Bellwether rings in a good new year — Texas Instruments is another one of those bellwethers for the economy, as its chips are used in cell phones, TVs, and other electronic gadgets. The company beat analysts’ expectations today, reporting a profit of $655 million on sales of $3 billion in the fourth quarter. And CEO Rich Templeton predicts that growth will be up sequentially in the first quarter, not down as is typical for the season. Credit the overall tech recovery. Still, the company’s stock price fell in after-hours trading.
VMware says IT spending grows — The virtualization software company reported today that its fourth quarter earnings got a boost from a rebound in corporate information technology spending. The company projected that its revenues in 2010 will be up 21 percent from 2009.
Bill Gates goes green — The Microsoft chairman has invested some of his money in Vinod Khosla’s latest fund at Khosla Ventures. Most of Gates’ attention has focused on his philanthropic efforts aimed at solving world health problems. But he’s looking to make money in cleantech.
Big India city ditches coal — The city of Delhi has decided to get rid of coal in favor of natural gas. That’s a huge step for a city of 12 million people.
Cybercrime catches corporations flat-footed – A survey of 523 IT managers by Deloitte shows that corporations aren’t prepared to fight cybercriminals. Many corporations are neglecting simple countermeasures such as keeping track of patches for their software systems.
NFL goes mobile – The National Football League plans to make its RedZone Channel game highlights available to mobile phone users next season.
Asian LCD makers upbeat — Makers of liquid crystal display are expecting a good 2010 thanks to the launch of new touchscreen devices and eBook readers.
China fires back on Google – Chinese authorities shot another volley at the U.S., saying its fears of cyberattacks in the wake of the Google hacking incident are groundless.
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