs, but it sounds like we should expect Android 1.5 (sigh), a 3 megapixel cam, and a possible announcement within a couple weeks -- a time frame that would line up splendidly with CTIA toward the end of the month. Naturally, you can bet your little green robot we'll be there.

[Image via BGR; thanks, Gus N.]

Motorola i1: we've seen it, and it'll likely be out soon originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Motorola i1: we've seen it, and it'll likely be out soon — Well, that was quick: thanks to some new information we've received, we're now able to confirm that the Motorola i1 is indeed the so-called Opus One that the company has been rumored to preparing for its iDEN carrier partners with Android on board -- and it's exactly the leaked device we saw back in December. We don't know much in the way of specs, but it sounds like we should expect Android 1.5 (sigh), a 3 megapixel cam, and a possible announcement within a couple weeks -- a time frame that would line up splendidly with CTIA toward the end of the month. Naturally, you can bet your little green robot we'll be there.

[Image via BGR; thanks, Gus N.]

Motorola i1: we've seen it, and it'll likely be out soon originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Flickr faster with Flickit Pro —

Filed under: Multimedia, iPhone, App Review

I love Flickr (and alliteration, apparently). That is, I love Flickr on my desktop, and often on my Apple TV. I've never really been in love with the mobile experience, mostly due to long wait times and cumbersome navigation. When Mike Bernardo from Green Volcano Software contacted me about Flickit Pro, his Flickr app for the iPhone, I was definitely game to try it. I bought a copy the same day in the hopes that it would bring a little joy to my mobile Flickring.

We've played with Photon before, so we know that Green Volcano knows how to make photo handling fluid and fast. That interface dexterity carries over to the iPhone app. I was impressed by the overall aesthetics, and as I played with it I quickly confirmed that it wasn't just eye candy. There are little details that made me smile, and then ask, "Why all apps don't do things like this?" My favorite of these interface gems has to be the ability to zoom a photo in quite far, drag it to the edge and hold it a sec, and watch it suck back down and load the next image. Whether or not you dislike the usual double-tap-before-you-slide on most iPhone photo browsers as much as I do, it's still a great feature and demonstrates some serious attention to detail.

The speed is impressive, the background loading isn't cumbersome or even noticeable, and the overall experience left a great impression. It was $3.99US well spent. There's a free version, Flickit (without the Pro), but I haven't tried it. I assume it's a cool app, but if you're a Flickr fanatic (or really like well-designed apps), check out Flickr Pro.

I put together a little gallery below, so in case you don't buy that whole "nice interface" spiel, you can dive in and see for yourself.

TUAWFlickr faster with Flickit Pro originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments



iPhone - Flickr - Apple - Green Volcano - Multimedia

Video: BMW S 1000 RR pulls off the old tablecloth trick —

Filed under: Performance, Videos, BMW, Motorcycle, Humor

Ah yes, the good ol' pull-the-tablecloth-off-the-table-without-sending-dishes-flying routine. The oldest trick in the book? Possibly, but BMW has taken it upon themselves to update the classic demonstration in a major way. How 'bout upping the ante with 24 complete place settings around a giant rectangular table? Yeah, that'd do it.

Just how is BMW planning to remove said tablecloth? Using a new S 1000 RR superbike, that's how. Will it work? Well, it's really a question of physics, right? Take 193 horsepower and a 0 to 60 time that's just shy of 2.9 seconds. Add in one rider with a quick set of wrists and shake well. Garnish with celebratory wheelie.

We highly recommend that you click past the break to see it all go down on video. It's very much worth your time.

[Source: BMW via YouTube]

Continue reading Video: BMW S 1000 RR pulls off the old tablecloth trick

Video: BMW S 1000 RR pulls off the old tablecloth trick originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Daily U-Turn: What you missed on 3.5.10 —

Daily U-Turn: What you missed on 3.5.10 originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Apple shares hit record high on iPad shipping announcement — Note to Microsoft, HP, Dell, and whoever else wants to get in the next-gen tablet game: your concepts are nice -- even spectacular, in the case of Courier -- but Apple's about to actually ship a product, and investors are taking note. AAPL shares hit a record high of $219.36 this afternoon after the news that iPad pre-orders would begin on March 12 with an April 3rd delivery day, and they closed at $218.95, which is up around four percent. That's got us curious: given the choice between actually purchasing the iPad and twiddling your thumbs waiting for an unannounced, unpriced, and even possibly un-real devices like the Dell Mini 5, the HP Slate, or the Courier, are you taking the sure thing or holding out for your vaporous dream device? Hit us up in comments -- and be nice to each other, it's the weekend.

Apple shares hit record high on iPad shipping announcement originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Yahoo  | Email this | Comments

VeriFone credit card reader gets deal to be in Apple Stores —

Filed under: Hardware, Peripherals, Apple, iPhone

The Square credit card reader for the iPhone has gotten most of the buzz around here, especially after we saw that impressive demo at Macworld a few weeks ago. But VeriFone's competing reader has been given the green light by Apple itself: the unit has been granted a deal for shelf space. VeriFone will be selling its PAYware Mobile units inside Apple's retail stores coming up as soon as the end of March.

I'm not quite sure what the reasoning is behind this one on Apple's side, as the PAYware service seems to be a little more clunky than the Square solution: you have to pay both an activation fee and a monthly fee on top of the per-payment charge that Square asks for, and the reader itself is much bigger, taking up the iPhone's dock rather than just using the headphone port like Square's. Whatever Apple saw in them, you'll be able to get VeriFone's system right along with an iPhone or iPod touch all at the same time..

No matter which system eventually prevails (if indeed anyone needs to prevail at all -- there's certainly more than one credit card company, so there's no reason why there couldn't be more than one payment system on the iPhone), this does seems like a model that will change a lot of business transactions in all sorts of industries. It'll be interesting to see how the curve takes off once these things are up and running.

TUAWVeriFone credit card reader gets deal to be in Apple Stores originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments