Corporate and legal

Israeli venture capitalists are expected this year to raise $300 million, setting the stage for a second consecutive year of decline, according to figures released Wednesday by the IVC Research Center.

Israeli venture capital funds are expected this year to post a 62 percent decline over last year, when $793 million was raised.

And should Israeli venture capital funds generate only $300 million, it would put it on par with levels not seen since 2003 to 2004.

Last year, Israeli venture capital funds declined 30 percent over the previous year, when $1.14 billion was raised.

But despite the two … Read more

Nokia announced on Wednesday three new Comes with Music phones for a variety of budgets. The company also said it is adding access to its Nokia Music Store in more countries worldwide, though not to the U.S.

First, the phones. Nokia unveiled the 5730 XpressMusic, the 5330 XpressMusic, and the 5030. The new 5730 XpressMusic represents the high-end market. It has a slide-out QWERTY keypad and is expected to sell for around 280 euros ($358).

The 5330 XpressMusic phone is a slider phone that costs 160 euros and is the midrange of the product. Finally, there is the basic … Read more

Nokia is still by far the No. 1 mobile handset maker in the world, but as competition heats up in the smartphone market, Nokia has become increasingly vulnerable to smaller players such as Apple and Research In Motion, which are increasing market share.

New market share figures released by Gartner this week indicate that the mighty Nokia is losing market share at the high end to Apple, RIM, and HTC. No one expects Nokia to tumble out of first place anytime soon, but the new competition is putting more pressure on the company to address some nagging issues like improving … Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif.--By now, just about everyone who follows the media industry has heard of the deep fiscal troubles of The New York Times. But even as the paper does its best for all the news that's fit for newsprint, it is also conducting experiments aimed at moving itself into the forefront of digital journalism.

At the Emerging Technologies conference (ETech) on Tuesday, Nick Bilton, the design integration editor and user interface specialist at the Times' research and development lab, spoke about "sensors, smart content, and the future of news," essentially a recap of some of … Read more

Imagine if all the hospitals, schools, churches, and government buildings that appear on online maps were nothing but blurs.

That would not only reduce the usefulness of things like Google Maps and Google Earth, but it would be a huge undertaking for Google and would probably violate the First Amendment.

But that's exactly what California Assemblyman Joel Anderson, a Republican from El Cajon, is proposing in a measure dubbed "AB-255."

The measure would apply to Web site operators and online services that make "a virtual globe browser available to members of the public" and fails … Read more

The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 379.44 points to end the day up 5.80 percent at 6,926.49. And the Nasdaq climbed 89.64 points to close the session up 7 percent at 1,358.28.

Technology stocks also surged ahead, with the CNET Tech Index climbing 67.84 points to jump ahead by 7.35 percent to 990.66.

Within the tech sector, Adobe Systems jumped 10.37 percent to close … Read more

Google has issued an update for the unlocked version of the Android phone, which is specifically made for developers.

The company on Monday said owners of the Android Developer Phone 1 (ADP1) will now be able to get the 1.1 version of the Android software. Google already issued the 1.1 update for retail devices a few weeks ago. The update contains several bug fixes for issues that involve the alarm clock, device sleep, POP3 (Post Office Protocol version 3) e-mail, and e-mail notification. The update also adds new features such as the ability to save MMS (multimedia messaging … Read more

Palm shares rose sharply in early morning trading Tuesday, after the smartphone maker increased the size of its secondary offering and netted $83.9 million.

Palm resold 23.13 million shares, as part of a follow-on offering it announced the previous day. Although the company had initially anticipated offering only 18.5 million shares held by its investor Elevation Partners, Palm added more stock to the deal, which it priced at $6 a share.

Elevation received $49 million from the offering, while Palm netted $83.9 million. Palm plans to use the proceeds for working capital, as well as for … Read more

Craigslist released numbers Monday it touted as evidence of its success in reducing the volume of "erotic services" ads appearing on the Web classified site in an apparent response to a federal lawsuit that accuses the site of facilitating prostitution.

The number of ads for such services is down 90 percent to 95 percent during the past 12 months on Craigslist sites that serve five major U.S. cities, according to information posted on a company blog. The site credited the "spectacular" reduction on its joint effort with 40 attorneys general and the National Center for … Read more