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Digest

Talk of the day: Bluetooth deal nibbles at array of smaller items

By TIMES WIRES
Published June 13, 2007

The consortium behind the Bluetooth wireless standard announced Tuesday that Nokia Corp., the world's largest maker of cell phones, is contributing a technology that promises to bring the wireless connections to devices that are too small for regular Bluetooth chips. The technology, called Wibree, opens up the possibility of a host of small wearable gadgets, like watches, heart-rate monitors, pedometers and pill boxes that communicate with Bluetooth-equipped cell phones or computers. A watch could display the user's incoming text messages, for instance. Wibree has a lower data rate and much lower power consumption than Bluetooth, which is in widespread use as the interface between cell phones and wireless headsets. That means smaller batteries that don't have to be charged often, unlike Bluetooth headsets. Devices with Wibree chips will not be able to communicate with existing Bluetooth-equipped devices. However, future Bluetooth devices could relatively easily and cheaply be upgraded to include the ability to talk to Wibree devices, since the technologies use the same frequencies, and no new antenna or radio components would be needed.

Blockbuster blasts into Netflix niche

Blockbuster Inc. is offering lower-priced plans for online movie rentals as it competes with Netflix Inc. in a market it said could grow 43 percent this year. Blockbuster said Tuesday it would offer a plan letting customers place online orders to rent three movies at a time for $16.99, a dollar cheaper than its most popular offering, called "Total Access." The movies are mailed to the customer. The difference is that customers on the cheaper plan, called "Blockbuster by Mail, " won't get a free rental when they return DVDs to a store instead of mailing them back. They will, however, get a coupon for one free in-store rental per month. Netflix charges $17.99 for a three-out-at-one-time plan, and it has begun throwing in movies streamed over the Internet for customers with high-speed access. Netflix doesn't operate stores, but it got a head start in the Internet ordering and mail delivery of DVDs and boasts more online subscribers than Blockbuster.

Investor activism can damage credit

Companies that make concessions to shareholder activists can erode their own credit worthiness, a report released Tuesday by ratings company Moody's Investors Service shows. Shareholder activists, who are increasingly exerting their influence over how executives run public companies, can hurt credit quality, especially when their efforts lead to a breakup of the company or a sale of assets designed to reward investors, according to Mark Watson, a co-author of the report.

Can't pay tax bill? Just charge it

Small businesses are having a love affair with credit cards, and paying tax on plastic is the latest phase. It's a worrisome trend, according to some, though credit card companies and some analysts say the practice helps owners better control cash flow. Cards loom ever larger in the world of small business, partly because the rise of credit scoring has made it harder to get bank loans. Credit-card spending on tax payments and preparation by small businesses increased a staggering 80 percent over the past year, according to a new study by Visa USA.

[Last modified June 13, 2007, 02:15:37]