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Fring cuts staff by 20 percent

Fring.com, a provider of voice over IP and instant-messaging applications, has laid off 20 percent of its staff, or about 10 people, according to a report Thursday on TechCrunch.

CEO Avi Shechter told TechCrunch that the company was doing well, and that the staff reductions were designed to ensure that the company had enough money to get through 2009. The Israel-based start-up, which had raised $13 million in previous funding rounds, told Tech Crunch that it had recently raised a third round but declined to discuss the amounts or investors.

Tame your monitor in Vista

This handy pair of executables adds muscle to the monitor's power off function. WinFlog's small multitabbed interface offers four easily invoked functions. WinFlogTurnOff's executable needs no interface as the application simply and immediately turns off the monitor.

Operating WinFlog is very easy, especially for XP users. The program's primary tab lists two options to add a Turn Off Monitor option to the My Computer Icon right-click menu and to the desktop right-click menu. The functions are just as easily removed from the menus using single-click buttons on the same tab. The program's second tab uses … Read more

Off-topic: Bad economy foils Japan's Roppongi Hills

If you're not familiar with Roppongi Hills, it's a giant development in Tokyo with high-end shops and housing. It's known for having lots of ex-pat bankers from Lehman, Goldman Sachs as locals and a bar/mating scene unlike anywhere else on earth.

But all is not well says the Times Online. The down economy and failing banks are dragging down the image of the area, despite a $4 billion developer investment.

It is Thursday night and Roppongi romance - or at least, the calculated brand of romance that used to be the currency in this Tokyo bar … Read more

Wondering how the government spends your tax dollars?

Death and Taxes:2009 is a representational poster of the federal discretionary budget; the amount of money that is spent at the discretion of your elected representatives in Congress. The information is amazing, terrifying, and depressing. Perfect for a Sunday!

Everything is set to scale according to the amount of money spent.

Different approaches to off-site computer backups

The New York Times published an article today about making off-site (a.k.a online) backups that contained some debatable advice.

The point I most disagree with is this: "As long as your credit card keeps working, there's no need to think about the backups unless disaster strikes." The problem with this advice is that if something is automated too much, it can break without your knowing it.

The classic example of this was the magazine Business 2.0 (which has since ceased publication). After they deployed an automated backup system, they ignored it. At some point … Read more

AMD to spin off manufacturing

Update Tuesday 4:12 a.m. PDT: AMD has made the official announcement of the manufacturing spin-off.

On Tuesday, Advanced Micro Devices will announce a long-expected restructuring, according to sources familiar with the deal.

As expected, the No. 2 supplier of PC processors will split into two companies: one for designing chips, the other for manufacturing them. The capital-intensive business of manufacturing chips is weighing on AMD as it reels under a $5 billion debt load.

The investment is expected to allow AMD to remain directly involved in chip manufacturing--crucial for competing with Intel, which has used its manufacturing prowess … Read more

Timing rumors surface for AMD plant spin-off

Advanced Micro Devices chip plant spin-off rumors won't die. Probably because they may be partially--or more than partially--true.

But the timing is the big unknown. AMD claims the launch of its so-called Asset Smart strategy is not imminent.

The latest rumor was triggered by a blog at the Austin American Statesman that said AMD may "spin-off of its manufacturing operations within two weeks." The blog cites a Wall Street securities analyst, John Lau with Jefferies & Co.

AMD said that's not so. "We hope to get it done by the end of the year. There'… Read more