MAJOR PAPERS:

• This year, the International Trade Commission is set to issue rulings on whether Samsung and Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) have infringed patents from InterDigital Inc (NASDAQ: IDCC). If InterDigital, who licenses its patents to iPhone maker Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL), wins, fees from the deals could double its revenue over the next few years, the Wall Street Journal contended.
• The Wall Street Journal also reported that Macy's Inc (NYSE: M) is among the retailers that include The Home Depot Inc (NYSE: HD) and Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: SHLD) to stop making its monthly disclosure of retail sales.

OTHER PAPERS:

• According to FDA commissioners, the New York Times reported that Baxter International Inc's (NYSE: BAX) critical blood thinner heparin, which has been linked to nearly 20 deaths and whose base was created in China, contained a "possibly counterfeit" ingredient that "mimicked the real drug."
• In his opening arguments in the state of Alaska's lawsuit against Eli Lilly & Company (NYSE: LLY), an attorney for the state alleged the drug maker failed to warn doctors and patients of dangerous side effects associated with its drug Zyprexa, the Associated Press reported.

Israeli software and services firm, Nice Systems (NASDAQ: NICE) is reported to have won a deal to supply a large European bank with an analytical software suite. Nice is a worldwide leader in multimedia recording solutions, applications and related professional services for business interaction management. In short, Nice is a modern systems integrator with a focus on security.

In a positive research note published earlier last week by CIBC, Nice was cited to have two growth drivers that recently led to a similar large deal with an Asian bank.

1. Banks, and other large, complex organizations, are migrating to a VoIP infrastructure. Nice has a nice VoIP solution to address many of these international firms' needs.
2. Nice has been quickly selling solutions for agent performance and customer relations. Nice has been successful in using beach-head marketing: getting one deal and extending and deepening customer relationships through add-on sales. Agent performance/CRM solutions have lead to new deals in risk management and corporate regulation and governance. CIBC expects these trends to continue.

Nice has some deals leading into the Chinese Olympics of 2008. The stock has had a rocky year but continues to execute on the deal side with a suite of solutions in the sweet spot of global business right now. Plagued by concerns over spending in the financial sector, this may prove to be a Nice diamond in the rough.

Zack Miller is the managing editor of IsraelNewsletter.com and a former equity analyst for a leading multinational hedge fund. Author's fund is long NICE stock as of 12/19/2007

Wireless, wireless and more wireless... That's what I'm reading. Bluetooth serves as the prime example of what I'm writing about. The omnidirectional wireless transference of all manner of data between electronic devices is what will be a growth focus for many technology companies for a long time to come. For right now, Bluetooth requires that interacting devices be in fairly close proximity and that they utilize limited bandwidth. Sweet little conveniences such as a wireless computer mouse and wireless cellphone headsets were just the beginning. Now, nearly your entire PC can go wireless and I envision entirely wireless home entertainment systems becoming the standard in the very near future.

If that little voice in the back of your head keeps whispering "Bluetooth" as an investment direction, there are a lot of different companies that you can look at. The following list is in alphabetical order and is not meant to imply endorsement of any of the companies as particularly suited for investment.

Agere Systems (NYSE: AGR) is a supplier of chips and integrated circuits. Agere works in a limited partnership with Motorola (Freescale) and Infineon under auspices of the StarCore joint venture.

Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) is a world leader in business telecommunications solutions in mobile formats and broadband Internet. Ericsson is deeply involved in the expansion of world wide communication systems. (See also: Ericsson Mobile Platforms)

Intel (NASDAQ (GS):INTC) Is a manufacturer and developer of business and consumer technologies and is continually expanding the landscape of technology equipment, user applications and solutions.

Lenovo Group (HongKong: ADR (LNVGY) is a leading manufacturer of PC's in China and has a growing global presence. Lenovo produces PDA's and mobile phones as well. Check out the link provided if you especially like global diversity.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: (GS) :MSFT) is the worlds #1 provider of software and is an ever expanding force in the worlds of corporate development, office information, personal computers and gaming. Microsoft is targeting web based services as a major growth focus.

Motorola (NYSE: MOT) is working in the areas of Internet connectivity, government systems, business communication mobility and a broad field of mobile devices / networks. Motorola is the worlds #2 manufacturer of wireless handsets.

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) is the worlds # 1 cell phone manufacturer. Nokia has a multi faceted wireless game plan involving wireless voice and data devices, domestic multimedia for entertainment and gaming, networks for video and data transmission and wireless systems for businesses. Nokia has not been shy in declaring that they aim for top of the heap in everything they undertake.

The companies I've listed here are all big players in your worlds of communications and computing. This group represents a cross section of technology leaders who strive hard to keep new innovations coming. I didn't involve WiFi in this writing but I would say WiFi is sort of like Bluetooth's big brother. The two platforms are not to be considered interchangeable. I should have also added Toshiba to the list but I couldn't provide a specific direction to point to research them. If anyone is researching the above companies, be sure to give Toshiba a look also. It's probably pretty obvious that my knowledge of these technologies is limited but once again, I sure have given you some places and companies to look into. Use the links and look around at your wireless hardware future. I'll be looking deeper into the individual focuses of these companies as 2007 gets under way. I'll attempt to provide you with some insight into where wireless technology is headed.