A group of tech veterans -- DD Ganguly, Jayant Pandit, Saurav Mohapatra, Sundar Subramanian and Rohit Shankar – have worked on various projects, despite being in far-flung places across the globe. They did so by leveraging free technologies such as Skype to help manage things.
However, they also wanted to share screens, but couldn't find anything for it as the conferencing software was either too expensive or complicated. So, they started a new company: Dimdim.
That was in 2006 and, as of now, Dimdim is getting lots of traction. In fact, the firm has raised $6.4 million in venture capital. The investors include: Index Ventures, Nexus India Capital and Draper Richards.
Dimdim is available as downloadable open source software. There is also an on-demand version.
For the most part, Dimdim is gunning for a large market opportunity. For example, Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) purchased WebEx for a whopping $3.2 billion. Other major players in the space include Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Citrix (NASDAQ: CTXS) and Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE).
So, if Dimdim can develop an enterprise-ready version and can provide it on a low-cost basis, the impact could be highly disruptive. And now, the company has some capital to give it a try.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Veraz , Cisco Systems and tw telecom were today's noteworthy downgrades:
Jefferies downgraded shares of Veraz (NASDAQ: VRAZ) to Underperform from Hold after the company pre-announced a Q2 miss, as they are concerned about the company's ability to execute a turnaround. Jefferies lowered their target to 85c from $2.50.
Credit Suisse cut Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) to Neutral from Outperform as they believe carriers may reduce spending given the slowing economic growth. Credit Suisse lowered their target price to $24 from $31.
JP Morgan downgraded tw telecom (NASDAQ: TWTC) to Underweight from Overweight on concerns enterprise trends will continue to deteriorate.
I know it doesn't matter at all. Right now we are so stuck on the banking problems and on the companies bleeding from higher energy prices that nobody cares about all of this cash, which will be used to shrink equity. They won't care because the banks, brokers and homebuilders, and the hobbled companies that use oil, have to issue so much equity that you can't see the effect of the equity shrinkage. But it will eventually matter. It has to matter that Deere has taken out 10% of its stock in the last four years. It does matter that Black & Decker (NYSE: BDK) (Cramer's Take) has eliminated almost 20% of its equity. Emerson's taken out 5%, same with Boeing (NYSE: BA) (Cramer's Take). There's just a huge amount of equity being shrunk.
Credit Suisse downgraded Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) to "neutral" from "outperform", according toBriefing.com. The news service also reports that Caris initiated CBS (NYSE:CBS) with a "below average", and set an $18 price target.
Clearwire (NASDAQ:CLWR) Started at Outperform at RBC Capital, according to24/7 Wall St. The financial website also claims that CSX (NYSE:CSX) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch
MOST NOTEWORTHY: OptionXpress, China Precision Steel and WMS Industries were today's noteworthy initiations:
JMP Securities expects OptionXpress (NASDAQ: OXPS) to continue to benefit from continued retail adoption of options and futures trading and expansion of its platform outside the U.S. Shares were assumed with an Outperform rating and $29 target.
Merriman believes China Precision Steel (NASDAQ: CPSL) should be able to gain market share as it mainly competes against foreign imports and currently has a lower cost to manufacture. The firm started shares with a Buy rating.
Soleil expects WMS Industries (NYSE: WMS) to do well as it benefits from market share gains and continues to boost operating efficiencies. The firm initiated shares with a Buy rating and $34 target.
OTHER INITIATIONS:
Motorola (NYSE: MOT) was initiated at Societe Generale with a Sell rating.
Pacific Growth initiated Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) with a Neutral rating.
Sonus Networks (NASDAQ: SONS) was started at JP Morgan with a Neutral rating.
Stock futures were mixed early Thursday morning, ahead of retailers reporting their June sales and testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Although June retail sales may benefit from the government checks and the warmer weather, it may not be enough to give stocks the lift they need as investors all but anticipated a possibly good month for retailers. Update, following Dow Chemical announced deal, futures have turned much higher.
On Wednesday, stocks tanked, retreating further in to bear market territory as concerns over financials increased. Specifically, the solvency of mortgage companies Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE). Worries about techs and Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) in particular also weighed on the market. The Dow industrials dropped 236 points, or 2.08%, the S&P 500 lost 29 points, or 2.28%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 59 points, 2.60%.
On the economic front, weekly jobless claims data will be released at 8:30 a.m. EDT. No recovery is expected in the labor market yet and the data will likely show increased claims. Also, throughout the day, chain-stores will report June retail sales. Overall, June sales are expected to rise 2.4%, according to research firm Retail Metrics. That's a better rate than the 1.6% gain the companies registered for the first five months of this year, but lower than the average monthly gain of 2.6% last year and an average gain of 3.7% in 2006. A big chunk of this increase, though, is attributed to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT).
Already warehouse club operator Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) said same-store sales, including gasoline sales, grew 9% in June. That beat estimates of an 8.5% increase.
Hopefully we are either getting toward the beginning of the end in this bear trend. If not, we are in for a long 2008 between presidential candidates bantering caught in a weak economy and a down trending market. The daily sell-off is hard to argue against since buying only works for a short period right now. About the best thing the bulls could hang a shingle on today was an initial flat reading seen in some index after the open. That wasn't to hold. All of the same reasons that the bulls hung on to were overrun by the same arguments the bears have been using all along.
Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) was one of the bigger losers in key technology on two different reports causing concern on Wall Street. Shares were down over 5.3% at $21.66 in today's final minutes.
QLogic Corp. (NASDAQ: QLGC) was a winner after it actually raised guidance. Shares were up over 9% today in the final minutes at $15.27.
VeriSign Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) was a standout winner today. Shares were raised, although there are more questions than answers outstanding on this stock now. Shares were up 2.8% at $33.77 in today's final minutes.
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) shares were down over 2% at $24.09 despite rumors on Jerry Yang about to resign. I called the company, and it denied such rumors right on the spot.
As each day passes, estimates for how bad Q2 earnings will be grows. According toThe Wall Street Journal, "analysts estimate S&P 500 operating earnings -- income excluding one-time items -- fell 11.5% in the second quarter."
While the paper points out that earnings often come in a bit worse than expected, this quarter could be a bit different. Everyone expected the numbers to be bad in sectors including banking, brokerage, insurance, autos, and airlines. But the real question is whether business and consumer spending have been hit harder than predicted.
If spending is down, even companies which are expected to do fairly well such as Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) could face rough earnings reports as big business and the little consumers defer purchases which they feel they cannot afford. That means that tech earnings, which were expected to be OK, could take a big hit.
If tech falters, what is left? Energy and commodities companies? Perhaps, but that is thin ground on which to build an earnings season.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
Darren Shafae operates Paper-Check.Com, which is a proofreading business. Without web-based technologies, his business would probably be far smaller.
"I have taken the best of ideas I have seen, and refined them to meet our needs and improve work flow and customer and employee satisfaction," said Shafae.
So, what kinds of applications does Shafae use to improve his business? Well, let's take a look:
GotVMail: Basically, this is a virtual PBX system. In other words, there is no need to manage hardware or pay for consultants. Instead, Shafae pays for the service on a subscription basis.
Some of the features include custom greetings, multiple extensions, music-on-hold, toll-free numbers, Dial-By-Name Directory and so on. According to Shafae: "GotVMail offers professional voice talent that gives the impression that there are thousands of operators standing by to address client needs and concerns."
Online video has already exploded between video sharing sites like YouTube and all the premium content that media companies are putting online. Cisco (NADSAQ: CSCO) says it will explode again. According toThe Wall Street Journal, the firm "is projecting a sixfold jump in Internet traffic between 2007 and 2012."
Not likely. YouTube and its peers are still growing, but not as fast as they were over a year ago when video online was more of a novelty. Media companies have not figured out a way to make a lot of money from putting their programming online. That may mean that they will do less and less of it.
Perhaps the most important reason the use of online video will slow is that carriers, both phone companies and cable firms, want to cut back the amount of bandwidth their customers can use or charge the heavy users. The operations claim services like file sharing are clogging their "pipes" with too much traffic. They need to either cut that down, or make a profit on it.
Cisco may want to check its numbers.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
Many of us would be happy to benefit from a quiet retirement without facing concerns of losing all of our hard earned money. Fortune 40 gives us a helping hand by suggesting some big names to invest in that could offer us the results that we are looking for.
One such company is Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT), whose earnings surged 35% during its last quarter, helped by its famous anti-inflammatory drug Humira and HIV treatment Kaletra. Looking ahead to the company's performance, CEO Miles White is planing to keep his main attention on its medical devices unit which is seen as a key element against strong competition.
Fortune 40 also looks at beverage maker The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO), which benefits from strong international gains able to beat recent weakness in U.S. In addition, it looks like the company's acquisition of Glacéau and its VitaminWater brand offer it a good support to outperform on the market.
For the first time Monday I heard John McCain comparing Barack Obama to Jimmy Carter. I had heard this before in other arenas, but not from McCain. I guess that despite these two presidential candidates pledging to the American people to bring change and resist politics as usual, they are both, as usual as one could get.
Obama is being shaped by the pressures of running for office and to believe otherwise is delusional. I suppose one has to have hope but the effects of the campaign are becoming clear. Obama has been painting McCain as an extension of Bush, which is nonsense, and now in a typical tit-for-tat response, McCain is filling the air with Carter references.
Both McCain and Obama are wrong in their assessments of their opponents and they are becoming commoners to resort to the bottom of the barrel campaign techniques used in every campaign for most of our nation's proud history. Obama gave up the high ground too easily and McCain has decided he can sling mud with the best of them.
The Pediatric Ethics Subcommittee of the Pediatric Advisory Committee will meet at 8:30 am to discuss the application of 21 CFR 50.52 (Clinical investigations involving greater than minimal risk but presenting the prospect of direct benefit to individual subjects) to FDA-regulated research. The discussion will be illustrated with hypothetical case examples of research involving HIV vaccines in adolescents and controlled trials of inhaled corticosteroids in children with asthma.
The Pediatric Ethics Subcommittee will meet at 8:00 am to discuss the application of 21 CFR 50.52 to FDA-regulated research illustrated with a hypothetical case example of research using stem cells for treating periventricular white matter injury in children.
Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) to hold conference call at 11:00 am to discuss business video innovation.
A group of tech veterans -- DD Ganguly, Jayant Pandit, Saurav Mohapatra, Sundar Subramanian and Rohit Shankar – have worked on various projects, despite being in far-flung places across the globe. They did so by leveraging free technologies such as Skype to help manage things.
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Stock futures were mixed early Thursday morning, ahead of retailers reporting their June sales and testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Although June retail sales may benefit from the government checks and the warmer weather, it may not be enough to give stocks the lift they need as investors all but anticipated a possibly good month for retailers. 
Darren Shafae operates 
Many of us would be happy to benefit from a quiet retirement without facing concerns of losing all of our hard earned money. Fortune 40 gives us a helping hand by 
For the first time Monday I heard John McCain comparing Barack Obama to Jimmy Carter. I had heard this before in other arenas, but not from McCain. I guess that despite these two presidential candidates pledging to the American people to bring change and resist politics as usual, they are both, as usual as one could get..gif){kind=logo}
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