BSA Study Shows Software Piracy Declining in Many Countries

The results from the Business Software Alliance’s fifth-annual study on global software piracy revealed some statistics that would put a smile on any software company executive’s face: Of the 108 countries that are covered in the recently released report, the use of pirated software dropped in 67 countries. In just eight countries did the piracy rate increase.

For example, Russia’s PC software piracy rate dropped seven points to 73 percent. (In the study, piracy rate is defined as the total argentina number of units of pirated software deployed in 2007 divided by the total units of software installed.) “Russia’s piracy rate is still high, but it is decreasing at a fast pace as a result of [software] legalization programs, government engagement and enforcement, user education and an improved economy,” states the BSA study’s findings. (A copy of the complete BSA study can be found here.)

Many low-piracy regions, such as the United States, United Kingdom and Austria, showed decreases (though they weren’t huge) in their piracy rates. The three lowest-piracy countries were the United States (20 percent), Luxembourg bolivia (21 percent) and New Zealand (22 percent). The study also found that many developed economies continued to show gradual declines, including Australia, Belgium, Ireland, Japan, Singapore,

Buffett gets a crisis to put Berkshire’s cash to work

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Berkshire Hathaway, the insurance focused conglomerate run by billionaire Warren Buffett, has been sitting on more than $40 billion in cash since 2004.
When stock markets climbed and the housing market soared from the end of the dotcom bust in 2003 to the middle of last year, Buffett struggled to find attractive investments as he followed his own advice of being fearful when others are greedy and greedy when the market is running scared.
Now, as thousands of Berkshire shareholders prepare for their annual pilgrimage this weekend to the company’s headquarters in Omaha, Neb., some are hoping Buffett has the crisis he’s been waiting so patiently for.
Since delinquencies and foreclosures began surging last year, house prices have slumped more than 10% across the U.S. The stock market is down about 9% from its peak in October 2007 and corporate bond spreads have ballooned — a measure of rising risk aversion. Financial-services companies have lost a quarter of their market value and Bear Stearns (BSC:The Bear Stearns Companies Inc
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U.S. Economy: Manufacturing Shrinks for a Third Month (Update2)

By Bob Willis and Shobhana Chandra

May 1 (Bloomberg) — Manufacturing in the U.S. shrank for a third month and rising prices eroded consumers’ buying power as the six-year economic expansion ground to a halt.

The factory index compiled by the Tempe, Arizona-based Institute for Supply Management was unchanged at 48.6 in April. The Commerce Department said consumer spending rose 0.4 percent in March. Stripping out the effect of inflation, purchases were up 0.1 percent after stagnating the previous month.

The ISM report indicated no sign of improvement from the first quarter, when only a jump in inventories prevented the economy from shrinking. Consumers and manufacturers are struggling with rising prices and the worst housing slump in a quarter century. Home Depot Inc., the world’s biggest home- improvement retailer, today scaled back expansion plans and said it will fire workers as its sales and earnings deteriorate.

“The economy is still in a mode where it’s declining,” Brian Bethune, director of financial economics at Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts, said in an interview with Bloomberg Radio. “These numbers certainly reflect that. We’re going to see weaker jobs numbers and we’re going to see consumption bump along at a very slow rate.”

Clorox profit slides 22%, forecast boosts shares

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) – Clorox Corp. on Thursday reported its quarterly net income fell 22% from a year ago, undercut by rising raw material costs and restructuring charges.
But its shares jumped 9.9% to close at $58.24 as the household products maker earned more than Wall Street had expected, excluding charges.
Also, Clorox boosted its full-year sales growth target and said its acquisition of Burt’s Bees won’t hurt its earnings as much as projected.
Clorox said fiscal third-quarter net income was $100 million, or 71 cents a share, compared with net income of $129 million, or 84 cents a share, in last year’s same period.
Excluding charges related to exiting the private-label food bags business, its purchases of Burt’s Bees and factory closures, Clorox (CLX:The Clorox Company
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House Committee Passes Mortgage Aid Plan

WASHINGTON — The House Financial Services Committee on Thursday pushed forward with an aggressive effort to help troubled homeowners, approving a package of legislation that would make up to $300 billion in federally insured loans available to refinance the mortgages of borrowers in danger of foreclosure.

With passage of the bill virtually assured in the House, the debate over how best to address the downturn in housing now shifts back to the Senate where Democrats drafting a similar plan must overcome the reservations, if not outright opposition, of a more robust Republican minority.

President Bush has called on Congress to pass very specific legislation to update the operations of the Federal Housing Administration; to tighten regulation of the government-sponsored lending companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; and to let state and local housing authorities use tax exempt bonds to refinance bad loans.

But Mr. Bush opposes the more expansive legislation pursued by Democrats.

The Financial Services Committee approved the bill by a vote of 46 to 21, with 10 Republicans joining the Democrats in favor of it.

Comcast profit falls, but broadband totals surprise

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — Comcast Corp. said Thursday that its profit declined 12.5% compared with a year-ago quarter that included a gain, but the stock rose more than 8% on better-than-expected increases in broadband subscribers.
Comcast (CMCSK:comcast corp new cl a spl
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4:00pm 05/01/2008

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CMCSK 21.88, +1.64, +8.1%) , the largest U.S. cable operator, said it earned $732 million, or 24 cents a share, compared with $837 million or 26 cents a share in the same quarter a year ago.
The latest quarter included a $144 million gain related to the breakup of a partnership with rival Insight Communications. Results in the prior year’s first quarter included a $300 million gain related to the transfer of cable systems in Kansas City, south and west Texas to Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC:time warner cable inc cl a

Downloading Free Movies: How it Works

Downloading free movies is an easy thing to do: you simply use some free software that links you to a peer to peer file sharing network, and choose the movies on the network that you want. So how does it work? Where do these movies come from? Actually they are stored on somebody else’s hard disk, and it is not difficult to do.
With a p2p software package, the software you use accesses the hard disk of other members of the network. Many of the different companies that offer the software are connected to the same network. Although the software is basically free of charge, you generally pay a one-time life subscription that pays for a boosted version of the software (essential for large files such as movies), the other software you get such as DVD burning software and DVD players, and also for support.

Best Lottery Software

The best lottery software on the market is NO lottery software. What do I mean by this? Why spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on lottery prediction software or pick 3 lottery software when you can develop your own system based on UNMATCHED numbers. Half these lotto programs out on the market do not work, cost way too much, and are a piece of junk. I promise you these type of programs do not work. My best advice to you is to find a strategy book on how to win at pick 3 for a one time for a one time fee and stick to that.The best lotto tip I can share with you is to play UNMATCHED numbers. For those of you out there that are new to pick 3, let me share with you what exactly UNMATCHED numbers are. UNMATCHED numbers are combinations of 3 numbers which do not repeat. For instance, 1-2-3, 8-3-4, 5-9-0, 3-1-4, 6-7-8, and 0-1-4 are all examples of unmatched numbers.

Buying on margin to make huge gains

Buying on margin can be a very effective way to leverage your money in the stock market. Let me ask you something. If you wanted to make $100 in the stock, would it be easier to make $100 from $500 or $1000? $1000 of course.

If you make $100 from $500 that is a 20% increase. That may be a little hard to pull off in 1 month. But if you make $100 from $1000 that is only a 10% increase in a month. Now I’m sure you all realize that the more money you have in the market the more you can pull out. So let me give you an example on how margin does just that.

Tom wants to buy stock ABC. It is a good stock that he believes will go up. The stock is currently trading at $85. He buys 100 shares of ABC. 2 years go by and ABC is trading at $170. Tom is excited and sells his stock. This gives him a 100% increase in 2 years.

In this example Tom made a good profit of his investment. But there is a way in which Tom could have made even more money. What is it?

Interesting Times For Forex Trading Beginners

The first quarter of 2008 saw the United States Dollar lose about 12% of its value against the Japanese Yen. It also sunk to new lows against the Euro. While these facts may have profound implications for the movers and shakers of the world economies, what do they really mean for those just beginning to break into forex trading?

To make the above data more relevant to the beginner, this particular example can be applied–an American consumer with one dollar could buy 110 Yen worth of Japanese candies at the start of 2008. But towards the middle of March, the same one dollar could only buy about 96 Yen worth of Japanese candies.

This kind of volatility can have disastrous consequences in the real world, especially to an American importer of Japanese candies as the example above would suggest. On the other hand, forex traders, especially those with their ears firmly planted on the ground, could actually have cashed in big time on this kind of currency fluctuation.

During times like this, veteran forex traders might actually issue a caution to those just beginning to test the forex trading waters. The reason is simple–beginners might become too spoiled. They may think that making huge amounts of money is this easy.