December 2007 Archives

Read about it.

Read about it.

Are you sitting it out like the rest of us. Read on.

A great read.

Read about it in Sunday's paper.

Video game pioneer Atari Inc.'s shares hit a record low on Friday after Nasdaq warned it may delist the company because of its falling stock price.

Shares of the company that created "Pong" in 1972 declined 14 cents, or 9.7 percent, to $1.30 in afternoon trading. The stock price is down more than 75 percent this year.

El Segundo-based Computer Sciences Corp. said Friday it received a contract for up to $613 million to manage voice services for the Department of Defense.

The contract extension has a two-year base period and three one-year options. It was initially awarded in June 1999.

Computer Sciences will continue to design, engineer, operate and manage voice services for the Defense Switched Network; secure voice services of the Defense Red Switch Network; and network management systems for both systems.

Computer Sciences shares rose 51 cents to $50.12 in pre-market trading after closing at $49.61 on Thursday.

I'm wondering what business news outraged you most in the past year. Please let me know. Maybe we can post it.

Honda Motor Co. President Takeo Fukui said the Japanese car maker may start mass-producing fuel cell vehicles within 10 years, thereby emphasizing the firm's intention to focus on fuel cells instead of gas-electric hybrids.

In 2008, Honda plans to release its FCX Clarity fuel cell vehicle on a lease basis in Japan and the US. Honda launched its first fuel cell vehicle, the FCX, in 2002.

Toyota Plans to Sell 9.85M Vehicles next year. Can Toyota do it?

Read on.

Boeing may be on a roll with its last two satellite contracts. Will this lead to the much bigger TSAT contract? Find out on Christmas day in the business section.

Did anyone catch the story on Boeing's Connexion?

Click below to check it out.

I'm curious whether people think The Healthy Bean is a good concept or a non-starter.

In case you haven't read the article, here's the link.

Have you seen it? The Healthy Bean Coffee? On the southwest corner of Hawthorne and Lomita boulevards?

A lot of people are wondering what it's all about. Find out Sunday in the Daily Breeze business section.

Boeing received an Air Force order to build a sixth Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) satellite. The work will be done at Boeing's El Segundo-based Satellite Development Center

The satellite is expected to launch in the fourth quarter of 2012. Australia is funding the procurement as part of its contribution to the WGS constellation, in which it's participating.

"A sixth WGS satellite adds to the system's overall capacity and flexibility and will benefit both U.S. armed forces and our allies," said Howard Chambers, vice president and general manager of Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems.

Read the release.

Tycoon Sam Zell yesterday took Tribune Co., owner of the LA Times, private. Zell says he plans to give the Tribune papers more local control.

Any thoughts on this?

WASHINGTON - NASA awarded a contract to Boeing's El Segundo satellite facility for two satellites that will replenish the NASA communication relay network that provides telecommunications links between low Earth orbiting spacecraft and the ground.

Read the article.

The Toyota USA Foundation has more than doubled the size of its endowment to $100 million. the fondation supports k-12 math and science teaching in the US.

Read the release.

Read about how Toyota had the motor industry in a tizz this week.

AP - El Segundo-based Computer Sciences Corp. on Thursday issued delayed results for the first two quarters of the fiscal year, showing sales rose nearly 10 percent over the six-month period.

The information technology service provider company previously delayed its results while it reviewed prior tax payments because it had found "significant errors" in accounting for software license sales.

For the fiscal first quarter ended June 29, the company reported net income of $108.1 million, or 61 cents per share, versus a restated loss of $59.9 million, or 32 cents per share, during the same period a year earlier.

The fiscal 2008 quarter included $33.4 million, or 19 cents per share, of special charges for restructuring and executive retirement costs.

Century City-based Northrop Grumman said today that it will repurchase up to $2.5 billion of outstanding common stock, representing more than 9% of hte company's current market cap.

As of Nov. 30, Northrop had about 338 million shares outstanding.

"Our new $2.5 billion authorization is the largest in our company’s history and demonstrates our continuing commitment to a balanced cash deployment strategy that encompasses investment for the future, management of liabilities, and the enhancement of shareholder value through share repurchases and dividends. It also underscores our confidence in Northrop Grumman’s financial outlook for 2008 and beyond,"
said chairman and CEO Ronald D. Sugar in a rlease.

Hawthorne-based OSI Systems, which makes electronic products for the security and healthcare industries, said it completed its merger with Spacelabs Healthcare, which now is a wholly owned subsidiary of OSI Systems.

Within the next 10 days, notification of the merger and related information will be sent to Spacelabs’ pre-merger stockholders.

LA County Technology Week is coming Jan. 28-Feb. 1.

Go to the Web site, or see a brief schedule below:

January 28

* Kick-Off Keynote Speaker Sally Ride, Astronaut and Technology Leader
* Technology Leadership Prize Awards
* CIO Insights Program
* Tech Coast Angels Entrepreneur Fast Pitch Competition, UCLA

January 29
* Clean Technology Roundtable, Caltech
* How Technology is Transforming Organizational Structures, Marketing, Management and
Nearly Everything Else in the Business World, USC
* IP Strategy - Trade Secrets vs. Patents

January 30
* Pasadena Angels Screening Meeting with Company Presentations
* The High-Tech Enterprise of the Future: Tools for Breakthrough Results, CSULB
* How Tech Companies Drive World Trade, CSULB

January 31
* Coming to a Small Screen Near You: Opportunities & Challenges in Mobile Broadband Distribution, Woodbury University
* Technology Convergence - Creating Aerospace, Aviation and National Security Innovation, Loyola Marymount
* The Business of Game Design

February 1
* Wrap-up event

El Segundo-based Computer Sciences Corp. won a contract to provide systems engineering and technical support for the Department of Defense.

The contract, which has one base year and four one-year options, is worth about $70 million if all options are exercised.

CSC will provide its services during research, development, production and fielding of developmental and commercial off-the-shelf products and equipment in the DoD's Product Manager, Force Protection Systems organization.

Read the release.

TOKYO (AP) — Honda expects its global sales will rise 6 percent this year to a record 3.76 million vehicles on booming demand in the U.S., Europe and Asia, the automaker's president said Wednesday.

The company also plans to invest aggressively in research for hybrids and other new technology in Japan, said Takeo Fukui, president of Japan's No. 2 automaker.

"The competition in hybrids has just begun," he said, a clear reference to Toyota, which makes the Prius, the top-selling hybrid.

Fukui said Honda will introduce a new hybrid model, which runs on gas and electricity, with an affordable price tag in 2009, targeting sales of 200,000 vehicles a year. The company will focus more on hybrid offerings so that overall hybrid sales will make up about 10 percent of Honda's sales by about 2010, he said.

Honda R&D Co. announced plans to build a product development facility dedicated to the Acura brand within the new R&D center being constructed in Sakura, Tochigi prefecture, in addition to the originally-planned multiple test courses. The new R&D center is scheduled to become operational in 2009.

Rock legend Meat Loaf will host Rock & A Hard Place, an all-new original game show featuring
classic and current music superstars in a trivia challenge for charity.

The series debuts 10 p.m. ET/PT Jan. 23 on DIRECTV’s original entertainment channel, The 101.

The game show will feature musicians like The Pointer Sisters, Warrant, Sheila E., the Pussycat
Dolls and others as they test their knowledge on everything from music history to current-events trivia.

Hawthorne-based OSI Systems' Rapiscan Systems division won a contract worth about $5 million from an "undisclosed international aviation customer" for the South Bay firm's new Rapiscan MVXi multi-view X-ray systems for passenger screening, OSI said Tuesday.

On the first day of regular business operations at SpaceX's new Hawthorne headquarters, the rocket developer completed the systems requirements review for what will be the third Falcon 9/Dragon demonstration under NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, the company said Tuesday.

NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program calls for SpaceX to conduct three Falcon 9/Dragon flights, demonstrating the ability to approach, berth, and ultimately deliver cargo to the $100 billion International Space Station, and return cargo to Earth. On this third demonstration, the Dragon spacecraft will approach the ISS and hold its position nearby. Then, according to the SpaceX plan, a robotic arm on the station will capture Dragon and guide it to a berthing port on the Harmony module.

"When the hatch opens, a new era in space transportation will begin," said Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, in a release. "By providing commercial delivery services to orbit, SpaceX will transform the way the government and private entities access space. The Falcon 9/Dragon system will ensure that there is no gap in US space transportation capabilities following retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2010."

read the release

There's a lot out there about employers cutting back or eliminating employee pension plans, health benefits, etc. Here's a contrarian view from a survey conducted by the California Chamber of Commerce.

Read the release.

Honda Motor Co. is recalling 43,200 Acura RL sedans to fix a power steering hose that may crack from engine heat and possibly cause a fire.

Read the story.

Interesting article on how Toyota and a brain-game professor plan to develop cars for the elderly. Here's the link.

Northrop Grumman Space Technology is displaying a solar car for the media at its Redondo Beach campus today. The car was made by a team of engineers at the University of Michigan. Northrop sponsors the team.

The car is 650 pounds, with three wheels. We'll try to get a photo of the car on the blog.

Motor Trend has named Toyota's Tundra 2008 Truck of the Year, saying the truck matches detroit rivals' full-size trucks.

Read the release.

El Segundo-based Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems and L-3 Communications today submitted a proposal for the US Navy's EPX aircraft program.

The Navy expects the EPX to assume the role of the EP-3E aircraft, a "manned aircraft providing intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting support to carrier strike groups and theater, combatant and national commanders."

Read the release

El Segundo-based Computer Sciences Corp. said it won a contract to support the Defense Information Agency.

Valued at more than $89 million, the contract has two base years and five one-year options.

Read the release.

For the third time, Boeing Co. successfully demonstrated its processor/router technologies for the TSAT's space segment.

The company hopes the Air Force picks the Boeing design for the Transformational Satellite Communications System. The other competing TSAT design came from Lockheed and Northrop Grumman.

Read the full press release.

Toyota applauded the Senate's trimmed down vehicle mileage standards, which the automaker and its American rivals have said are more manageable than tougher standards pushed by many environmental groups.

Read the release.

Honda Motor Co. expects its U.S. sales to increase between 3% and 5% in 2008 despite a slight drop in the overall market, said John Mendel, executive vice president of American Honda auto operations.

Read the story.

November saw the biggest surge in consumer inflation in more than two years, led by gasoline prices.

NASA, JPL and the Small Business Administration will hold a two-day high-tech conference at the Radisson Hotel at LAX. The event is meant to match small businesses with large companies for purchasing and procurement opportunities.

The event, at 6225 W. Century Blvd., will be on March 4 and 5 of next year. Registration s $140 per attendee.

You can sign up here.

Denso Corp. may be the automobile industry's most important company -- and single best investment -- that beleaguered Toyota Motor Corp. shareholders may want to turn to.

Read the story.

In case you missed this story:

WASHINGTON - Toyota Motor Corp believes it was worth "taking hits" from environmental groups and others for joining domestic manufacturers in a fight over fuel efficiency standards in Congress, the company's U.S. president said on Wednesday.

Read the whole story.

El Segundo-based Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems will help the Air Force create technologies for a future "aircraft-like" reusable launch vehicle.

It's for a 39-month, $5.2 million contract will support Air Force's Future Responsive Access to Space Technologies program.

Click below to read the press release.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Boeing Co. said Tuesday it will team with Raytheon Co. on a recently awarded $160 million contract to develop a ground control system that's part of a new $1.8 billion satellite program.

Waltham, Mass.-based Raytheon and Cnetury City-based Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE:NOC) were both selected by the Air Force on Nov. 21 for the first phase of a contract to develop ground segments for the Global Positioning Satellite III program. Each received separate contracts worth up to $160 million.

The ground segment will be used to measure and track satellite positions and communicate their placement to earth.

SOUTH BAY INFO: Check out this comprehensive analysis of the South Bay real estate market, sans the rosy, puffed-up, Pollyana-talk from Realtors who have been consistently wrong in their predictions and assessments of housing prices. South Bay Home Center

JAMES DERK: Get the right goodies for your gizmos

DogCars.com, the car-buying Web site for dog-lovers, has named the Honda Element the "DogCar of the Year" for 2007.

Criteria used to determine which vehices are good for dog owners include:
- Seats that fold flat or are easily removable.
- Plenty of usable cargo space relative to the size of the vehicle.
- Wide, square backs, with as little rear slope as possible, to make the most of the cargo area.
- Door and window locks, so a dog can't accidentally unlock a door or roll down a window.
- All-wheel or four-wheel drive and high ground clearance, because dog sports people find themselves off-road a great deal.

Read the press release.

Bow wow!

HOLIDAY OFFICE PARTIES: Rule No. 1: Don't get drunk; Rule No. 2: Learn how to network nicely. A new book offers some tips on how the dreaded, obligatory holiday office party, full of potential mine fields, actually can be a constructive event.

SpaceX came out with its latest update:

A few weeks ago, SpaceX fired an integrated Falcon 9 first stage for first time.

"This was one of the most difficult steps in the whole F9 development program, as it required that the first stage, test stand, ground support equipment and a Merlin engine all work together as an integrated system," according to company founder Elon Musk.

Read the update.

The Toyota brand might be set to become America's top-selling car brand this year for the first time ever.

Research firm Autodata Corp. said Toyota was the sales leader through November with a market share at 14.2 percent.

Read the story.

SAVORY COMMISSIONS: Despite the real estate doldrums, real estate agents are set to reap more income and commissions than ever before during 2007.

ForSaleByOwner.com, a Web site for consumers who want to save money when selling and buying real estate, said Monday that real estate commissions are expected to total $55 billion in 2007, up $19 billion from 2000.

During this time, commissions paid on an average home has spiked 43 percent, going to $13,900 from $9,700. ForSaleByOwner.com also has released its top real estate trends for 2008.

For the complete report, read below. Web site

Microsoft to sell online display, text advertising for CNBC.com

SEATTLE (AP)— Microsoft Corp. said Monday it will provide online advertising for CNBC’s financial news Web site. The software maker said it will be the exclusive third-party seller of contextually driven text ads on the site starting later in December, and display ads beginning in March 2008.

The companies did not disclose financial terms of the deal. Jon Tinter, a general manager at Microsoft, said the company plans to offer advertisers the option to buy ads on CNBC.com together with ads on Microsoft’s own financial site, MSN Money. CNBC.com, part of General Electric Co.’s NBC Universal division, gets about 2.6 million unique visitors each month, according to a company statement. Microsoft said it plans to aggregate information about CNBC.com visitors’ Web surfing habits to better target advertising in the future. CNBC will maintain its own ad sales team, which will focus on selling video ads online and on CNBC TV.

REAL STATE: of the Manhattan Beach housing market can be found on this clever, analytical blog called Manhattan Beach Confidential

FLAMING NAME: Read the tawdry tale of a trademark tiff between Toyota and a gay-maleporn star. For the titillating details, click here

LESS THAN ZERO? Homeowners leveraged to the max may have lots of gadgets, toys and goods, but nothing of the house. Amid falling property values and home prices, what is a house really worth? The following article helps describe what it's like to watch a house's worth dissolve brick by brick.

FALLOUT: Foreclosure effect can linger long after the house is gone.

NEWS FLASH: Governments make bad investments.

Farmer Bros. Co., the Torrance area coffee roaster, said Friday that Roger M. Laverty III, 60, was succeeding the retiring Guenter W. Berger, 70, as CEO. The change in command at been known for months.

Laverty also serves as president of the closely-held company.

HOGTIED HOTLINES: As expected, government phone lines were jammed after the Bush Administration announced its quasi-bailout plan for subprime homeowners strapped with rising mortgage rates. They were told to be patient.

What about the patience of investors, home-seekers and home-traders who now must wait even longer for housing prices to drop back to reality? This pacifier of a plan now creates a bubble on a deflating bigger bubble, artificially propping up home prices and enabling the irresponsible homeowners WHO CHOSE TO GRASP FOR MORE THAN THEY COULD AFFORD.

Here's a more effective action plan for the subprime parasites: Hang up the phone. Sell your house for what you can get. Move to an apartment. Eat your losses. Admit your fault. Learn your lesson.

BusinessWeek magazine offers a complete analysis on the Bush housing plan.

Click here

If you haven't seen it yet, check out this piece on the Toyota robot with an ear for music.

CRYSTAL BALLS: Is the U.S. headed toward a major financial and real estate crisis?

Business expert Dick Kazan, a former corporate chairman and CEO, current real estate investor, motivational columnist and Redondo Beach resident, offers his recent assessment and advice about the state of the global economy and real estate market. He provides some practical tips for protecting your assets and preparing for the future, both long- and short-term. Please see his analysis below.

You also can learn more about Kazan at
his business advice site
his topical discussion site

Boeing says 737 replacement plan due by 2012

SEATTLE (AP) — Boeing Co. will decide on a plan to replace its popular 737 aircraft by 2012 at the latest, a spokeswoman told The Associated Press Thursday. Last year, the company started seriously considering a successor for the 737, for which Boeing has won more than 6,000 orders since its 1967 debut.

Sandy Anger, a Boeing spokeswoman, said the company “must ensure it has the right set of breakthrough technologies in engines, aerodynamics, materials and other systems” to top the 737’s efficiency. Anger said Boeing estimates it will be ready with a replacement for the 737 “sometime in the middle of the next decade — give or take a couple of years.” The 737 competes with Airbus’ hot-selling A320, which went into service in 1988. Toulouse, France-based Airbus says it has sold more than 5,500 A320s.

SOUR LOANS = SWEET OPPS: Fannie Mae set a share price today to for an investment opportunity designed to shore up its losses from home loans gone bad. The bursting of the housing bubble can offer savvy, patient investors ways to harness the housing bear market. Story below.

EQUITY DOWN: As the housing market heads toward a freefall, it will take owner equity with it. For the first time since 1945, U.S. homeowners could collectively owe more than they own by December 2008.

Homeowners most at risk are those who bought over-priced homes in recent years with no-money down, adjustable rate, subprime mortgages, and then immediately leveraged any equity gains from the home into lines of credit and/or cash-out loans to fund spending sprees.

Guess what: They're going down in financial flames. As equity and property values fall, credit dries up, the bills come due, and the homeowner actually owns nothing and owes a whole lot.

Squatters, anyone? See story below.

HYBRID HYPE? The Santa Monica-based Milken Institute, an independent economic think tank, recently analyzed the dynamics of hybrid mortgage loans, and found some surprising facts that challenge conventional media wisdom. Milken experts wrote an article about the findings in today's Wall Street Journal. See article below.

Do you worry that owning a hybrid will be a headache?

Check out this neat article on what you should or shouldn't worry about.

BACKLASH: Homebuyers are becoming better informed about the still-inflated home prices nationwide. Many are waiting, and the patience is showing up in the profits of homebuilders, homesellers, Realtors, lenders and everyone else who got excited about the housing bubble and helped drive the housing market off a cliff.

Toll Brothers reports $81.8M 4Q loss in housing downturn; calls 2007 WORST YEAR IN FOUR DECADES

NEW YORK (AP) — Toll Brothers Inc., the nation’s largest builder of luxury homes, said Thursday it swung to a loss for its fourth fiscal quarter during what the company calls the worst housing downturn in decades. It is the first quarterly loss recorded by the builder in 21 years.

For the second year in a row, Toyota tops the auto industry in retaining the highest percentage of new-vehicle purchasers, J.D. Power and Associates said in its 2007 Customer Retention Study released Thursday.

The study measures the percentage of new-vehicle buyers and lessees who replace a previously purchased new vehicle with another from the same nameplate.

Toyota improved by nearly 1 percentage point over last year to 64.6%. Lexus came in second with 63.0% and then Honda with 62.8 percent. All three brands retained the same rank they had in the 2006 study.

“Toyota’s high customer retention rate is particularly notable, considering that new-vehicle sales have declined in the past year,” Neal Oddes, director of product research and analysis at J.D. Power and Associates, said in a release. “Toyota maintains its high retention rates by providing high-quality vehicles and service to its existing customers, which in turn generates favorable word-of-mouth recommendations that attract new customers.”

El Segundo-based Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems gave the go-ahead to two of its international suppliers to begin making subassemblies for the first two F-35 Lightning II production aircraft. The subcontractors are Terma of Lystrup, Denmark, and Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. of Ankara, Turkey.

"Strong international participation in the F-35 program is critical to ensuring the successful production, delivery and sustainment of the world's most advanced multi-role combat aircraft," Janis
Pamiljans, vice president and F-35 program manager for the Integrated Systems sector, said in a release. "These agreements add significant momentum to our very successful partnerships with Turkey and Denmark for the production of critical F-35 subassemblies."

The subassemblies to be produced are composite components and aircraft access doors that will be used in the F-35 center fuselage.

Lockeed Martin Corp. is the prime contractor for the F-35.

Research firms foresee U.S. economic slowdown taking a bite out of technology industry

BOSTON (AP)— Weakness in the U.S. economy figures to take a bite out of the technology industry’s growth rate in 2008, when analysts expect tech spending to slow worldwide.

The picture is not exactly dire: A forecast released Thursday by analyst firm IDC calls for the worldwide information-technology market to grow 5.5 percent to 6 percent in 2008, the lower end of what has become a usual range. In the U.S., the market is expected to expand 3 percent to 4 percent.

Northrop Grumman Corp. was presented today at the White House with the Ron Brown Award for Corporate Leadership. The award recognizes Northrop's "commitment to forming community partnerships and empowering employees while promoting practices that improve business performance," the company said.

Northrop's Defining the Future program brings communities, industry and academia together to encourage students to pursue careers in math and science. The program is meant to ensure that the nation's technical workforce remains strong.

ECONOMIC FORECAST: From City News Service: The sagging real estate market will further drag down the California economy, but it will not be severe enough to cause a state or nationwide recession, UCLA economists reported today.

For more details, see breaking story below and tomorow's Business section in the Daily Breeze.

MORE SUBPRIME SLIME POLITICS: President Bush has come up with a quasi-bailout plan for homeowners who willingly took on troublesome mortgages. Some subprime mortgage holders would get their rates frozen for five years to help them avoid foreclosure.

So, can other Americans facing difficult personal financial circumstances get their rates frozen at the expense of the taxpayers and independent financial institutions? For example, if you have maxed out your credit cards, should you get the rate frozen for five years at, say, 9.9 percent instead of 24.9 percent so as to avoid personal bankruptcy? Or if the stock market is tanking and your 401k is hurting, should you nevertheless be guaranteed a 10 percent annual rate of return on your investments so you don't have to delay your retirement?

Read about the proposal below. You decide if it is absurd.

On Thursday, the Los Angeles Air Force Base will recognize 68 airmen stationed at the El Segundo facility for their recent service during deployments around the globe.

The welcome-home ceremony will honor the airmen for deployments in various locations including Iraq, Afghanistan, Djibouti Horn of Africa, Pakistan and Qatar for periods of 120 to 365 days.

HAVING A CLUE: Those most tuned in to the state of the economy -- business leaders -- feel pretty good about the economy’s prospects, despite the housing slowdown and mortgage and credit crunches.

By JAMES DERK
Scripps Howard News Service

Although designed as the “Iphone killer”, the new Voyager from LG doesn’t quite hit that lofty target. However, it surpasses the Iphone in some ways and surely makes for an overall great texting device and a pretty cool phone.

FOOTSIE WITH THE ORIENT: Manhattan Beach-based Skechers USA Inc., a footwear maker, said today it will expand its sales and distribution in China through a joint venture, called Skechers China, Luen Thai Enterprises, a conglomerate based in Hong Kong with investments in various industries in Asia, North America and the Pacific Region.

During the next three years, Skechers China expects to open more than 1200 points-of-sale for the brand across China. In addition to Skechers footwear, Skechers China will design and market a collection of branded men’s and women’s fashionable active and leisure wear. The apparel, expected to reach market in 2009, will be designed as an extension of the footwear and should further grow the brand in China.

The first shipments of Skechers products by Skechers China is planned for the Chinese New Year, February 2008. The offering will include all of the Skechers lines for men, women and kids – including lifestyle sport, casual and molded footwear. The footwear will be supported by a marketing campaign that includes print, TV and point-of-purchase materials and displays.

For statements from executives, read below.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says an agreement is near on efforts to freeze mortgage rates for strapped sub-primers facing higher mortgage payments. Here's a summary of an upcoming story in tomorrow's Business section in the Daily Breeze:

By The Associated Press
HOME STRETCH: Paulson Monday said officials were near an agreement to help at-risk homeowners avoid foreclosures.
TIMEFRAME: The proposed plan would temporarily freeze their mortgage rates, but how long rates would remain frozen is still unresolved.
NEGOTIATIONS: Federal regulators have been trying to strike a deal with some of the country’s biggest banks, mortgage investors and consumer groups.

El Segundo-based aerospace company Wyle has agreed to acquire RS Information Systems, a McLean, Va.-based firm that provides advanced technical and business services in information technology, systems engineering, telecommunications, scientific support and management consulting, Wyle said Monday.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The aquisition is expected to close in early 2008, Wyle siad.

The acquisition of the private firm is expected to increase Wyle's 2008 annual revenues to about $800 million and the number of employees to more than 4,200.

Wyle is a private company that provides high-tech aerospace engineering, testing and research services to government and industrial customers. The company also provides life sciences services, special test systems and other technical support services to the aerospace, defense, nuclear power, communications and transportation industries.

El Segundo-based Computer Sciences Corp. was named a winner of the 2007 InfoWorld 100 Award for its U.S. Army Logistics Modernization Program, or LMP, the company said Monday.

"The annual awards honor information technology projects that demonstrate the most creative use of cutting-edge technologies to serve well-defined business goals," CSC said.

PUNCH BOWLS OF LIABILITY?: Learn how companies are coping with alcohol and amorous aggression at their annual employee Christmas parties. Do human resources director have to be holiday grinches?

RECOVERY MODE: A foreclosed home may be a bargain, but it will need to recover from neglect. As the housing market tanks nationwide, house rehabbers are poised to work this growing industry niche. Story below.

By TERESA F. LINDEMAN
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Listening to Jessica Simpson wasn’t required. This is relevant because the goal was to go shopping in the real world -- not online -- without having to interact with human beings.

Practically-person-free technology is moving far beyond ATM machines and pay-at-the-pump gas stations. Last year, consumers spent more than $137 billion in self-checkout transactions at retail stores, up 24 percent over 2005 as a result of new machines installed at super centers, warehouse clubs and hardware stores, according to IHL Consulting Group in Franklin, Tenn.

And the survey says ...

By JOE BEL BRUNO
The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Wall Street was populated by optimists this past week after a big rebound gave investors the hope that stocks might actually enjoy a year-end rally — one that might even thrust the volatile Dow Jones industrials back over 14,000.