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Critics pile on HP as Moody's cuts rating

Moody's cut Hewlett-Packard's rating today, topping a day marked by a rash of critical articles about the Silicon Valley giant.

Moody's Investor Services cut HP's long-term credit rating to Baa1, three levels above junk, from A3, according to Bloomberg. The rating agency said that HP's "credit profile will remain weaker than previously expected over the intermediate term," among other reasons.

This comes in the wake of an $8.8 billion writedown related to alleged fraudulent accounting at Autonomy, the software company HP acquired last year.

And HP's core businesses aren't faring … Read more

Magnetic, floating train can reach 310 mph

Japan continues to set the standards for high-speed transport with its latest prototype, a magnet-powered train designed by Central Japan Railway Co.

A prototype Series Lo train was unveiled at a test facility in Tsuru, Japan, late last week, according to The Daily Yomiuri.

The magnetic, levitating train can reach speeds of 310 mph. Without actually touching any tracks and therefore not subject to friction, the train can reach much higher speeds than standard models. The train's cars can hold up to 24 passengers.

Central Japan Railway Co., also known as JR Tokai, plans to begin five-car test runs … Read more

Cut the Rope is fun for your Android device

Cut the Rope is the sort of Android game we love: supersimple to play but challenging to master, with a side benefit in the form of a physics lesson. Om Nom is a candy-loving monster who arrives at your front door in a cardboard box. To make him happy (and win gold stars and unlock new levels) you must feed him candy. The catch is you have to lower the candy on a rope (more of a string, actually) that you must cut at just the right place to drop it into Om Nom's mouth. You must cut more … Read more

Return of the $79.99 Roku-Hulu Plus combo deal

This is an update of a deal I first wrote about back in June. With the holidays upon us, it's the perfect time for this "rerun."

Through the end of next week, and while supplies last, Roku is bundling the Roku HD box, a six-month Hulu Plus subscription, and an HDMI cable for $79.99 shipped. Those items would normally cost you around $128 if purchased separately.

A brief personal story: we're having a bit of trouble with our cable service. For some reason, the signal from ABC has degraded in the last couple weeks, leaving … Read more

Apple issues Final Cut Pro update

If you are a user of Apple's Final Cut Pro video editing software, you may be pleased that Apple has released an update that adds some nice enhancements to the package.

Some notable additions to the software are its support for dual viewers that have separate scope displays which allow you to better match aspects of frames. The program also now provides flexible clip connections which keeps your various connected clips and snippets together when you move them around in the storyline.

The entire set of enhancements to the program includes the following:

Expand multichannel audio files directly in … Read more

Highly addictive simple-to-learn game

Disclosure up front: we've played and been addicted to Fruit Ninja for a couple of years now! The goal of Fruit Ninja sounds weird: you get a bunch of fruit tossed up on the screen and you have to slice each one in half with a swipe of your finger (which represents a blade). Miss three fruits and you die. Slice a bomb instead of a fruit, and you die. Successfully slice enough fruit and you get one mistake wiped off your record. Very simple. And fiendishly addictive fun.

Fruit Ninja installs quickly. The paid app is very reasonable … Read more

Sony to close factory, cut one-fifth of jobs at Tokyo HQ

Beleaguered electronics maker Sony will cut thousands of jobs by March as it continues to restructure its operations to try to remain competitive in the market.

The electronics giant said the restructuring will save more than $370 million annually, but will likely have a minimal effect on this fiscal-year's earnings.

Sony said in a statement that the efforts stem back to April when it announced it would kickstart its "revival" plan by cutting 10,000 workers across its global business, including about 3,000 in Japan. The latest announcement offers details of how Sony is making those … Read more

Five-deal Friday: iPads, Roku boxes, Vudu movies, and more!

Well, yesterday was kind of a train wreck, huh? Believe me that I get just as frustrated as you when a vendor suddenly jacks up the price on a product, as TigerDirect did yesterday on the Vizio sound bar. It's worse than a sellout, because it smacks of bait-and-switch tactics (even though the company's own promotional e-mail showed it at the higher price, so that accusation doesn't hold water).

Anyway, I still feel bad about it, which is why I'm giving you five -- count 'em, five -- deals today. Without further ado:

1. Wal-Mart has … Read more

HP increases job cuts to 29,000

Hewlett-Packard will cut more of its global staff than first planned, upping the figure from around 27,000 to 29,000 employees.

The world's largest computer maker said today in its

10-Q quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it will, "eliminate approximately 29,000 positions in connection with the 2012 Plan through fiscal year 2014."

HP said in May that it would cut 27,000 jobs -- roughly 8 percent of its global workforce -- and plow the $3 billion to $3.5 billion it says it will save into research and … Read more

Optimize video viewing experience

The Power Video Cutter is a tool for converting videos from one format to another and to perform simple editing to cut out part of a file and create a new file. While novice users might need to spend some time with the Help file before cutting files, the app proved easy to use.

The program's compact interface looks professional and clean, with large buttons to locate the source file and output directory. Nearly 20 file types are supported, including FLV, DVD, MP4, and AVI. The download process for acquiring videos off of YouTube is quick and they have … Read more