meetings

Once a year the people who own stock in Apple get a chance to make their voice heard regarding the direction of the company.

This year, that's Thursday. Though the issues up for vote on the ballot this year are nothing out of the ordinary--reelecting the same slate of board members, changes to employee stock plans, salary, and other compensation for the Apple's top executives--there's always the wild card of shareholder proposals.

Investors overall should have little to complain about when it comes to the company's finances. Apple posted a profit of $3.37 billion, or $… Read more

On2 Technologies has filed an update with the SEC on its proposed merger with Google, hoping to put to rest some key questions.

On2, which makes video compression software, announced Monday that the update includes certain key highlights about the merger and some frequently asked questions.

On2 agreed on August 5 to be acquired by Google for $106.5 million, a deal already approved by its board of directors. The terms call for each share of On2 to be exchanged for 60 cents worth of Google common stock.

With its board anxious for investors to approve the deal, On2 outlined some of the risks … Read more

Windows 7 isn't just getting good reviews, it's also selling well, CEO Steve Ballmer told shareholders Thursday.

Delivering opening remarks at Microsoft's shareholder meeting, Ballmer said that Windows 7 was off to a "fantastic start."

"We've already sold twice as many units as any OS in a comparable time frame," Ballmer said. "Windows 7 is simply the best PC operating system that we or anyone else has ever built."

By last week, Windows 7 accounted for 4 percent of Web-accessing devices, according to Net Applications; it took Vista more than … Read more

SAN DIEGO--At DemoFall 09 here Tuesday morning, one theme quickly emerged: new applications for collaborative video meetings.

First, Hewlett-Packard introduced its Skyroom videoconferencing application for PCs. But in my opinion, the better answer is Fuze Box's Fuze Meeting. This is a nice application for the iPhone or BlackBerry that allows multiple users to conduct multimedia meetings via their mobile devices.

It's designed to make it possible to add participants easily and quickly from various social-networking services' friends lists--like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter--to a real-time meeting session.

Like Skyroom, Fuze Meeting allows users to have high-definition meetings--on the iPhone, … Read more

First up, Eric narrowly escapes getting struck by lightning but still gets to see fireballs race past his window in the wee hours of the morning. True story.

Then a PSA: Dong finds a new old charge on his AT&T phone bill and explains why you should look at yours more closely.

Then, Kanye Interruptus, Serena's intimidation, and Joe Wilson mouthing off? What's going on?!! We share our theories.

Lastly, we're apparently in the wrong business. Dong explains why we should be in the Wi-Fi standards business. From the sound of it, it's a … Read more

Microsoft's board on Friday voted to give shareholders more say in how the software maker pays its executives.

The board of directors approved a plan that calls for a vote on the company's executive compensation every three years. However, under the board's plan, the vote will be advisory in nature.

The first of the advisory measures is set to be a part of this year's shareholder meeting, which takes place November 19.

"Given the interest in executive pay, we think it makes sense to encourage more dialogue with our shareholders on our compensation approach," … Read more

ProjectTrack Personal allows users to keep track of a variety of projects with a simple, attractive interface. This powerful program will provide users with a wide range of tools for project management.

ProjectTrack's interface is similar to that of many Microsoft Office products, meaning that most users will feel comfortable with it right off the bat. The program is organized into four sections, one for Projects, Contacts, Documents, and Companies. Within each section users can organize every possible piece of information a project might require. We especially liked the Project section, which includes an overview page with indicators for … Read more

REDMOND, Wash.--In the wake of Microsoft's search deal with Yahoo, online chief Qi Lu outlined why the business is so important to Microsoft and how the company hopes to make headway.

For one thing, he promised the crowd of financial analysts, it can be a huge money maker.

"When you are at scale it can be a hugely profitable business," Lu said.

The problem is that many of the costs are the same even if you are not operating at scale, which is the place Microsoft has found itself. "Even if you have one user … Read more

REDMOND, Wash.--While gesture recognition, such as that seen in Project Natal can help gaming, Microsoft's Craig Mundie showed how it will also transform the office.

In a demo, Microsoft's top research and strategy officer showed how the desktop computer of the future will use an entire office as both display and input device, with voice and gestures augmenting a number of touch screens.

"The real question is what killer apps (will mark the) new era and what will be the user interface that people use to get at them," Mundie said, speaking at Microsoft's … Read more