Harvard professor warns of the dangers of protectionism

The International Herald Tribune has a great article by Harvard professor Edward L. Glaeser on the dangers of protectionism.

The SF Gate writes that, according to research firm IDC, “worldwide personal computer shipments fell 1.9 percent during the fourth quarter.”  IDC also projects an 8 percent drop in computer shipments in the first half of the year, showing how high a toll the recession is taking on the technology industry.

In better news for the technology industry, ZDNet.com reports that some tech jobs are holding up as the unemployment rate is moving higher.  Notably, there are more computer systems design, consulting services and communications equipment manufacturing jobs than a year ago.

The Washington Post has a review of version 4 of Apple’s Safari browser for Mac and Windows, writing that the browser “succeeds on speed [but] flops on features.” Among other things, the review criticizes that Safari 4 has done away with the progress bar that shows how much of a page has loaded. The company says it did this because Web pages are now so complex that the bar was no longer fully accurate. But I believe users like to see where they are in the page-loading process, even if it's only a rough approximation.” 

Despite issues with the latest version of its browser, Apple is the Number 1 company on Fortune Magazine’s list of “Most Admired Companies” for 2009.