Japan

The Coast Guard in Japan, like other public services from every country feeling the economic crunch, is being told to lower expenses. How do you rescue drowning people on the cheap? In the seaside towns of Takamatsu and Wakamatsu, the Coast Guard offices have taken an idea from high school students that lowers the cost of flotation devices while helping the environment.

Japan's fair trade watchdog on Thursday slapped Sharp Corp. with a 261 million yen ($3 million) fine for fixing prices of liquid crystal display panels used for Nintendo's popular DS portable game machines.

The Fair Trade Commission said Sharp and Hitachi Display Ltd., a unit of Hitachi Ltd., had violated the Anti-monopoly law by controlling prices. A commission official said the investigation began in December 2006. He declined to say why Hitachi Display got no penalty.

Toshiba Corp. said Tuesday that it will reduce output of NAND flash memory by 30 percent due to falling sales of electronic gadgets like digital cameras and cell phones.

"Recession in the global economy and the slowdown in consumer spending are having a significant impact on demand for semiconductors," Japan's biggest chipmaker said in a statement. "This is particularly notable in NAND flash memories, where decreased demand for applications such as memory cards and MP3 players has generated excess supply."

Free video to mobile phones became reality on Wednesday in cell phone-crazy Italy, where Vodafone users with certain late-generation smart phones can now watch video content from Internet TV operator Babelgum, free of data charges.

The twinning of Babelgum's content with Vodafone's service is a next step toward realizing the full promise of smart phones, which integrate the Internet with the mobile phone.

The Italian launch will be followed by the rollout in Britain on Thursday, with other countries, including the United States, to follow, Babelgum said.

While the nation's top three automobile giants are trying to convince the government that they need a bailout, other businesses are doing what they can to stay afloat even if it means slashing thousands of positions.

Today, Sony joined the growing list of companies who have had to cut a percentage of their workforce to stay competitive. Sony announced Tuesday that it will slash 8,000 positions between now and March 2010 in its electronics business, cut operation costs, and cut inventory.

Today I had a chance to catch up with Anne F. Kennedy of Beyond Ink, who’s going to be moderating a panel about global search marketing trends at SES Chicago. Anne’s been a search maven for ten plus years and serves on the Search Engine Strategies advisory board.
Also, for any last-minute attendees, SES Chicago provided me with a discount code to share that’s worth 20% off your registration fee:  20SEOPR

Today I had a chance to catch up with Anne F. Kennedy of Beyond Ink, who’s going to be moderating a panel about global search marketing trends at SES Chicago. Anne’s been a search maven for ten plus years and serves on the Search Engine Strategies advisory board.
Also, for any last-minute attendees, SES Chicago provided me with a discount code to share that’s worth 20% off your registration fee:  20SEOPR

Today I had a chance to catch up with Anne F. Kennedy of Beyond Ink, who’s going to be moderating a panel about global search marketing trends at SES Chicago. Anne’s been a search maven for ten plus years and serves on the Search Engine Strategies advisory board.

The video-game industry is gearing up for the holiday shopping season. Microsoft has reported that Xbox 360 sales have surpassed the original Xbox game console. Nintendo is bragging about its Wii hitting the seven million sales mark in Japan. And analysts are watching Sony to see if its PlayStation 3 can make a comeback this year.

Meanwhile, Nintendo is pushing out new DS game bundles. On Black Friday, Nintendo will release two limited-edition Nintendo DS bundles, each pairing a Nintendo DS game title with a handheld system in a new color.