Storage websites block file-sharing
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Several online file-sharing sites have acted to curtail their exposure to allegations of copyright infringement after last week’s shutdown of Megaupload.com, which US authorities claim was responsible for music, movie and software piracy on a vast scale.
Filesonic and Fileserve, two “cyberlockers” which allow users to upload their digital files to be hosted in the so-calledinternet cloud, made changes to their sites over the weekend to prevent sharing of files beyond the original owner.
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Such sites, whose rivals include Dropbox, Mediafire and Rapidshare, offer basic online storage services for free and then charge for extra capacity, just as Megaupload did before it was taken offline and its executives arrested.
Several online file-sharing sites have acted to curtail their exposure to allegations of copyright infringement after last week’s shutdown of Megaupload.com, which US authorities claim was responsible for music, movie and software piracy on a vast scale.
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| Storage websites block file-sharing |
Filesonic and Fileserve, two “cyberlockers” which allow users to upload their digital files to be hosted in the so-calledinternet cloud, made changes to their sites over the weekend to prevent sharing of files beyond the original owner.
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article.
Such sites, whose rivals include Dropbox, Mediafire and Rapidshare, offer basic online storage services for free and then charge for extra capacity, just as Megaupload did before it was taken offline and its executives arrested.
Read more »Kodak gets 2013 deadline to reorganize
Rochester, N.Y. • Eastman Kodak Co. has a little more than a year to reshape its money-losing businesses and deliver a get-out-of-bankruptcy plan.Girded by a $950 million financing deal with Citigroup Inc., the photography pioneer aims to keep operating normally during bankruptcy while it peddles a trove of digital-imaging patents.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Allan Gropper in New York gave Kodak permission to borrow an initial $650 million from Citigroup as it embarks on an effort to focus on printers and copiers.
He also set a June 30 deadline for Kodak to seek his approval of bidding procedures for the sale of 1,100 patents that analysts estimate could fetch at least $2 billion. No buyers have emerged since Kodak started shopping them around in July.
Microsoft and IBM push Dow up, Google falls.
NEW YORK—
IBM and Microsoft drove the Dow Jones industrial average higher Friday after the tech giants reported stronger earnings than analysts expected.Microsoft said sales of Xbox games and Office software helped push revenue up in the last quarter of 2011.
IBM credited better sales of software and services and raised its earnings outlook for the year. Microsoft rose 5 percent and IBM rose 4 percent.The Dow rose 96.50 points to close at 12,720.48. That's a gain of 0.8 percent. Without the huge gains in IBM and Microsoft, the Dow would have risen just 24 points.
The S&P 500 index inched up 0.88 to 1,315.38. Both the Dow and S&P ended the week with gains of more than 2 percent.
Plenty of things are going right, said Frank Fantozzi, CEO of Planned Financial Services, an independent wealth manager in Cleveland. Applications for unemployment benefits dropped last week to the lowest level in nearly four years. Housing sales are steadily rising. And most companies are reporting better profits.
Focus shifts from ship’s captain to company
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Rescue workers were still scrambling to find survivors from the ill-fated Costa Concordia this week when Pier Luigi Foschi, Costa Cruises’ chief executive, blamed the ship’s captain for the wreck and described the rest of the crew as heroes.
But as the week progressed, the company’s strategy to make Captain Francesco Schettino the face of the disaster off the coast of Italy was shaken by comments from passengers, crew and even revelations about some of the company’s own practices.
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As the fallout from the accident continues, the question of who was to blame will be played out in the courts as all parties seek to limit the damage.
Rescue workers were still scrambling to find survivors from the ill-fated Costa Concordia this week when Pier Luigi Foschi, Costa Cruises’ chief executive, blamed the ship’s captain for the wreck and described the rest of the crew as heroes.
But as the week progressed, the company’s strategy to make Captain Francesco Schettino the face of the disaster off the coast of Italy was shaken by comments from passengers, crew and even revelations about some of the company’s own practices.
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article.
As the fallout from the accident continues, the question of who was to blame will be played out in the courts as all parties seek to limit the damage.
Google’s 4Q earnings growth slows as ad prices fall during holiday marketing season
SAN FRANCISCO — What was supposed to be a celebration of the most prosperous quarter in Google’s 13-year history instead turned into a major letdown.
The disappointment came with Thursday’s release of fourth-quarter earnings that showed the Internet search leader fetched less money per click on its ubiquitous online ads.
That came as an unsettling surprise because investors had assumed a surge in online holiday shopping during November and December would enable Google Inc. to charge more for its ads. Instead, the average price decreased by 8 percent from the same time in 2010.
Sony Ericsson reports fourth quarter loss
Mobile phone company Sony Ericsson has reported a fourth quarter loss, citing tough competition and the global economic slowdown for the deficit.
The firm - which is soon to be fully taken over by Sony - posted a net loss of 207m euros ($267m; £173m), compared with an 8m euro profit a year ago.
Sony Ericsson also said it had been hit by component shortages following the floods in Thailand last year.
The firm reported a net loss of 247m euros for the whole of 2011.
Pearson nudges up guidance, but Nomura underwhelmed -UPDATE
LONDON (SHARECAST) - Penguin books and Financial Times publisher Pearson has nudged up earnings guidance for 2011 after finishing the year with a flourish.The group said that 2011's earnings per share should be in the region of 85.25p, up from 77.5p in 2010 and ahead of previous guidance of earnings of around 83p per share (market consensus: 83.12p).
Despite the upgrade, the market was underwhelmed, and the shares eased in early trading to 1,234p, down 12p on the day.
The group said it continues to benefit from rapid growth in digital services and its increasing presence in emerging markets, while management also gave itself a pat on the back by attributing some of the boost to the "continuing transformation" of the group's business portfolio.
For the year as a whole Pearson generated around £2bn of digital revenues and about £600m of revenues in emerging markets. The consensus among investment analysts following the company is that 2011 revenues for the group will be around £5.91bn.
Sharp rise in the number of Scottish firms in severe financial distress
Number of Scots firms in significant and critical problems rose 17 per cent in fourth quarter of 2011.THE number of Scottish businesses in severe financial distress rose by 17 per cent in the last three months of 2011, a report from insolvency specialist Begbies Traynor suggests.
Scottish businesses showing critical levels of financial distress are rising at a much faster rate than the UK average, which Begbies said rose by just one per cent over the same three month period.
Begbies Red Flag quarterly report suggests 99,448 UK companies face significant or critical financial problems - 5,916 of which are based in Scotland.
Businesses facing significant distress in Scotland rose by one per cent in the fourth quarter compared with a drop of two per cent for the rest of the UK.
