MOTORTREND - By Greg N. Brown

Porsche’s roll out of a new 911 is as predictable as the thunderstorms that rumble across Germany every summer. First come the Carrera 2 coupes and cabriolets, followed by the all-wheel-drive Carrera 4s. A Targa rolls in next, and then the gale-force Turbo and whirlwinds of the ferocious GTs complete the perfect storm whipped up each time Porsche reinvents its iconic sports car.

Porsche revealed its thoroughly transformed 911 Carrera 2s earlier this year, and we had no compunction about calling them the best 911s yet. Unfortunately, wet roads and pervasive squadrons of radar-wielding polizei blew away our chance to enjoy the full force of the two more powerful boxer sixes, the refined chassis, and the new twin-clutch automatic gearbox.

Read the rest of this entry »

International Herald Tribune - Published: August 14, 2008

By Michael M. Grynbaum

NEW YORK: Inflation reached a 17-year high in the United States last month, fueled by high gasoline and food prices, all but assuring that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates steady for the time being.

Consumer prices were 5.6 percent higher last month than they were in July 2007, a brisker pace than economists had expected, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday.

That was the sharpest annual increase since January 1991, as Americans paid more for clothing, food, transportation and recreational products.

Read the rest of this entry »

CNNMoney - Last Updated: August 14, 2008: 6:45 PM EDT

Wall Street manages to break the 2-session losing streak, thanks to falling crude prices and strength in commodities.

By Alexandra Twin, CNNMoney.com senior writer

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Lower oil prices helped fire up a stock market advance Thursday, as investors looked beyond the morning’s big spike in consumer inflation and opted to scoop up shares hit in the recent retreat.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) added 0.7%, while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 (SPX) index added 0.6%. The Nasdaq composite (COMP) gained 1%.

Stocks tumbled Tuesday and Wednesday on a mix of higher oil prices and more financial market malaise. That initially spilled into Thursday morning trading, as investors considered a spike in consumer inflation and Wal-Mart’s mixed outlook.

Read the rest of this entry »

BUSINESSWEEK - Breaking News August 14, 2008, 10:08AM EST

Energy prices fueled a 0.8% CPI jump—double the rate economists had been expecting. But August’s slump in crude oil could spell relief

By BusinessWeek, Standard & Poor’s, and Action Economics staff

An energy-fueled 0.8% monthly surge in consumer prices—double the rate expected by economists—boosted the year-over-year inflation rate to the highest level since the 1991 Gulf War. But the big August slump in energy prices could counteract the July jump. Meanwhile, another report on first-time unemployment filings points to continued weakness in the U.S. labor market.

The government’s consumer price index for July, released Aug. 14, showed a jumbo 0.8% increase in the headline inflation figure, more than the 0.4% expected by the market. Excluding food and energy, prices rose 0.3%, slightly more than the 0.2% consensus. Energy prices surged 4.0%, and food was up 0.9% in the month. Energy prices were up 29.3% from a year ago, and food 6.0%.

Read the rest of this entry »

FORTUNE - August 12, 2008, 8:27 pm

By Michael V. Copeland

SAN FRANCISCO - Given all the drama surrounding Yahoo’s corporate activities, it’s easy to forget that there is a business still to be run and new products to launch. On Tuesday at Yahoo’s San Francisco-based skunk works - known as the Brickhouse - the embattled Internet company unveiled a new location services platform dubbed Fire Eagle. (Yes, it’s a silly name but say it 10 times fast and think of Firefox and it begins to sound OK.)

Location is one of those things that has huge potential for adding a layer of context to all kinds of services on the Web.  Geo-tagging - the practice of adding geographic information to Web sites, photos and videos - is gathering steam across all sorts of Internet-based properties, from restaurant review sites to social networks and house hunting services. What has been missing, however, is an easy way to insert yourself into that growing stream of geographic information.

Read the rest of this entry »

InformationWeek - August 14, 2008 01:21 PM

The federal appeals court said open source users that do not comply with the software’s strict licensing terms can be sued for copyright infringement — even if the software is free.

By Paul McDougall

A federal appeals court has struck down a lower court ruling that found that open source copyrights may not be legally enforceable if they’re licensed under terms that are “intentionally broad.”Ruling on an appeal brought by software developer Robert Jacobsen, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said Wednesday that open source users that do not comply with the software’s strict licensing terms can, in fact, be sued for copyright infringement — even if the software is free.

The court also ruled that publishers of free software can sue copyright violators for monetary damages.

Read the rest of this entry »

Technology August 14, 2008, 12:01AM EST

Support is building for a measure that would make companies get consumers’ approval before collecting info about their Web surfing

by Heather Green

Support for a law aimed at protecting consumers’ online privacy is gathering steam in Washington. Representative Edward Markey (D-Mass.), head of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, says he and others plan to introduce comprehensive online privacy legislation in the coming congressional session.

Dubbed the Online Privacy Bill of Rights, the law may require companies to get approval from consumers before collecting information about their Web-surfing habits, a process known as behavioral targeting that helps Web sites more strategically place ads. The legislation may also demand that companies disclose more information on how they collect and use people’s Web-use data. “There is a reasonable chance that we will see something in the next Congress,” says Michael Hintze, an associate general counsel at Microsoft (MSFT).
Read the rest of this entry »