Bloomberg: Dell Inc., the world's second-largest personal-computer maker, lost the Black Friday retail battle against Hewlett-Packard Co. in Best Buy Co. stores, Thomas Weisel Partners said in a report.

Customers preferred Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) PCs 5-to-1 over Dell's during the three-day weekend, according to a survey of 35 stores conducted by Doug Reid, an analyst at Thomas Weisel. Best Buy is the largest U.S. electronics retailer.

Chief Executive Officer Michael Dell ditched the company's direct-sales-only model in an attempt to win back the PC sales lead held by Hewlett-Packard for more than two years. He put Dell products in 20,000 stores worldwide, starting with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Best Buy in the U.S.

``Dell has significant work to do,'' New York-based Reid wrote today in the report. ``The only negative comments in our survey with respect to brand were aimed at Dell, with survey respondents noting potential quality issues.''

The survey focused on the U.S. consumer market, which Reid estimated accounts for 13 percent of Dell's revenue. Consumer sales represent about 20 percent of total revenue worldwide.

See Also:
Dell: We Told You Things Were Lousy, And They Are. Look Out Below
Dell Sales Miss By A Billion, Profit Good, No Guidance
Sorry State Of PC Industry Getting Worse

Photo: phil_g

The world’s largest smartphone maker High Tech Computer (HTC) has launched Touch HD handset in Taiwan. The handset is somewhat similar to the Apple’s iPhone 3G and is considered as its competitor. HTC has partnered with Taiwan Mobile for the launch of the new handset. The retail price is not yet decided by Taiwan Mobile but HTC has suggested NT$25,900 (US$776). I think this price doesn’t suite specially in the financial situation. The timeframe of the device to be available in other regions is still not confirmed, but according to reports Touch HD will be available in Singapore soon. The new handset weighs 147 grams, has a 3.8″ touchscreen and measures 115 millimeters by 62.8mm by 12mm. Taiwan Mobile is committed to support the country’s economy.

According to Chief Operating Officer of Taiwan Mobile, Cliff Lai:

If we went with the iPhone, our money would go to America, But we’re not interested in boosting the American economy. We’re interested in boosting Taiwan’s economy.

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Cyber criminals have gained back control of a shut botnet that was used for spamming.

The “Srizbi” botnet  was taken back in control, said chief security content officer Fengmin Gong of FireEye Inc.

McColo Corp., was a web-host that used to do criminal activities and was shutdown 2 weeks ago. And now the PCs infected with Srizbi and other malwares were unable to communicate with their command servers,meaning that the new “BOSSES”  channeled the control to their servers.

Now many companies including FireEye, VeriSign Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Network Solutions Inc., to detect Srizbi on domains [i guess you have missed a connecting verb here, like are doing everything to detect].

Once each bot was updated, the next command was to send spam. We’re trying to find a solution, and talking about ideas of how they can help fund efforts for some period of time to [preemptively] register domains,said Gong.

Looks like Srizbi  can turn out to be massive threat not only to users but the security enterprise and ISPs as well,  unless it is controlled soon…

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TVs and laptops won’t be the only hot items in South Carolina this Black Friday. The state is offering an unusual perk to shoppers: no sales tax on handguns, rifles and shotguns.

“We are a gun-owning-tradition state, a hunting-tradition state,” said Republican state Rep. Mike Pitts, a retired police officer who introduced the proposal and has promoted other pro-gun legislation.

Legislators approved the holiday in June over the objection of Republican Gov. Mark Sanford, also an avid hunter and gun supporter. He called it a stunt that only affects the timing of a gun purchase, without effectively promoting gun ownership or demand.

The National Rifle Association said no other states are considering a tax-free holiday on gun sales, though the group believes they should.

“Everyone is faced with tough times, and we believe, in addition to helping hunters and shooting sports enthusiasts, this will also help the local economy and merchants,” said NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam. “This shows South Carolina cares about America’s hunting heritage, cares about law-abiding gun owners, and other states should follow suit.”

Monster, one of the leading companies in online careers and recruitment resources has acquired 50% in CareerOne, Australia’s second largest digital employment brand. The two companies would now offer joint online and print recruitment services to News Limited’s, parent company of CareerOne, 140 newspapers. The deal would enable Monster to significantly expand its prowess globally.

“This new relationship between Monster and News Limited combines two industry leaders to jointly deliver recruitment solutions to both job seekers and for employers seeking talent in this important region,” said Sal Iannuzzi, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Monster Worldwide. “With 140 newspapers reaching nearly 12 million people each week, News Limited provides the largest audience of any publisher. When coupled with the Monster experience, this joint venture will become the leading career and recruitment destination in Australia.”

Press Release

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Quote: Microsoft is listed fifth in the Top 10 list of the worst spam service ISPs compiled by Spamhaus.org.

Spammers are advertising links to sites that "peddle fake pharmacy products, porn, and Nigerian 419 scams" on Microsoft's Live.com and Livefilestore.com sites because they know that the Microsoft sites won't get blocked by antispam groups, writes Brian Krebs on his Security Fix Blog at the Washington Post.

Spamhaus has been alerting Microsoft to the problem for some time, but to no avail, Richard Cox, Spamhaus' chief information officer, told Krebs. Other security companies, including McAfee and Marshal, have also been warning about increases in spam and scams on Microsoft-hosted sites.

Read more here

I think I have said all I needed to say about this issue and the evidence is all over my Live Space to prove it.

http://adacosta.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!E8E5CC039D51E3DB!20273.entry
http://adacosta.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!E8E5CC039D51E3DB!18809.entry
http://adacosta.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!E8E5CC039D51E3DB!20330.entry

As Thanksgiving nears many may notice the holiday decorations going up at malls, shopping centers, and around neighborhoods everywhere.  And with that comes thoughts of gift exchanges, Secret Santas, and Yankee swaps sweeping over the office cubicles, playgroups, and book clubs.

Gone are the days of yore when the person in charge of the said gift exchange had to keep meticulous records and notes carefully hidden from all the participants.  Just like Fantasy Football, Secret Santas can now be organized online, too.

Gift exchanges used to be purely for fun, but now those pinching their pennies are using the Secret Santa as a way to save money.  Rather than get a gift for everyone in your family, which for some people can be in the double digits, a gift exchange retains the spirit of giving on a much smaller scale.  An added bonus? If you only have one person to shop for and therefore spend less overall, you can spend more time and thought on the actual gift itself.

With so many in need around the world, another great way to leverage the Secret Santa concept while giving back is to donate money to a charity in the gift recipient’s name. But don’t just pick a random charity, think about the gift recipient’s interests and passions and let that guide your charity choice.

Charitable Secret Santa

Great tools to search different charities online are:

Charity Navigator - At this comprehensive site you can search for foundations by the charity’s name or keyword. Or you can browse by categories including Animals, Education, and Environment.  As you search, you can save the charities that look interesting to narrow down your choices for the ultimate gift. The gift that keeps on giving. Activists and good samaritans alike will appreciate the ease of use and information all in one place. Those who want to know exactly where their money is going will appreciate the pie charts that illustrate just that.

Just Give - Touts itself as THE destination for charitable online giving.  Like Charity Navigator, Just Give lets users search by category, key word, and charity name.  Just Give goes a step further though with its inspiring stories of both adults and kids that give back.  If you’re someone that is on the fence because you consider shopping half the fun of the holidays, Just Give offers what you’re craving. With a Just Give gift guide and holiday collections, any shopper will be satisfied.  For those who are notorious for giving gift cards, you can give the gift of charity with Just Give’s gift cards as well.

Organizing Your Secret Santa

Whether you’re giving something tangible or something charitable, the following tools will aid with planning, organizing and executing the gift exchange methods of your choice:

SecretSanta.com - A great tool for managing gift exchanges for both small and large groups.  Are you the lucky intern that’s been tasked with organizing your entire office’s gift exchange?  Not only does SecretSanta.com explain the nuts and bolts of what the Secret Santa, Yankee Swap, and White Elephant gift exchanges are, the site also offers step-by-step instructions for creating and managing the event, as well as creating the guest list. 

Users can even save their gift exchanges year after year and set rules for the exchange so that if needed, certain people won’t draw each other’s names. (Handy if you were secretly dating that guy on the second floor and have since married the boss). SecretSanta.com is free to use.

Swap-Bot.com - A site not specifically designed for Secret Santa gift exchanges, however, it’s a handy tool that one can use to organize one. Swap-Bot.com is ideal for virtual groups or forums that would like to do a gift exchange since it’s set up to allow members of the “swap” to send items through the mail. 

Other features include setting price limits on items and a rating system.  Don’t have a group, but want to be part of a gift exchange anyway?  At Swap-Bot.com you can sign up to participate in all kinds of swaps in different categories. Many of the open swaps are craft-related. Swap-Bot.com is also free.

Elfster.com - Probably the most sophisticated of the three, Elfster offers many ways to set up a gift exchange. Even those people who don’t have an email address can participate via Elfster.  In addition to setting up the Secret Santa gift exchange, Elfster also offers tips & tricks for managing the exchanges for online communities, offices, and even Facebook groups and friends list.  This is done via a simple sign-up link you can share with those you’d like to invite.  Elfster also offers the security of restricting who can view the participants’ emails and how the participant Q & A is handled.

Jessica Smith has successfully brought her 8 years of marketing and business development experience home with her, literally. She is Chief Mom Advisor and the woman behind the idea for MomForce.com, Chief Mom Officer for Wishpot.com, and works with big brands including Walmart and Ford. Jessica offers a personal glimpse into her life as a mom and virtual executive at JessicaKnows.com. Her specialties include creating buzz and community for companies that target moms through new media. She has also been recently tapped as one of the 50 Most Influential and Powerful Women in Social Media as #23. Jessica enjoys the best of both worlds, motherhood and career, at home in the DC Metro area with her husband and young son. You can find her on Twitter as @jessicaknows.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, shapecharge

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Online payment service PayPal announced Monday that it has added a new layer of security for mobile phone users. The PayPal SMS Security Key gives users the option of receiving a unique six-digit security code via text message prior to logging in to their accounts. According to the company, the SMS (Short Message Service) security key generates the code every 30 seconds. Members will be required to input the code along with their usernames and passwords to sign in to their accounts.

PayPal's chief information security officer, Michael Barrett, believes this form of two-factor authentication, in which you need both something you know (your account password), and something you have (in this case, your mobile phone) is the next logical step for the company as it tries desperately to protect users against online security threats. Barrett says PayPal is "committed" to protecting customer accounts and it only makes sense for the company to deliver that protection "to something most people don't leave home without--their mobile phones."

The PayPal SMS Security Key is available now to customers in the U.S., Australia, Austria, Canada, and Germany. PayPal doesn't charge for the delivery of security codes to a cell phone, but it did warn that standard text messaging rates will still apply on each message.

Related: You can get two-factor authentication for your OpenID log-in. See The password that calls you: CallVerifID.

WSJ: Mr. Garcia is stepping down as head of the CDMA business, the unit that control's 70% of Sprint's customer base. The circumstances of Mr. Garcia's departure were not clear. The company spokeswoman declined to comment, and Mr. Garcia could not immediately be reached for comment.

Sprint has tapped Keith Cowan, president of strategy and corporate development, as an interim replacement for Mr. Garcia while it searches for a successor.

Sprint has had considerable turnover in upper management in the past year as it looks to revive its ailing business and catch up to rivals AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless. Dan Hesse, who took over as Sprint's chief executive late last year, has overhauled most top staff, adding a new chief financial officer, Robert Brust, while ousting executives such as Tim Kelly, former marketing chief, and Mark Angelino, former head of sales and distribution.

While the wireless industry is still experiencing steady growth, Sprint has steadily lost subscribers over the last year or so -- primarily from its Nextel walkie-talkie business.

Under Garcia, Sprint's CDMA business, on the other hand, has done comparatively better, but not great. For instance, it leads the industry at getting subscribers to pay for wireless data services, like Internet and text messaging.

But Sprint could have a rough Christmas: Its main rivals all have sexy, new smartphones -- AT&T (T) has Apple's (AAPL) iPhone, Verizon (VZ) has RIM's (RIMM) new touchscreen BlackBerry Storm, and T-Mobile has Google's (GOOG) G1. But Sprint doesn't have much to compete with, except a less sophisticated iPhone lookalike called the Samsung Instinct.

See Also:
Sprint Nextel Still Winning The Mobile Internet Wars
Sprint Nextel Stinks Up Another Quarter As 1 Million Customers Flee
New Wireless Deals, Tech To Shake Up Industry... Maybe, Someday

More and more moms are leaving the nine-to-five corporate grind and finding themselves working virtually from home in order to spend more quality time with their children. These balance-achieving moms need to stay productive, flexible, and as stress-free as possible what with carpooling the kids, making dinner, and advancing their careers.

As a mom who works virtually myself, I’ve tried out my share of productivity and communications tools. Now I’m going to share with you the five I can’t live without:

Google Apps

I use GMail to manage five different accounts related to the different projects I’m working on. I use Google docs to collaborate with other moms for event planning, project execution, and information capture. And Google calendar is a life saver when scheduling meetings because it plays nice with just about any calendaring platform out there. The bonus? Now that I have a T-Mobile G1, I cut out the step of a daily sync because Google’s Android platform syncs “over the air.” Meaning, I can focus on my child, the dishes, my clients, the mom communities, etc. instead of trying to remember the last time I synched my BlackBerry.

Remember the Milk

As a busy mom, every second counts. Fleeting ideas and phone calls can happen unexpectedly and sometimes at the most distracted part of my day (erm…that would be every part). Remember the Milk is a task list tool that I also use to capture those ideas, jot a quick note, or write down a few words to jog my memory later.

Using the Gmail Remember the Milk Add-on, this nifty little tool now lives within my Gmail screen. Handy and unintrusive, I don’t have to open any extra windows to get what’s in my head on that list. Literally, within seconds, it’s captured and saved. And with my hectic life? Every second counts. Alternatives to Remember the Milk include Jott and Evernote.

Twitter

Seems like more and more moms are on Twitter every day. So it was no surprise when the moms’ twitter streams made headlines recently after a Motrin ad rubbed many moms the wrong way. However, a lot of moms, like me, use Twitter as a way to keep up with current events, parenting resources, and developing friendships. And more moms than you might think are using Twitter as a professional networking tool. I’d even argue that I use Twitter stream as a blog reader that sees more action than my Google Reader.

Want to find moms on Twitter?

- Use Twitter Search with the search term mom, baby, or other keyword like baby sling, preschool, etc to find other like-minded moms on Twitter.

- Sign up for the Twitter Moms Ning group to connect and share with other Moms on Twitter and find new ones to follow.

- Look for a link to the mommy blogger’s Twitter profile on your mommy blogs.

Facebook

Sure, I’ve connected with childhood chums on Facebook as far back as elementary school on this ever-popular (some might even say THE most popular) social networking site. However, I also use it as an effective way to make important announcements about projects I’m working on, sharing resources I’ve found helpful with other moms, and discovering new blogs and websites to read and explore further.

The Notes application makes it easy to share my feed with those that might not be avid blog readers and the Groups function lets me make new connections within various niches of interest. I’ve even designed my own flair with the logos of the companies I work with. Facebook can be a total time waster, but if used properly it can be a valuable tool.

Feeling overwhelmed? Start with these mom-friendly Facebook apps:

- Add your blog, support your favorites and discover new ones with Blog Network.

- Support your favorite charity or express your passion for a cause with the Facebook application Causes.

- Escape from preschool TV show line-up and be entertained by taking your friends quizzes or making up your own with the Quizzes app.

YouMail

This is a neat application that works with your cell phone’s voicemail. A lot of people will find this useful, but moms especially. I know there are some times when because of a yapping puppy and a tired, cranky preschooler, I just can’t get to the phone. With YouMail, not only can I set up different voicemails depending on who the caller is, I can also see who left a voicemail in my email. This, with the ability to forward a voicemail by email to some else, helps me prioritize and therefore makes me productive.

Plus, it takes Caller-ID to a whole different level, by showing me not just the number but the location, too. Working virtually, I get calls from all over the country, so this feature is very useful when taking time zones and the appropriate time to return a call into consideration.

Living a balanced life as a full-time mom and a virtual executive isn’t easy and it’s certainly not without stress. But I’ve found that using a few key tools consistently, makes for a more productive and therefore, more successful outcome both with my family and my career.

What are your must have tools?

Jessica Smith has successfully brought her 8 years of marketing and business development experience home with her, literally. She is Chief Mom Advisor and the woman behind the idea for MomForce.com, Chief Mom Officer for Wishpot.com, and works with big brands including Walmart and Ford. Jessica offers a personal glimpse into her life as a mom and virtual executive at JessicaKnows.com. Her specialties include creating buzz and community for companies that target moms through new media. She has also been recently tapped as one of the 50 Most Influential and Powerful Women in Social Media as #23. Jessica enjoys the best of both worlds, motherhood and career, at home in the DC Metro area with her husband and young son. You can find her on Twitter as @jessicaknows.

Image courtesy of iStockPhoto, iofoto

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