The worst recession since the great depression made a big dent on US economy and it will weigh on US labor market for many years to come.  The result of the latest Wall Street Journal  survey with 48 economists speculates that US economy will witness 3.1 % growth in Gross Domestic Product starting from the third quarter of this year. The labor market is going to take longer time to heal due to this heavy recession. The economists also predicts that chances are less that unemployment will be below 6%. Currently, it stands at 9.8 % in September.

Full article (213 words) »

WASHINGTON - A major reason why mobile phones have been relatively free of virus attacks is that the market is widely split, unlike in computer software, where one firm controls a large chunk of the market, scientists point out. If you own a computer, you are likely to be familiar with a nasty virus attack at some point.

Full article (311 words) »

WASHINGTON - The numbers of Indians and other Asians and Latinos in America's Silicon Valley continued to surge from 2007 to 2008 even as the population growth of the two ethnic groups unexpectedly slowed nationwide. For years, Santa Clara County's diverse population - with more minorities than whites - has served as a pointer for the rest of the US, but the latest data released by the US Census Bureau Thursday is expected to push back the projected date that minorities will outnumber whites across the US by a decade.

Full article (389 words) »

SAN FRANCISCO - Software piracy cost companies more than $50 billion last year, according to a study by the Business Software Alliance, an industry trade group.

Full article (218 words) »

WASHINGTON - A cyber hacker who claimed to have stolen the medical records of more than 8.3 million residents of the state of Virginia is demanding $10 million for their return, the Washington Post reported.The FBI and state officials have confirmed that they are investigating the incident.

Full article (246 words) »

NEW YORK - President Barack Obama's proposal to make tax changes to deter outsourcing jobs to, say, Bangalore is 'antigrowth, job-destroying, protectionist and unlikely to raise the tax revenue', the Wall Street Journal argued Tuesday, while the Los Angeles Times termed it populist . The president Monday said the US tax system is such 'that says you should pay lower taxes if you create a job in Bangalore, India, than if you create one in Buffalo, New York.'

Full article (378 words) »

WASHINGTON - Online auction site eBay, which was launched more than a decade ago, had prompted fears that the site would spur plunder of genuine artefacts and antiques, but the reverse has happened. Indeed, eBay has drastically altered the transporting and selling of illegal artefacts, writes Charles 'Chip' Stanish, one of the world's foremost authorities in antiques, but not in the way he and other archaeologists had feared.

Full article (458 words) »

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's tech-savvy administration has taken another leap into cyberspace with the roll-out of 'White House 2.0.' linking it to social networks MySpace and Facebook and hot micro-blogging service Twitter. 'Today the White House is taking steps to expand how the administration is communicating with the public,' the White House blog said Friday announcing the additions to the recently launched official Flickr photostream.

Full article (324 words) »

TORONTO - Seventeen new cases of human swine flu took the Canadian total to 51 Friday even as the government launched a Citizen Readiness Campaign to check the spread of the virus. As part of the nation-wide campaign, the government is putting advertisements in dailies and weeklies May 2 and May 4 to raise public awareness about flu infection.

Full article (265 words) »

NEW YORK - For those who have an account with social networking site Facebook - take care not to click on messages urging you to 'check this out'. It could be a worm luring you to provide information. The site has been hit by two phishing attacks on two consecutive days, with a worm prompting users to log in to a fake Facebook page, Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt has said.

Full article (307 words) »