IBM has earned over 6,000 US Patents in 2011
Digital News Report – IBM ranked number one for 6,180 US patents the company earned in 2011. Following behind in patents filed in 2011, was Samsung with 4,894 inventions registered. After that, the patent filings for 2011 dropped down to 2,821 patents registered by Canon.
IBM attributes their voluminous patent filings to over [...]
New Gift Card Scam Alert
Digital News Report – A new gift card scam is going around, which will very likely change the way that stores sell gift cards to their customers. At the checkout there is often an assortment of gift cards that can be purchased. The problem is that some scam artists are scanning the card [...]
Republicans and Democrats extend Payroll Tax Cut
Digital News Report – Democrats and Republicans in Congress agreed to an extension of the payroll tax holiday – at least temporarily.
The legislation, which would extend the payroll tax cuts for just two months, has been met with bewilderment. The National Payroll Reporting Consortiums says the bill will “create substantial problems, confusion and costs [...]
Big Lots (BIG) laggard among Service Sector
Digital News Report – Stocks were mixed Friday, with financial and consumer cyclical stocks gaining the most. Seven of the twelve sectors we monitor were lower. The healthcare sector was down 1.01 percent, which was the worst performer.
Big Lots, Inc. (NYSE:BIG), one of the service sector components, was a major laggard. [...]
Liptor Atorvastatin – Now available in Generic Versions
Digital News Report – Pfizer Inc., the maker of the brand name Lipitor cholesterol lowering medication, will no longer be the only company manufacturing the drug atorvastatin, because it is now allowed to be sold as a generic drug as of November 30, 2011.
Generic versions of the same drug are just as effective as the [...]
Facebook settles with FTC over Privacy Information Charges
Digital News Report – The US Federal Trade Commission announced today that social networking website company, Facebook, has agreed to settle them for charges of private information that was repeatedly made public. The settlement will require independent third-party auditing of Facebook’s privacy for 20 years and will force the company to get consumers’ express [...]
Black Friday 2011 Broke Records – Over 52 Billion Dollars Spent
Digital News Report – According to the National Retail Federation (NFR), 226 million shoppers visited stores both online and offline during Black Friday. Last year, there were 212 million shoppers on Black Friday. This year’s Black Friday had 226 million shoppers, according to the NFR report.
The average shopper spent $398.62, $33.27 more than [...]
Stock Market Slips on Greek Debt Worries
Digital News Report – Stocks were lower on Wednesday as traders continue to fret over the European debt crisis.
A German bund auction failed to reach its target. This sent stocks in Europe down as German officials explained that the failure was due to “technical” problems. The German government attempted to [...]
China Manufacturing Numbers Disappoint
Digital News Report – Stock markets in Asia and Europe are lower after the HSBC Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) disappointed traders. The report, which is compiled by Markit research, revealed that factory output and purchases were both lower.
The Flash China Manufacturing PMI was at 48.0 in November, making it the worst month since March [...]
Investor News – Stocks Mixed while Gold and Silver Move Higher
Digital News Report – The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) advanced late Friday to close up 25.43 points (+0.22%) to 11,796.16 (see chart below). The broader S&P 500 dropped just 0.04 percent while the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 0.60 percent.
Uncertainty in Europe help drive down stock prices while driving up gold and silver prices. [...]