Billions at stake as China issues 3G licences

China issued long-awaited third-generation mobile phone licences Wednesday, a move that will pour billions of dollars into new networks as consumers buy video- and Internet-enabled handsets.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued licences covering the three major standards in China, Europe and North America, ministry spokesman Wang Lijian told AFP.Market leader China Mobile received a licence for the Chinese-developed TD-SCDMA standard, he said.China Unicom got a licence for Europe's WCDMA standard while China Telecom will handle North America's CDMA 2000, Wang said. The two international standards require that operators pay royalties to foreign developers.Third-generation, or 3G, networks enable faster data transmission and advanced services such as wide-area wireless calls, web surfing and video.The licences are of huge importance as China is the world's biggest mobile phone market, with more than 634 million subscribers by the end of November.

Analysts said that although it may be years before 3G services become popular in China, issuing the licences will immediately benefit global equipment makers such as Siemens, Ericsson and Nokia, as well as local rivals.

UK's Sainsbury's Announced Profits Amid Crises

Why is Sainsbury’s store expanding while others like M&S, Woolworth's and others are closing shop?

The answers are not clear but they could be traced to consumer’s shift in buying habits or preferences. UK consumers have slowly shifted to less expensive stores like Morrison, Asda and Tesco. Sainsbury’s thinks that the increase in sales and patronage could be traced to new M&S customers buying at the store.

Mail Online reports: Total sales at Britain’s third biggest supermarket rose 4.5 per cent for like-on-like basis in the 13 weeks to January 3.

The Grocer said 22 million customers visited its stores seven days before Christmas, while December 3 was the biggest trading day in its history.

Sainsbury’s expect to create between 3,000 and 4,000 jobs this year as it expands its local convenience store business. It is possible that some of the thousands of workers who lost their jobs at competing stores like M&S, Woolworths, Adams and Zawi could be accommodated.

Sainsbury’s is the third biggest supermarket in the United Kingdom. It is also the first store to announce that it made profits in 2009 in spite of the worldwide economic slowdown. Expansion and hiring has also been programmed for 2009. There are talks that a merger with Marks & Spencer may be in the drawing board.

Internet: Surviving in economic crisis

As far as we do not want to believe it, recession has came and it has been causing great amount of destruction to the current ecnomies in the world. The recession is far too deep to be saved and prevented and evidently to that is that the employment data fell its 16-year low in United States of America.

In times of recession, people stop consuming and buying and when that happens there is a little necessity to keep the same number of employees to do the job as it lessen. When that happens, the general employees are retrenched. As more and more people were left without work, the ecnomy will become worst until it is recovered.

However, in the current era where technology advances, there is actually a very good option provided you have the necessary skills and ability. Internet is the platform to find information, which most people knows. But what is oblivion to most vast Internet users is that they do not know that Internet is the best place to create wealth. Just take a look at the people who created applications for Facebooks, the amount that they are paid to do that is just incredible. So the stage is set, believe it or not information or contents are money's worth.

The next question to be raised is, how do I earn online. Well, there are many ways to do that. The most popular way to earn online is by blogging and getting paid to write contents or articles. As my previous deliberations suggest, you need to know how to write and understandings how simple applications work. If many people are already earning a substantial income on the Internet, I believe anyone can do it as well too, especially in times like this.

It can be quite difficult for me to list out and show you how to do it from A-Z, however, there are some resources that you can take some tips and references from. It is salient to note that even without a job, you are able to survive from the earnings that can be potentially earned from the Internet.

Online earning resources:

1. Blogging for a living

2. Is earning online possible

3. Top websites for money-making

4. Best ways to make money using the Internet

Apple CEO Jobs Takes Leave

Cupertino, CA (GroundReport) - Following rumors about his ailing health, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has announced he will take a leave of absence until the end of June over health concerns.

Reports say that Jobs is concerned that matters regarding his health has been more complicated than he had previously thought.

In an email to employees at Apple, CEO Jobs wrote, "During the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought," reports the Associated Press.

Last week Jobs had announced that his recent weight loss stemmed from a problem related to a hormonal impbalance, cites media reports. Jobs, 53, is a cancer survivor and was successfully treated for an islet cell neuroendocrine tumor, a rare form of pancreatic cancer.In after-hours trading Apple shares fell after the Cupertino-California based firm closed 2.7 percent lower at $85.33.

Steve Jobs' letter, in full, to Apple staff may be viewed here in a TimesOnline report.