| IE9 Now Won't Require Windows 7 SP1 Microsoft quietly shifts its system requirements for upgrades to the newest version of Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer - Windows 7 - Microsoft - Browsers - Clients feeds.pcworld.com |
'Trimming' Tracks in ITunes Reader Walt Pinkston has misplaced an iTunes feature he’s found useful. He writes: feeds.pcworld.com |
Microsoft: First Blue Chip Tech Yield Company? Marty Chilberg submits:As a retired technology company CFO and shareholder in Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), I found myself thinking about the outcry of criticism recently heard when MSFT "only" increased its dividend by 23% apparently disappointing a vocal analyst/investor base. I can't remember how many times I listened to someone on CNBC claiming the company wasn't managing its capital structure effectively. Rants of '"fire Ballmer" were pretty common and surprisingly loud given the general consensus about the quality of Windows 7, finally putting the fiasco otherwise known as Vista behind them. Granted, the missteps have been numerous over the past year from the Yahoo discussions through the recent life of Kin better measured in hours. But still, this is a company that grew its net income by $4.3B or 29% in the past year. Operating cash flow grew even more by $5B. They may have been steady a few years but did finally increase the dividend substantially and the share buybacks have totaled around $27B in the past 3 years. They even tried a special dividend based upon the outcry from investors wanting them to better utilize their cash. What's a company to do?To satisfy a little personal curiosity I thought it might be interesting to compare them to a nontechnology company that is clearly seen as a yield-based investment vehicle. McDonald's (MCD) seemed to fit the bill. Here's a table of some data points worth referencingComplete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Clearwire Quietly Launches WiMax in Miami Clearwire began offering commercial WiMax service in South Florida on Monday, the first time it has launched in a new market without opening retail stores. feeds.pcworld.com |
Exporting and Importing Outlook 2011 Messages Like some others scattered around the U.S. this past week, I took advantage of the Thanksgiving holiday to spend time with my family. To stay in touch I... feeds.pcworld.com |