Worldwide semiconductor capital spending declined 2% in 2005 but will grow nearly 9% in 2006. Intel and Samsung represented 25% of overall spending in 2005; their combined spending iwill likely continue to be high, accounting for almost 24% of total 2006 spending, Gartner reports.

McKinsey & Company, Google, Goldman Sachs, Bain & Company and Boston Consulting Group were among the top 5 employers for MBAs, according to Fortune magazine, with each employer getting more than 10% of votes as top.

By the end of March 2004, about 87% of the UK population had access to affordable broadband offerings like, cable modems, (FWA) Fixed Wireless Access or (DSL) Digital Subscriber Line. Research and Markets says that the Europeans will be able to gain access to broadband Internet connections through upgraded phone networks by 2010, while cable television operators will see a decline in their market share by more than 15%.

Only 25% of US and 17% of UK business travelers, the group most likely to use hot-spot technology, take advantage of hot spots. This group’s usage of and interest in retail hot spots, even in established hot-spot locations like Starbucks, Barnes & Noble and McDonalds, remain low, Gartner says.

At the end of 2005 there were 21.1 mln Latin American households subscribing to multichannel television in the 19 countries surveyed. Over the next ten years Kagan forecasts the number of multichannel households in the region will grow at a 5.6% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR), breaching the 30 mln subscriber mark by 2012 and reaching 36.3 mln in 2015. Among the 19 countries surveyed, Kagan forecasts IPTV economies will develop in Brazil, Argentina, Puerto Rico and Bolivia. The model indicates IPTV households will come online in 2007 and the total subscriber base will reach 677K by 2015, accounting for 1.9% of the total multichannel base. Kagan estimates there were 4.5 mln households connecting to digital signals in 2005, just 3.9% of the Latin television households universe. Penetration of digital services into television households is expected to grow at a 17.4% CAGR over the coming ten years to reach 19.3% by 2015, translating to 29.7 mln digital television households.

Server shipments in Latin America region are expected to grow by 8.5% in 2006, to over 246,500 units. Revenue will also rise, by 6.7%. By the end of 2011, shipments will top 324,500 and revenue $2.4 bln, Gartner says.

The small and medium-size business (SMB) IT spending outlook for 2006 is positive, with IT budgets expected to increase by 7.2%, up from 4.8% going into 2005. The top IT initiatives for 2006 include upgrading applications, which will contribute to server spending; upgrading the security environment (a perennial hot issue); and Internet and eCommerce activities. The strong budget increase combined with the top priorities for IT will further manifest through increases in spending on the major hardware categories of PCs (55% of companies), networking equipment (51%), servers (48%), and storage (45%). For software, 50% will increase spending on security and 42% on Web applications. For outsourced services, the most demanded service for 2006 will be maintenance, development and support of applications (29% of companies), which was also the most demanded service in 2005. SMBs will turn to local and regional consulting firms and value-added resellers (VARs) for their managed services needs, Forrester reports.

63% of those surveyed by Ponemone Institute said that Internet marketers should “always” understand their interests prior to sending them advertising; while 55% stated that online ads of interest to them “improves” or “greatly improves” their overall online experience. When asked how often they delete cookies form their hard drives, only 8% answered “very frequently” compared to 18% in a 2004 survey; while 24% indicated they “never” delete cookies - more than double the 11% from the previous survey.63% of respondents stated that they’re likely to click on an Internet ad that reflects their interests and preferences regardless of whether it utilizes cookies. 86% of respondents said they would prefer to accept relevant advertising rather than pay for content - an increase of 7% from the 2004 study.

IDC Brasil says that the government sector, taking county, state and federal levels into consideration, expects to increase IT spending by 14% to approximately R$4.9 bln. The government sector spent R$4.3 bln on IT 2004, which made it Brasil’s third highest technology investing sector. From this total, the federal government accounted for more than 60% of the investments, focusing its efforts on acquiring analytical enabled tools.

While only 17% of consumers currently own a flat panel display (FPD), 49% say their next television purchase will be some type of flat panel technology, according to Consumer Electronics Association. Flat panel shipments now comprise of 36% of total revenues and growth is assured with FPD reaching 63% of revenues by 2009 - despite and because of continual price declines in this category. CEA estimates a total of $22 bln worth of TVs will ship to US dealers in 2006, with shipments rising to nearly $30 bln by the close of the decade making it the single largest consumer electronics category. On average, current owners paid $783 for the primary TV in their home, but plan to spend $966 on their next set. Additionally, the average consumer plans to spend $176 on accessories, which suggests a total TV related accessories market of more than $5 bln during 2006.

CEA also surveyed consumers about their desired activities using household TVs and found potential markets for up and coming technologies. While the traditional activities of watching movies and TV ranked the highest at 91% and 88% respectively, watching digital video recorder (DVR) content (54%) and viewing PC video (47%) followed next. Another 44% want to view digital photos on their TV and 29% want to listen to PC audio from the household TV.

In line with expectations, the EMEA PC market maintained healthy trends in Q1 2006 with shipments expanding 15.0% YTY, according to IDC. The market continued to be driven by buoyant notebook demand in the consumer and SMB space, with total portable sales recording over 30% growth, while desktop shipments were also in line with expectations at 7%.

Currently there are approximately 2.6 mln people leaving their jobs each month - the same level as in the pre 9/11 economy - while job openings have increased by almost 500k positions since last summer, according to The Bureau of Labor Statistics. In March, the unemployment rate fell to 4.7%, and for college-educated workers the figure has dropped to 2.2%. Unemployment for knowledge workers is lower than it has been in years: 3.0% in 2003 vs. 2.2% in 2006.

Employers have squeezed extra productivity out of workers, but those gains are coming to an end: more than 3.5% productivity growth in 2003; just 1.5 % projected in 2007. Increasingly, overworked employees are sensing a turn in the job market and are heading for the exits: approximately 2 mln people quit their jobs in 2003 vs. more than 2.5 mln in 2006. Job-hoppers are finding plenty of places to land as the number of job openings has been surging: less than 3 mln job openings in 2003 vs. more than 4 mln in 2006.

Following a holiday quarter in which worldwide shipments of handheld devices topped 2 mln units, the worldwide market for handheld devices began 2006 with its 9th consecutive quarter of YTY decline. According to IDC, worldwide shipments of handheld devices totaled 1.5 mln units, down 22.3% from Q1 2005. Despite the incorporation of features like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, expandable memory, and integrated GPS solutions, the handheld market continues to shrink. Many of these same features can be found on mobile phones, and the inclusion of telephony extends the usability of mobile phones beyond that of handheld devices. Still, vendors continue to search for ways to keep their products viable within this space by appealing to first-time and core users, or even joining the converged mobile device (i.e. smartphone) space altogether.

People took more than 9.7 bln trips on US public transportation systems in 2005, with public transportation growing at a faster rate than highway travel at 1.3% vs. 0.1%, respectively, APTA says. Since 1995, public transportation usage has increased by 25.1% compared to the 22.5% growth rate of highway vehicle miles traveled. Light rail including modern streetcars, trolleys, and heritage trolleys had the highest%age of increase among all modes, with a 6.0% increase in 2005. Some light rail systems showed double digit increases in ridership: Minneapolis (168.9%); Houston (38.0%); New Jersey (17.8%); Salt Lake City (13.3%); Sacramento (12.8%); and Los Angeles (10.5%). Ridership on commuter rail posted the second largest increase at 2.8%, according to the APTA report. The top five commuter rail systems with the highest ridership increases for 2005 were: San Carlos, Calif. (12.5%); Chesterton, Ind. (7.3%); Harrisburg (6.7%); Philadelphia (5.4%); and New Jersey (5.3%).

32% of all European Internet users visited the Career Services and Development category in March 2006. The category’s reach in 7 of the 15 European countries measured by comScore Europe outpaced the European average. In Norway, Sweden, France, Denmark, Belgium the Netherlands and the UK, more than one-third of the Internet users in each country sought career-related information during the month. Among these, the UK attracted the largest visitor base to the Career Services and Development category with 10.6 mln visitors (35% reach). Internet users in the 8 remaining countries were less likely than the average European Internet user to visit the category.

Korean version of Google referred only about 17% of unique visitors to other sites in March 2006, according to WebSideStory. KoreanClick found that Google’s Korean site referred only about 10.8% of unique visitors in February 2006. Naver accounted for nearly 58.4% of search referrals, according to WebSideStory. KoreanClick says Naver accounted for 80%. Daum Communications was second with more than 48%, and Yahoo! Korea was #3 at 32%.

Business Software Alliance report says Russia has software piracy rate of 87%.

Samsung remained the top DRAM maker with sales of $1.76 bln in Q1 2006, giving it a share of 26.6%, while Hynix ranked third, down from second place, with sales of $953 mln and market share of 14.4%. Infineon posted DRAM sales of $1.16 bln to take #2 spot. Micron slipped to fourth place from the third spot with sales of $886 mln and a market share of 13.4%. Nanya, Powerchip Semiconductor and ProMos saw their DRAM sales increase by 7%, 9% and 5% respectively during Q1 2006, iSuppli said.