Fortify is a security company that specializes in keeping applications secure without deploying them while HP specializes in keeping applications safe during deployment and on. The acquisition of Fortify will allow HP to cover more grounds and become stronger in security industry.

Stay tuned for some more information about this acquisition.

Earlier this year, IBM’s CEO, Sam Palmisano, said that IBM has a set budget of $20 billion for acquisitions for the next five years. IBM’s software unit has made approximately 60 acquisitions in the last seven years and is expected to be responsisble for 50% of company’s earnings by the year 2015.

Unica has an impressive customer base which includes Ebay and Best Buy among others. Unica employs 500 people.

I am curious to see how IBM handles this acquisitions and takes advantage of it.

Mortgage related debts are on the rise and according to experts, that will cause more bank failures in 2010 compared to 2009 (140 bank failures). One of the largest bank that was taken over by the regulators out of the seven banks was Crescent Bank and Trust Company in Georgia. While, the rest of the six banks have only $2bn in assets, Crescent Bank has $1bn by itself.

Now all eyes are set on the European market and its performance. Lets hope we don’t lose too many banks.

If you have just bought a motorcycle and are looking to hit the road, make sure you first get an insurance. Motorcycle accident rates are very high these days and you need to make sure that you are prepared for any such incident. When you go ‘shopping’ for motorcycle insurance, it will be hard for you to pick the right one. Thus, it is very important that you do lots of research beforehand.

There are several factors that you need to consider before picking an insurance.

1. Types of incidents covered – you don’t just want to have protection against collisions but also against theft and vandalism.
2. Flexibility of payment plans – How flexible is it when it comes to payments? Are the premiums affordable?
3. Customer Service – Are they helpful when you have inquiries? Or do they constantly ignore you?
4. No. of bikes supported – if you have more than one bike, then you would want both of them to be included in the same plan.

There are several other factors that you need to consider before getting a motorcycle insurance but these are some of the most important ones.

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Chief executive of Australian Banker’s Association, which has written to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission about this television campaign, said that they have legal advice according to which the TV ads are misleading for the purposes of the ASIC Act. These credit unions, whose advertisements are still being aired on TV, use comparative research published by InfoChoice as evidence for their claim.

But the study of InfoChoice which basically states that home borrowers can save $35,000 on their mortgage is related to flawed methods of comparing the bank rates with those of credit unions. The Reserve Bank increased the official cash rate, on March 3, to 0.25 per cent and on March 5, four big banks followed this hike rate which boosted their variable rate range to 6.74 to 7.01 per cent.

With all this taking effect, the credit unions of the country failed to pass on these rate hikes until March 10 and InfoChoice has made the comparisons of rates in this study based on March 9. This time lag has basically caused artificial inflation between the interest rates of four major banks and credit unions.

On March 9, Heritage Building Society had a competitive standard credit union mortgage rate of 6.3 per cent which rose to 6.55 per cent the next day and similarly, Hume Building Society had it at 6.25 per cent which rose to 6.5 per cent the next day.

While a financial researcher, Steven Anderson expressed his doubts about the study of InfoChoice, CEO of InfoChoice himself, Shaun Cornelius confirmed that the credit unions used in the study were the “most competitive mortgage credit unions at that point in time”. He also said that they would stand by their study which they believe to be very robust. According to Cornelius, if a customer from the four big banks moved to a credit union, they would probably do so to one of the four big credit unions and would, therefore, get those savings.

Chief Executive of Abacus, Louise Petschler said that although the organization was using the research done by InfoChoice, they were not using the March 9 date to maximize the savings. Abacus is the credit union industry association that commissioned the ads. According to Petscler, they were not aware of the rate differences and that they needed the content in a hurry for the ads.

According to Petschler, the realistic savings would be no more than $10,000 on March and may even be negative in some cases because of discounted rates and fees of credit unions. Petschler also claimed that if the rate comparison is done on any other day, the figure would be round about that figure.

Other studies done by Ratecity, a rate comparison publisher also strongly doubted that switching from banks to credit unions would give $35,000 of savings.

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Richard Jacobs is a chief editor since early 2007, and he currently works for myDUIattorney. A webiste that helps you to find the right DUI lawyer, you can search for a Scottsdale DUI or a Atlanta DUI Attorney online, anytime!

Rupee ended at 47.16/17 per dollar, which is 1.7% down when compared to 46.36/37 at day end on Monday. The Euro fell to $1.2116 which is its four year lowest as European economy continues to struggle.

Looking at the above two examples, it is clear that investor confidence is very important. Doubt over the world economy causes investors to sell more, creating fear in the market. Most experts believe that the drop in rupee is a momentarily drop, and it will be interesting to see how market behaves for next couple of days. Indian investors should show more confidence in the market especially with the recent news of high Economic growth in India.

Recently, as you may remember, Continental Airlines’ CEO Jeff Smisek called US Airways an “ugly girl” after it refused to accept Continental Airlines’ proposal to merge together.

However, US Airways has been doing really well these days. Its shares rose 8.2% and closed on $8.45 last Wednesday. According to analysts, at this moment, US Airways is a very attractive candidate for mergers. Also, a merger with American Airlines will be very beneficial to American Airlines especially in the Atlantic.

If American Airlines were to merge with US Airways, it would have operations in 63 new cities where it did not operate before. Needless to say, this merger can be very valuable for American Airlines.

Whether they would merge or not, only time would tell.

Pakistan, a Muslim country, has blocked parts of Facebook which offend Islam. This entire issue started when a Facebook user created a page titled “Draw Mohammad Day” which invited users to send their drawing of Muslim prophet. This has created a rage amongst the muslims.

Ban on Facebook was imposed by the Lahore High Court and it will remain till May 31. If you may remember, five years ago (2005), a Danish newspaper published an offensive cartoon of Muhammad which started several protests in Muslim countires.

As soon as the ban was imposed by the court, the Pakistan Telecommunication Regulatory Authority banned the link.

Kurram Mehran, spokesman for the Pakistan Telecommunication Regulatory Authority, said, “We were instructed by the Ministry of Information Technology to block a link.”

Pakistan is the country with the second most Musilm population after Indonesia.

As a facebook user, I fail to understand why some users do stuff like this. Needless to say, Facebook should ban such groups and a lot of people find them offensive.

This issue has led to formation of several other related groups on Facebook such as “Everybody Draw Muhammad.” Here is a quote from the group,

“We would like to encourage you all to add and share Muhammad’s photos, as this will only enrage some people.”

What do you think about this issue?  What actions should authorities take?

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