Poof Goes a Decade of Microsoft Profit: When stock options are treated as a wage expense, Microsoft's earnings history will need to be radically restated. Actual net profit would be flat or decreasing through most of the past decade. Financial analysis by Bill Parish estimates a stunning 65 percent of Microsoft's cash did not originate from product sales but rather from tax benefits associated with the exercise of stock options, employees prepaying their own wages, and the sale of put contracts on its own stock. [John Robb's Radio Weblog]
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IBM's Hot Tip for Data Storage: Researchers have pioneered a novel method of storing data with tiny pits heated in a sheet of plastic. The read/write process is approximately 20 times denser than can be achieved with the best magnetic storage systems today. [BBC News Sci/Tech]
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Record Biz Burning Question: The CD-burning technologies that make piracy easier these days also make people who buy music want to buy more. Research from Jupiter Media Metrix concluded that people using file-sharing networks were more likely to spend money on music. [Wired News]
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