economy

Toshiba said Friday it expects to lose 350 billion yen for the fiscal year just ended on March 31, and will cut more temporary workers.

The company plans on letting go 3,900 temporary employees in its Japanese offices, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, as well as reducing its capital spending this year by 180 billion yen ($1.8 billion) to 250 billion yen from the previous year. Almost 4,500 temporary workers were laid off previously.

The company now expects a net loss of 350 billion yen in the fourth quarter of its fiscal year … Read more

The PC market shrunk during the first part of 2009, but not as badly as expected.

Shipments of PCs during the first quarter were down 7.1 percent from a year ago, to 63.5 million units, according to IDC, which released its Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker on Wednesday. That's an improvement from the 8.2 percent decline that IDC had projected.

It's a "good sign" for PCs, said Loren Loverde, the program director for the PC Tracker at IDC. Loverde says the better-than-expected results were aided by falling prices of PCs and more new PC … Read more

This is shaping up to be quite a winter of discontent. Mass layoffs at home and mass demonstrations abroad have combined to foster a seething desperation around the world that would have warmed the cockles of Dickens' Madame Defarge.

But shouting "off with their heads" only gets you so far. Whether we like it or not, the deterioration of the global economy has forced companies everywhere to take hard looks at how well they generate value. Especially in the Internet age, where your competitor may only be a mouse click away.

We Americans were first to figure this … Read more

Midwesterners and Texans are doing their best to prop up the U.S. retail consumer technology market, according to new sales data released Thursday.

During the fourth quarter of 2008, Houston was the only market of the 45 largest in the United States to actually see an increase in gadget sales compared to a year earlier. Purchases of LCD TVs, notebooks, digital SLR cameras, cables, and camera accessories helped drive sales totals up 2.3 percent in the Houston area, according to NPD Group, which tallies store-level sales data.

Improved sales in Houston can be an example to retailers, said … Read more

Dell founder and Chief Executive Michael Dell appeared optimistic about the PC market during a speech given in China Thursday, according to a Bloomberg report.

Speaking about the global market, he said, "Week on week, the demand for PC sales has been steady." He added that he anticipates "encouraging" demand from U.S. consumers, though he did not provide detail as to why. Research firm IDC said it expects global PC shipments to drop 4.5 percent during 2009.

In particular, Dell has high hopes for the Chinese PC market, where his company increased sales last … Read more

Consumer advocates are reigniting a debate over Net neutrality by insisting that the government require recipients of the government's $7.2 billion broadband stimulus package to adhere to special rules to ensure traffic on the Internet flows freely.

Consumer groups and Internet service providers faced off at a public hearing in Washington, D.C., on Monday set up to discuss how money from President Obama's economic stimulus package should be allocated. Public interest groups believe that the government should require companies receiving funds to adhere to special Net neutrality rules that would prevent them from discriminating against traffic … Read more

MTI (also known as Mark Licea) joins the show today to replace Justin Yu, who's on vacation to Boston. We cover everything under the typical 404-sun: strippers, Playboy, Mexican-Korean truck food, Twitter, and Sweet Lou Bakalar.

Every one knows that the economy is in the tank. For a lot of people out there, that means spending hours every day listening to past episodes of the 404. For some it means that instead of using that Harvard degree, they are using the assets their momma gave them. In related news, Playboy has posted its entire back catalog online. Warning: This is totally NSFW. You can check out all the previous back issues of Playboy magazine online with a Silverlight-enabled browser.

Also, last Friday was the final broadcast of the landmark series Battlestar Galactica. Wilson, being the only fan of the show on The 404, has plenty to say--most of which seems to bore the hell out of Jeff and MTI. The show will be missed, and while the finale hit most of the right marks, there were a few things that gave plenty of pause--like the second ending. Check it out on iTunes or Hulu. Promise you're going to love Number Six in a red dress.

There's a food truck in Los Angeles driving around, Twittering, and making Korean-Mexican tacos? Finally, Sweet Lou Bakalar, Jeff's father, gives us his insight on the current state of texting and television buying. Stay tuned tomorrow for Eric Franklin!

Skype is going after business customers with a service designed to help cash-strapped companies reduce communications costs.

On Monday, eBay-owned Skype will announce a new version of its Internet calling service that allows companies to use their IP-enabled corporate telephone systems to make Skype calls using regular office phones instead of using a headset that plugs into a PC.

The new service called Skype For SIP allows companies to use the Skype service with their IP-enabled PBX's, which use an open standard called SIP or Session Initiation Protocol. Companies using the service can make phone calls from their office … Read more

To stem continued losses, Sony said Thursday there will be no pay increases for non-managerial employees this year.

Sony doesn't give automatic raises every year based on seniority--unlike many other Japanese companies--but instead awards them based on responsibility and performance, according to Reuters.

It's the first time Sony has ever made such a move, but the company's financial circumstances give it few options. Sony is predicting an operating loss of $2.9 billion for the current financial year ending March 31, the electronics giant's first annual loss in 14 years.

It has already resorted to closing … Read more