| And it is worth real money ."
"In the first purchase of his collection, Sellam Ismail loaded the trunk of his car with old computers he stumbled upon at a flea market for USD 5 apiece. He soon had filled his three-car garage with what others would consider obsolete junk. Years later, his collection of early computers, printers and related parts is piled high across shelves and in chaotic heaps in a 4500-square-foot warehouse near Silicon Valley. And it is worth real money." .
Motorola to split into two companies in 2009
NEW YORK, USA: Motorola Inc said on Wednesday it would split into two publicly traded entities in 2009, indicating that it had no quick fix in sight for its money-losing handset division. Motorola, which gave into demands by activist investor Carl Icahn, saw its shares rise 26 cents to $10.02. Analysts worried about another year of disappointment from Motorola, which is losing market share to rivals Nokia and Samsung Electronics. "It could be 18 months before it happens, by which time the outlook for either of the businesses could be completely different," said London-based Nomura analyst Richard Windsor, who had hoped such a deal could be done this year. Icahn said Wednesday afternoon he would still pursue his proxy battle with Motorola unless it agreed to have Keith Meister, chairman of Icahn Enterprises and manager of Icahn's $8 billion fund, on the board.
Nursing: the recession-proof job market
When Heidi Sadowsky quit the finance sector, she abandoned a job market on the verge of collapse for one that may be air-tight: nursing. "I was never happy in my life in finance," said Sadowsky, 39, a former liaison for institutional investors and money managers at Citibank and Invesco. "I always felt like a square peg in a round hole. I decided I had to get out of this business. I was never cut out for this." Inspired by the compassion of nurses who cared for her terminally ill father, Sadowsky took up training last year at New York University's College of Nursing. Since she already had an undergraduate degree, she was accepted into the nursing school's accelerated 15-month bachelors program and she expects to graduate in May. At $64,000, the NYU tuition is far from cheap, but starting pay for graduates is up to $70,000 a year in New York City.
US car giant focuses on problems in core market
So that's one less bundle of problems in Alan Mulally's in-tray. It is 18 months since the former Boeing executive was called up by Bill Ford and asked to step in to replace him as chief executive of the historic carmaker, but if anything the challenges facing the company have become even more daunting in the interim. The sale of Jaguar and Land Rover put another $1.7bn in the $33bn kitty at Ford, but it is a cash fund that is being constantly eroded by the demands of its loss-making US business. That core business has been hamstrung for years by poor investment in anything except the gas-guzzling SUVs that have gone suddenly out of fashion. Meanwhile, Ford – in common with its Detroit cousins General Motors and Chrysler – has been having to funnel money for the pensions and healthcare bills of retired employees, and to pay union-negotiated wages that have been undercut by its Asian rivals.
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