SFGate.com reveals that, according to a survey released Tuesday by the University of San Francisco, “[c]onfidence among local venture capitalists has plunged to its lowest level since 2004.  Concern about a possible recession, weakness in the stock market and tight credit since the subprime mortgage crisis has caused venture capitalists to question how quickly they'll be able to take their companies public or sell them during the next six to 18 months.   The result could be less money to invest [...]

The New York Times reveals that “Wall Street analysts have begun to search the globe for 1.7 million lost iPhones.  Apple said that it has sold 3.75 million iPhones through the end of last year, but AT&T has activated a bit less than 2 million phones. There was a moment of panic as investors imagined more than a million unsold iPhones piled up in the stock rooms of AT&T stores.  Upon reflection, several analysts have come to the conclusion that [...]

The Sidney Morning Herald writes that “China vowed on Sunday to improve the ‘grave situation’ of music piracy in the country, as it hosted the annual music industry event here to learn and exchange ideas with companies from around the world.  China has been strongly criticised for its record on Internet piracy in recent years, and a report out this month by the international music trade body, the IFPI, said piracy was responsible for 99 per cent of the Chinese [...]

According to PCWorld, “[t]he charitable Give One, Get One XO laptop program [has come] under fire by participants who say they've suffered chronic delivery snafus and delays.”  One example is David Ruggiero.  “When [the] Seattle, Washington, resident […] heard about an opportunity to get his hands on the innovative XO laptop made by the One Laptop Per Child charitable organization, he hopped on it. Within two hours after the promotion began on Nov. 12 he snapped one up.  ‘It was [...]

On January 23, the Attali Committee, a French high-level group led by prominent economist and political advisor Jacques Attali, published its report on how to boost economic competitiveness in France. The report, which seeks to liberate the French economy from excessive regulation and administrative burdens, contains a lot of sensible and useful recommendations. Thus, the Attali Committee suggests concentrating tax credits for R&D expenses on key high tech sectors, including the digital technology industry. This is an important development for [...]