economy

Online scammers, always quick to exploit the latest news event, are sending out e-mails promising economic-stimulus package payments but that instead steal sensitive data, the US-CERT warned on Friday.

The e-mails are disguised to look like official Internal Revenue Service communications. They offer a link to a Web site that asks for personal information or include a form that needs to be filled out and returned, the security organization said in an alert.

People who receive the fraudulent e-mail messages are encouraged to send the e-mail message and the Web site URL to the IRS at phishing@irs.gov.

CERT … Read more

Starting Friday, for every BlackBerry purchased, Verizon Wireless will throw in another for free.

It's a buy-one-get-one-free special that will run until March 31, and it applies to all BlackBerrys--including the brand new Storm. That's what makes this promotion kind of surprising: the touch-screen Storm is Verizon's supposed answer to AT&T and the iPhone and they're giving them away now?

Well, not entirely. The second piece of hardware will be free, but you still have to sign two-year contracts on each phone involved in the deal. And in the long run, Verizon extracts more … Read more

You are familiar with Zen koans like "What is the sound of one hand clapping?". They are designed to open up consciousness with paradoxical or impossible questions. Well here's one: Can we have an economy that is not so dependent on rampant consumer spending?

After 9/11, Bush's solution was to exhort consumers to spend more as the way to propel ourselves out of the downturn. Today we are hearing similar advice.

Problem is, people are saving (or at least not spending, which I don't think is quite the same thing) rather than spending.

According … Read more

Updated 8:32 a.m. PST with information from conference call.

Despite the troubled economy, Verizon Communications managed to post a 15 percent increase in profit for the fourth quarter of 2008, thanks once again to growth in its wireless business and new fiber to the home services.

The company reported net income of $1.24 billion, or 43 cents a share, up from $1.07 billion, or 37 cents a share, for the same period a year ago. Revenue was up 3.4 percent, to $24.65 billion. Wireless sales jumped 12.3 percent to account for more than … Read more

Comments from eBay's CEO have sparked speculation that the online marketplace may be looking to unload Skype. But any suitor that comes knocking on eBay's door will likely have to pay a hefty price tag for the Internet phone service.

The Times of London reported Monday that John Donahoe, chief executive of eBay, described Skype as a "great standalone business" on a conference call last week with investors after the company reported disappointing fourth-quarter results.

The news has left many in the industry wondering if eBay will put Skype, which it paid a hefty $2.6 billion to buy in 2005, … Read more

Yet another electronics maker is recording a rare quarterly loss.

Sony and Samsung last week reported their first ever losses. Now, it is Philips' turn for some bad news. The European company said Monday it lost $1.9 billion during the last quarter of 2008, with sales decreasing by 9 percent from the same quarter the previous year. As a result, Philips said it plans to cut 6,000 jobs this year. The company last reported a loss in 2003.

"What is quite amazing is not so much the depth of slowdown, it's the lack of visibility there … Read more

The global recession is hitting the handset market hard, as the biggest supplier in the market, Nokia, is seeing its sales plunge.

The Finnish handset maker said Thursday that fourth-quarter sales dropped 19 percent to $16.5 billion compared with the same period a year earlier. And its profit fell about 69 percent.

Nokia had warned investors in November and December that sales volumes were going to be lower than expected, but the magnitude of the decline still came as a big surprise to most investors.

Sales were hit not just at the high end, but also at the low … Read more

Wireless equipment maker Meraki is helping make universal broadband a reality.

The company announced Thursday that it's working with a nonprofit called OneEconomy, which focuses on closing the digital divide by targeting low-income housing. Using Meraki's technology, OneEconomy will deliver affordable broadband via Wi-Fi to more than 100,000 families in the U.S. and, eventually, around the world over the next two years.

Meraki and OneEconomy will launch their partnership at San Francisco's largest housing development, which has more than 2,200 residents. AT&T is providing the DSL service.

OneEconomy provides affordable broadband to … Read more

Motorola announced Wednesday that it plans to cut another 4,000 jobs, or about 6 percent of its workforce, and warned that weaker-than-expected handset sales would lead to a fourth-quarter loss.

Motorola said 3,000 jobs would be eliminated from its handset unit, while another 1,000 jobs would be cut from the rest of the company. The cuts announced Wednesday are in addition to 3,000 job cuts Motorola announced in October as part of a broader restructuring that also halted the launch of many upcoming phones.

"The actions we are taking today in our Mobile Devices business … Read more