Corporate Profits a Boost for US Industry

Corporate America took another step along its long road to recovery on Tuesday as companies from the industrial heartland of Peoria to the technology hubs of Silicon Valley reported stronger-than-expected profits and bullish outlooks.

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http://globaleconomicnews.blogspot.com/2009/07/corporate-profits-boost-for-us-industry.html

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Tags: Apple, Yahoo, DuPont, Coca-Cola, Credit Suisse, Merck, iPhone, BNY ConvergEx, DJIA, Dow Jones, Caterpillar, Wall Street, Nasdaq Composite, Silicon Valley, United, Continental, Southwest.

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Singularity University Launches

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. – June 25, 2009 – Singularity University (SU) — the new academic institution with the goal of preparing the next generation of leaders to address “humanity’s grand challenges” — today announced the selection of 40 students to represent the inaugural class for the Graduate Summer Program (GSP). Singularity University narrowed the final 40 students from a pool of more than 1,200 candidate applications around the globe. The summer program begins on June 29, 2009, based at its campus on the NASA Ames Research Park.

SU also announced that leading Silicon Valley venture capital firm, ePlanet Ventures, joins SU as the newest Corporate Founder to support the institution.

Singularity University is modeled after the successful International Space University, founded at MIT in 1987, which has become one of the leading interdisciplinary, international and intercultural institutions for the study of space. The Graduate Summer Program is a nine-week graduate-level interdisciplinary curriculum designed to facilitate understanding, collaboration, and innovation across a broad range of carefully chosen scientific and technological disciplines whose developments are exponentially accelerating.

A Look at the Summer Class

Students for the inaugural summer program were chosen based on their level of expertise in individual “tracks,” demonstrated entrepreneurial and leadership skills, and their commitment to addressing and solving important issues facing our world.

“The level of interest from candidates around the world exceeded our initial expectations,” said Dr. Ray Kurzweil, co-founder of Singularity University.

“We received applications from expert candidates in over 60 countries, so competition was very tough for the 40 open spots. Narrowing the field was challenging. The selected students embody the key characteristics, experience, and ‘start-up mentality’ we believe are required to address our grandest challenges today and tomorrow.”

The summer class is composed of 26 men and 14 women, ranging in age from 22 to 47 years old. The 13 nations represented are: USA, Canada, Israel, United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil, Bolivia, India, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Turkey, and Russia.

Specific experience and expertise in one of the ten key fields of study, or “tracks,” was required to secure a spot in the inter-disciplinary institution. The number of student experts in each of the ten tracks are: future studies and forecasting - 5; policy, law and ethics - 7; finance and entrepreneurship - 5; networks and computing systems - 6; biotechnology and bioinformatics - 3; nanotechnology - 2; medicine, neuroscience and human enhancement - 4; AI, robotics - 3; energy and ecological systems - 2; and space and physical sciences - 3.

“It’s rare that a new university comes into existence, and we are proud of the students representing this first class,” said Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, co-founder of Singularity University. “Ray Kurzweil and I look forward to seeing what this stellar combination of students and faculty will produce throughout the course of the program. The potential is unlimited. And, we truly believe Singularity University will positively impact humanity.”

Venture Capital Support Behind SU

ePlanet Ventures joins SU as the only venture capital firm at the Corporate Founder level, with a donation of $250,000. In addition to financial support for SU, the firm will mentor students as they develop projects and new business ideas, a partner will serve as an advisor and lecturer on the Finance and Entrepreneurship track, and sit on the Board of Trustees. Google is an existing Corporate Founder.

“The close alignment of our goals with SU made the partnership a natural fit,” said Asad Jamal, Chairman and CEO of ePlanet Ventures. “ePlanet Ventures was founded to support innovation in technology and sciences, and has been a leader in discovering disruptive innovation and promoting cross-border migration of technological innovation, business models and entrepreneurship. We anticipate great ideas and global solutions to come from SU with the expert concentration of students, faculty, and other supporters. We’re thrilled to be a part of this innovative venture from the start.”

Interest in sponsoring Singularity University has been strong since its founding, and nearly all its financial supporting positions have been filled. Three positions are still available to join ePlanet Ventures and Google as Corporate Founders, and SU is in discussions with a number of the Bay Area companies to fill the remaining positions. Please visit the Founders’ Circle for more information on corporate and individual sponsorship.

Looking Forward

Singularity University will offer 3-day “C-level” and 10-day “mid-level” executive management programs in Fall ’09. Exact program dates will be announced later in the year. Interested candidates can submit applications and request additional information at www.singularityu.org/interested

ABOUT SINGULARITY UNIVERSITY

Singularity University (SU) is an interdisciplinary university whose mission is to assemble, educate and inspire a cadre of leaders who strive to understand and facilitate the development of exponentially advancing technologies in order to address humanity’s grand challenges. With the support of a broad range of leaders in academia, business and government, SU hopes to stimulate groundbreaking, disruptive thinking and solutions aimed at solving some of the planet’s most pressing challenges. SU is based at the NASA Ames campus in Silicon Valley. For more information, go to www.singularityu.org.

ABOUT EPLANET VENTURES

ePlanet Ventures is a leading global venture capital firm headquartered in Silicon Valley, with international offices in London, New Delhi, Bangalore, Shanghai, and Beijing, as well as a presence in Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo. ePlanet Ventures has funded over 80 innovative high-growth companies worldwide, including landmark deals Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU), Skype (sold to eBay for approx. US$3B in 2005), and Focus Media (NASDAQ:FMCN). ePlanet is one of the leaders in promoting the cross-border migration of technological innovation, business models and entrepreneurship.

The Firm has made investments in sectors such as the Internet (consumer Internet, Internet services and applications), wireless communications and applications, VoIP and other broadband services, entertainment, semiconductor design, life sciences and other emerging services sectors. The firm has won the China Venture Capital Association Exit of the Year 2005 for Baidu, and the European Venture Capital Association Deal of the Year 2005 Award for Skype, and has been profiled in FORBES Feb. 2007 as a “Pioneer in Global Venture Capital.” Asad Jamal, Chairman and CEO of ePlanet Ventures was recently profiled in FORBES MIDAS List 2008 as a top 10 venture capitalists in the world.

Source: http://singularityu.org/news/2009/06/su-launches-press-release/

Tags: Singularity University, ePlanet Ventures, NASA, Silicon Valley, International Space University, MIT, Graduate Summer Program, Ray Kurzweil, Peter Diamandis, Google, Entrepreneurship, Global Development News,

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Intel and Nokia Announce Long-Term Relationship

In a deal intended to strengthen Intel's push into the mobile computing arena, the Santa Clara chip maker and Finnish cell phone giant Nokia on Tuesday announced what they called a long-term relationship to develop new mobile devices.

Under the arrangement, the companies said they will work together on chip design and open-source software. Intel recently has entered that field with its Linux-based operating system called Moblin, designed to function on portable devices, and Nokia has a Linux-based operating system, dubbed Maemo. In addition, Intel will license some modem technology from Nokia.

However, executives with the two companies repeatedly declined during a conference call and a later interview to discuss what type of devices they might make and to what extent Nokia might use Intel's chips.

"We will talk about products when we are ready to talk about products, but that is not for today's discussion," said Anand Chandrasekher, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's ultra mobility group.

"There is a lot of room for innovation here, to really define what mobile can do," said Kai Öistämö, Nokia's executive vice president for devices. "It's a future full of different possibilities." After the announcement, Intel's stock rose 13 cents to $15.81 at the close of trading.

No financial terms were disclosed for the deal, and the two executives were evasive about when their collaborative discussions began. They said only that their companies have been doing joint research for several years. In May, Intel, Nokia and a number of other companies formed an association to promote rapid new wireless technology for shuttling data among computers, high-definition television sets and other devices in homes.

Although details about the agreement announced Tuesday remain vague, the deal suggests intriguing possibilities for Intel. Although the company's x86 microprocessors serve as the brains in most personal computers and servers, it sees the rapidly expanding market for mobile computing devices as one of its biggest growth opportunities. And the cell phone business, where Nokia is the world's biggest manufacturer, is an area Intel is especially keen to enter.

Intel, whose chips are not used in Nokia products, has so far been shut out of the cell phone market. That's largely because Intel's microprocessors use too much power to enable the phones to maintain sufficient battery life. Instead, cell phones use low-power chips based on technology developed by ARM, a small company in the United Kingdom.

Öistämö said Nokia plans to continue working with ARM-based chip makers. But Intel hopes to break into the cell phone market with future versions of a chip it introduced in March last year, called Atom, which uses less power than other Intel microprocessors and is relatively inexpensive. Moblin, one of the open-source software systems that Intel and Nokia will collaborate on, works well with the Atom chip, the companies noted in their joint press release.

What sort of devices the two companies might develop remains unclear. Nokia has been rumored this year to be considering making netbooks, which are smaller than laptops. Intel, whose microprocessors already are in laptops and netbooks, is promoting its chips for even tinier gadgets, including phones.

In their press release, the companies said they hoped to "define a new mobile platform beyond today's smart-phones, notebooks and netbooks." The deal drew mixed reviews from analysts.

"This is a compelling partnership," Jack Gold, founder of technology research firm J. Gold Associates, based in Massachusetts, said in a note to his clients. "We do not envision Nokia abandoning its core dependence on the ARM architecture in the short term, but longer term (two to three years) we expect Nokia to offer devices based on Atom." Gold added that "this collaboration could limit the impact Google's Android operating system will have on the netbook market."

But J.P. Morgan analyst Christopher Danely was less enthusiastic about the partnership, writing to his clients that "we don't expect much to come out of it."

While the deal "should help Intel in its quest to generate wireless design wins for its Atom processor," Danely concluded, "we continue to believe the deficiencies of Atom in power consumption, cost and software relative to other applications processors render it an uncompetitive product."

Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_12672076?source=email

Tags: Intel, Nokia, Strategic Partnership, Jack Gold, Atom, ARM chips, Google Android, Christopher Danley, JP Morgan, Silicon Valley, Moblin, Santa Clara, Netbooks, Maemo, Global IT News,

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Cisco Joins Dow Jones Industrial Average Today

Cisco Systems today joins the elite circle of 30 blue-chip businesses that make up the Dow Jones industrial average, a move that may make it easier for the San Jose company to attract investors — at least initially.

Plus, in joining Intel and Hewlett-Packard on the list, Cisco is sure to get a boost in prestige. But more than anything, experts say, the decision to replace General Motors with Cisco is recognition that technology is a primary innovator and spark plug of the nation's economy. And that trend is turning heads everywhere from Wall Street to Washington.

"It signals the ascendancy of Silicon Valley and high tech," said Stephen Levy of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy. "We're seeing older industries and companies be replaced by a sector that has substantial long-term growth prospects."

Technology already has the attention of President Barack Obama, who is actively promoting such ideas as smarter electricity grids and computerized health records. And now, with Cisco, HP and Intel on the fabled stock index, along with IBM and Microsoft, elected officials may listen even more closely to the needs of Bay Area businesses, said Jim Wunderman, CEO of the Bay Area Council.

"It certainly cements the tech industry in Silicon Valley as an integral part of the American economy," he said. "From a public policy basis, it has some impact. I think it makes a stronger case in Washington and maybe in the state capitals."

Since its debut in 1896, the Dow Jones industrial average has predominately featured so-called smokestack industries, from U.S. Rubber and Bethlehem Steel to Standard Oil and American Smelting. However, reflecting a major shift in the nation's economy, those types of businesses have gradually given ground to firms offering products centered on computers, software and communications technology.

Officials with the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis say it's hard to say how much of the gross domestic product is represented by sales of such technology to consumers and the government. But business purchases alone of such goods represented about 3 percent of the GDP in 2008, compared with less than 1 percent in 1968. And one of the biggest up-and-comers in the tech field is Cisco, which was founded in 1984 and earned $8 billion on sales of nearly $40 billion during its most recent fiscal year.

Since the June 1 announcement that Cisco will replace GM, a part of the index for 83 years, the Internet-networking equipment maker's stock price has risen more than 7 percent, closing Friday at $19.87. That kind of increase is common after companies are first selected for the list, in part because some big institutions invest heavily in firms that are on such indexes, said Sybille Reitz, a Dow Jones spokeswoman.

"It certainly does increase your visibility in the market," she said. "You're included among the bluest of the blue-chip companies in the United States." But the share-price bump frequently is temporary, she said, adding, "at the end of the day, it doesn't mean anything to their business or to their long-term stock price."

Although HP executives declined to discuss how they've been affected by being placed on the list in 1997, Intel, which got on two years later, hasn't seen much of an impact, according to spokesman Chuck Mulloy. "By and large, it's more prestige than anything substantive," he said.

John Roberts, director of Stanford's Center for Global Business and the Economy, also expressed skepticism that being on the index would mean significantly more business for Cisco or Silicon Valley. After all, he said, "very few people can tell you whether a given company is in the DJ30. I certainly cannot."

Still, in a prepared statement, Cisco officials said they are pleased at their inclusion. Noting that today marks "the first time in nearly 10 years that a technology company has been added to the Dow," the company said, "We are honored with this recognition of our continued strong performance."

Tags: Cisco Systems, Cisco, DJIA, Dow Jones Industrial Average, GM, Sybille Reitz, Chuck Mulloy, DJ30, John Roberts, Stanford's Center for Global Business and the Economy, Silicon Valley, Bay Area Council, HP, IBM, Microsoft, Intel,

Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_12530721?source=email

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