E-Commerce Blog

Sony drastically lowered profit and sales forecasts for the fiscal year Thursday, blaming deteriorating sales of flat-panel TVs and other gadgets battered by a global slowdown. The latest numbers would mean that Sony’s profit for the fiscal year ending March 2009 are set to plunge 59 percent from the previous year. Tokyo-based Sony now expects a 150 billion yen profit for the year ending March 2009, and it gave the unfavorable currency rate as another big reason for the faltering results.

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Sony Slashes Profit Forecast on Dismal Economic Indicators

When it comes to social media ROI, suitable performance metrics have proven to be somewhat elusive. In fact, according to survey data for the new Aberdeen benchmark report, “Social Media Marketing: The Latest Buzz on Word of Mouth,” more than one-third of all companies indicated that a primary reason that they don’t currently engage in social media marketing activities is because they lack suitable performance metrics for evaluating the results.

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Want to Measure Social Media ROI? Pick a Metric

Microsoft has angered Chinese computer users with its latest antipiracy move. On Tuesday, during its Global Anti-Piracy Day, Microsoft turned Windows Genuine Advantage loose on the Chinese people. Other users worldwide are familiar with WGA, which famously labeled legitimate users as pirates and disabled some features of their operating systems. One Chinese user complained that Microsoft had no right to hijack his computer. Another, a lawyer, actually filed an official complaint against Microsoft for hacking, and called Microsoft the biggest hacker in China.

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Microsoft’s Chinese Folly

Just one day after saying it would slash its 15,000-employee workforce by 10 percent, struggling Internet giant Yahoo announced Wednesday that its profit dropped by a whopping 64 percent during the third quarter. It also announced that revenue would be lower than it had expected for the remainder of 2008 and told Wall Street that it was too early to make any financial projections for 2009. Despite the bleak outlook, Yahoo’s stock appeared to hold its own — in mid-day trading, the company’s share price was up nearly 5 percent to $12.80.

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Yahoo Heaves 1,500 Overboard in Effort to Turn Ship Around

Getting reliable and reasonably priced tech support for an ailing computer is time-consuming and frustrating. PC users at home, school and work face malfunctions caused by human error, software failure and hardware configuration glitches. On top of these problems are the increasing daily threats posed by malware and virus infections. The typical home or office user has no IT support to rescue them. A recent report from research firm IDC concludes that although technology is now deeply entwined in consumers’ lives, consumer support options have not kept pace with needs.

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PC Fixer Lassos Customers the Old Fashioned Way: Free Services