by Derrick Harris, Editor, TheStructureBlog, GigaOm
I don’t often look to movies about beer for poignant macroeconomic commentary, but as February ended with an 8.1 percent unemployment rate (and rising), a line from “Strange Brew” struck me as particularly relevant. As they’re introduced to their new jobs as the only two workers on the bottling line, the Mackenzie brothers are told: “Welcome to 1984, the age of automation and unemployment. The rise of the machine and the fall of man. The end of the human era.”
by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
It’s a rough morning for the Indian IT outsourcing sector, which has been hit hard by a highly negative report from Wachovia analyst Edward Caso.
Caso says the group is likely to take another leg down, forecasting that April conference call season will see most of the companies issue guidance below Street expectations. He writes that “demand remains lackluster and decision-making slow.”
India’s tech boom has inspired other developing nations to promote themselves as outsourcing destinations. The latest to try to cash in: Egypt.
Egypt seems like an unlikely place for Western companies to send tech work and open call centers, but Tarek El-Sadany, a government official in charge of helping to grow the country’s information-technology industry, says that the country is well positioned to do these tasks–literally.
by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
Piper Jaffray’s Jesse Pichel chopped his target price for Evergreen Solar in half this morning, from $5 to $2.50, after disappointing Q4 results. His cautious approach is also a result of what he sees as a possible lack of resources to execute expansion and outsourcing plans in Asia.
by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
According to IDG News Service, six tech companies with offices in Bangalore, India, have received emailed bomb threats. Among the threatened companies are Indian IT outsourcing firms Infosys and Wipro.
The MacBook Brick is a block of high-quality, aircraft-grade aluminum. It is the beginning.
The beginning of what?
It is the beginning of the new Apple manufacturing process to make MacBooks. It is totally revolutionary, a game changer. One of the biggest Apple innovations in a decade.
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