TTL – The Tech Link Blog

Fortune

Apple is the #1 most admired company according to more than 3,700 industry experts.

The experts were surveyed by Fortune and the Hay Group and asked to select 10 companies they admire the most and rate them in eight key areas: innovation, people management, use of corporate assets, social responsibility, quality of management, financial soundness, long-term investment, quality of products/services.

Here is the list:

1. Apple
2. Berkshire Hathaway
3. General Electric
4. Google
5. Toyota Motor
6. Starbucks
7. FedEx
8. Procter & Gamble
9. Johnson & Johnson
10. Goldman Sachs
11. Target
12. Southwest Airlines
13. American Express
14. BMW
15. Costco
16. Microsoft
17. UPS
18. Cisco Systems
19. 3M
20. Nordstrom

Fortune via MacDailyNews

RadioShack

$89.25 for my Acer Aspire 3623WXMi laptop and $229.71 for my HTC P3300 PocketPC phone… Here’s what you are looking at with the new RadioShack trade-in program.

The program allows you to trade in your old stuff (GPS, cell phones, video games, computers, laptops, mp3 players, etc.) and receive a RadioShack gift certificate in return. If you have stuff lying around in your closet and haven’t got the time to list it on Craigslist or eBay, this might be a good alternative for you.

RadioShack Trade-In Program
I4U News

Autodesk & Softimage

Softimage, the Canadian company behind the visual effects in movies such as Jurrassic Park, Titanic, The Fifth Element, Happy Feet, 300, and many other movies and video games has been acquired by Autodesk. The acquisition will cost $35 million to Autodesk.

Autodesk are the makers of widely used 3D design software like Maya, and popular CAD software know as AutoCAD. Both companies share simalar goals and work in related markets. This acquisition should strenghten both companies and diversify their product lines to become more competitive in their respective markets.

Edge Online

Microsoft

Microsoft kept it’s title as the world’s software leader by posting optimistic results for the 3rd quarter that closed on September 30.

Revenues were up by 9% on one year at $15.06 billion. Profits were up by 1.8% at $4.37 billion ($0.48 per share).

Although Microsoft posted fairly positive results in the 3rd quarterd comparted to the same period last year, the company has revised their year-end forecast from between $67.3 to $68.1 billion to something between $64.9 and $66.4 billion. This announcement was made because of the slowdown in U.S. and global economy.

The Globe and Mail

Circuit City

Electronics retail store Circuit City might have to close up to 150 locations and even declare bankruptcy if the current market doesn’t see some kind of revival during the Christmas season.

From BetaNews: “The management team, board of directors, and its strategic financial advisers are conducting a comprehensive review of all aspects of our business to determine the best methods of accelerating our turnaround,” a Circuit City spokesperson responded in a statement today.

BetaNews

Apple & Yahoo! Financial Results

This week saw 3rd quarter results announcements from many companies including Apple and Yahoo!.

While Yahoo! were announcing a 10% workforce reduction, a 64% drop in profits, and an overall goal to cut expenses, Apple were showing optimistic results for the 3rd quarter that ended in September 2008.

Apple, along with its iPhone, is now considered to the be 3rd largest phone distributor behind Nokia and Samsung. Additionnally, iPod and Mac sales were still going strong, and as a result, Apple posted net quarterly profit of $1.14 billion, or $1.26 per diluted share.

washingtonpost.com

eBay

In an effort to protect elephants, and reduce the illegal traffic of ivory in and out of the originating countries, eBay will completely prohibit auctions that showcase products containing large amounts of ivory.

The new policy will take effect in December 2008 and will be enforced starting in January 2009.

washingtonpost.com

Google

Although Google’s profits are down from what they used to be years ago, the search giants still managed to make $1.35 billions in profits for the third quarter of 2008.

Most of these profits are coming from their core search and ads business.

Google’s shares have been trading at up to $385 this afternoon up 8.74% today only.

ReportonBusiness.com

Obama on the Xbox

We see them on billboards on the highway, we hear them on the radio, see them on web pages, in emails, on television, in movies, and now in games. Ads, marketing, product placement; it’s everywhere.

In this time of political campain, we can see the face of Barack Obama on a virtual billboard in the Burnout: Paradise game on the Xbox 360. Surprising? Well, more or less. There could be a Pepsi ad there and we wouldn’t bother so what’s the difference!

I just think it’s unfair to the viewers/players. General TV and TV shows are free because they are supported and payed for by advertisement. Games are not, so why have ads in them if it doesn’t benefit the players? Just my 50 cents.

GigaOM

WiFi

After having tested the impact of using the “white space” spectrum on other frequencies in use by companies such as T-Mobile, FCC engineers in Seattle showed that the white space could be used for wireless internet service without a significant risk of harmful interference.

The “white space” spectrum will begin auctioning in mid-2009 with one specific criteria for any provider wishing to use it: The service offered has to be absolutely free from all forms of obscenity and pornography. Also, the winning bidder must provide 25% or more of the band capacity as a free broadband service, they must make sure that the whole network is 50% ready and working within 5 years and at 95% within 10 years.

TG Daily

Bill Gates

According to Forbes Magazine, Warren Buffett has now taken the first position as the richest man on the planet. Bill Gates is now number two after being number one for 15 years.

Bill Gates’ fortune dropped from $57 billion in August to $55.5 billion in October. Warren Buffett’s wealth is estimated at $58 billion by the business magazine.

Third place this month is taken by Larry Ellison, co-founder and CEO of Oracle Corp.

Redmond Developer News

BlackBerry

Before you get too excited, this is still at the “rumor” status.

Microsoft apparently has a “standing offer” that has been set to buy major shares in RIM at the price of $50 per share. Now that RIM’s shares are in the $53-$58 range, it would not be surprising to see an official offer from Microsoft.

RIM has been said to be “opened” to friendly offers.

Electronista

iTunes

Marketing, ads, publicity, call it whatever you like, these are around to stay.

As focus drives away from standard media (TV, newspaper, magazines, radio) and converges towards the Internet, streaming content, online magazines, video games, movies, etc., ad agencies and marketing firms are looking for ways to integrate the new media age.

The Apple App Store is a real gold mine for ad agencies. Don’t be surprised to see more and more free “sponsored” games and applications available for download very shortly.

What’s next? Free songs including a 10-second ad break at the beginning? Why not?

MacDailyNews

GeoEye-1

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in partnership with Google (and other sponsors), has helped fund the construction of the GeoEye-1 satellite and its launch on September 6th.

GeoEye-1 is the world’s highest-resolution commercial satellite currently in Earth’s orbit and can take photos at a resolution of up to 41 centimeters from the ground. However, Google will only be able to use images taken at 50 centimeters because of a government restriction.

GeoEye-2 is set to launch in 2011 or 2012 with a resolution of 25 centimeters.

WIRED

Toshiba

Toshiba once again confirmed that it plans to introduce their new lines of fuel cell batteries as early as March of 2009.

The batteries should be more powerful and longer-lasting than current batteries found in electronic devices such as cell phones, laptops, mp3 players, etc.

TechSpot