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ChangeQuakes Of The Week

December 04, 2006

TOP CHANGEQUAKES OF THE WEEK
** Pfizer Shares Sink As Deaths End Cholesterol Drug Development
** Unlocked Phones To Shake Up Wireless Industry
** GM Plans To Build Plug-In Electric Vehicle
** O Come All Ye Online Shoppers

MORE CHANGEQUAKES TO WATCH

TOP CHANGEQUAKES OF THE WEEK

Pfizer Shares Sink As Deaths End Cholesterol Drug Development

(CORPORATE CHANGEQUAKE) -- Shares of Pfizer (PFE), the world's largest drugmaker, sank today on news that the company had halted development of a key cholesterol treatment. The news is devastating to Pfizer, which had been counting on the drug to revitalize stagnant sales hurt by patent expirations on key products.

www.usatoday.com

RELATED ARTICLE: Loss Of Heart Drug Is 'Shocker'
www.usatoday.com

Unlocked Phones To Shake Up Wireless Industry

(CORPORATE CHANGEQUAKE) -- Customers -- some from as far away as Canada -- camped through the night outside the store on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. No, it wasn't the first shipment of Sony's PlayStation 3 or Nintendo's Wii gaming console they awaited -- but cell phones. And not just any cell phones. These were among the first in the U.S. that can be used on any one of several wireless networks.

www.businessweek.com

GM Plans To Build Plug-In Electric Vehicle

(TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGEQUAKE) -- General Motors Corp. became the first automaker to commit to make a rechargeable hybrid vehicle, a move intended to distance the world's largest automaker from its harmful reputation for producing gas-guzzling trucks.

today.reuters.com

O Come All Ye Online Shoppers

(ECONOMIC CHANGEQUAKE) -- A post-Thanksgiving warning from retail giant Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) that November sales were the worst in a decade raised concerns that retailers were in for a lackluster holiday shopping season. But early measures of Web traffic show online retailers have little to fear.

www.businessweek.com

RELATED ARTICLE: Security Pros More Skeptical About E-Commerce
www.eweek.com

MORE CHANGEQUAKES TO WATCH

CORPORATE CHANGEQUAKES

LSI Logic To Buy Agere For $4 Billion

LSI Logic Corp., a maker of chips found in DVD recorders and hard drives, said Monday it would buy Agere Systems for about $4 billion in stock, broadening LSI's reach into the market for mobile phone chips.

www.eweek.com

No Rush To Adopt Office 2007

Even Microsoft partner companies acknowledge the substantial lag time for adopting new versions of Office. The president of one Virginia-based systems integration company was merely admitting what everyone knows when he told the Redmond Channel Partner newsletter, "A lot of (his customers) still use Office 97 and it works fine."

www.eweek.com

TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGEQUAKES

Cisco Advances IPTV Vision

Cisco Systems will continue its push into the uncharted IP TV waters at ITU Telecom World in Hong Kong with a series of new products and enhancements to the Cisco 7600 router series that will enable service providers to deliver the "Video 2.0" experience. In reaction to the rise of VOD (video on demand), Web sites such as YouTube and the ability to watch live TV over a broadband Internet link, Cisco is working to help carriers create infrastructures capable of effectively delivering a range of entertainment-grade video services.

www.eweek.com

You Oughta Be In Webcasts

Welcome to the new wave of Web video. Far from the land of dogs on skateboards and Webcam yakkers on YouTube (GOOG ), this online genre of scripted programs is attracting small, but passionate, groups of fans. The networks and talent agencies are watching closely, and the phenomenon is giving indie filmmakers new ways to get their works seen.

www.businessweek.com

New Mobile Phones to Use Text-to-Speech Engine

The Pantech Group, the second-largest mobile phone company in South Korea, has agreed to use Nuance Communications' RealSpeak Mobile SF to power its PG-6200, PG-8000 and PG-3700 mobile phones in multiple languages, including Russian, English and Mandarin. RealSpeak is a text-to-speech engine designed to accurately convert text into clear, synthesized speech, delivering high-quality readings of SMS and e-mail messages.

www.eweek.com

REGULATORY CHANGEQUAKES

AMD, Nvidia Receive DOJ Antitrust Subpoenas

Two of the largest names in the graphics chip industry were hit with antitrust subpoenas during the past two days by the Department of Justice. In a statement released on Friday, chip maker Nvidia said it had received a subpoena from the San Francisco Office of the DOJ's Antitrust Division regarding possible violations relating to the company's graphics processing units and cards. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), who entered the graphics chip industry this past July when it purchased Nvidia rival ATI for $5.6 billion, admitted to receiving a similar subpoena, also relating to antitrust violations.

www.extremetech.com

ECONOMIC CHANGEQUAKES

HIV Affecting Global Workforce

HIV/AIDS is having a crippling effect on the workforce of many countries, a report by the International Labour Organization for World AIDS Day says.

news.bbc.co.uk

Experts Worry Warmer Earth Will Slash Farm Yields

Urgent action is needed to make sure a warming climate doesn't slash crop yields, heighten the risk of famine and deepen poverty for the world's most vulnerable people, according to international experts.

today.reuters.com

Jihadists Threaten Cyber Attack On Financial Institutions

A jihadist Website warns that attacks will be launched through the month of December against online stock trading and banking Web sites, but it's highly likely that the threat is baseless, the Homeland Security Department said Thursday.

www.usatoday.com

FDA APPROVAL CHANGEQUAKES

FDA To Study Safety Of Popular Heart Stents

Millions of chest pain and heart attack sufferers thought they were getting a phenomenal medical advance when they received drug-coated stents. Now their long-term safety is in question. An FDA panel will meet on the devices later this week.

news.bostonherald.com

MEDICAL CHANGEQUAKES

Study: Diabetes Cases To Reach 380 Million By 2025

The global diabetes epidemic is projected to affect 7% of the world's adult population by 2025 as developing countries embrace bad health habits associated with affluence, medical experts said on Monday. "This is an epidemic that seems to have crept up on people," Martin Silink, incoming president of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), told a news conference. Experts say diabetes kills as many people as HIV/AIDS and is emerging as one of the chief public health challenges of the 21st century, especially in developing nations.

today.reuters.com