The Korea Herald

Apple finance chief retiring

Mar 5, 2014

Apple on Tuesday announced that the chief finance officer who served during the company’s meteoric rise over the past decade is retiring later this year.Peter Oppenheimer will leave in September, turning the position over to Luca Maestri, according to the maker of iPhones, iPads, iPods and Macintosh computers.“Peter has served as our CFO for the past decade as Apple’s annual revenue grew from $8 billion to $171 billion and our global footprint expanded dramatically,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a
Automakers cast wary eye

Mar 5, 2014

GENEVA (AP) ― Growing tensions over Ukraine have raised the specter of another slowdown in the European auto market, just as carmakers were beginning to count on a modest recovery from a six-year contraction.Russia’s intervention in Ukraine has raised the possibility of sanctions against the country, which has been a key growth market for recession-battered European automakers. On the first day of the Geneva Auto Show on Tuesday, executives cast a wary eye toward the crisis.“There is not a singl
Obama budget focuses on boosting economy

Mar 5, 2014

Tax breaks offered for poor in election year budget
‘Tribo-electric’ the buzzword of the future?

Mar 5, 2014

Out at sea, gentle waves provide power for thousands of homes. In cities, dance-floor moves generate electricity for nightclubs. In the countryside, hikers use leg power to recharge their phones.It is an alluring goal of clean, reliable power free from geo-political risks ― and scientists in the United States said Tuesday it lies within reach, thanks to a smart way to harvest energy called tribo-electricity.Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology said they had built a simple prototype
China sets 7.5% growth goal, boosts military spending

Mar 5, 2014

China unveiled Wednesday an economic growth target of 7.5 percent for this year and plans to boost its 2014 military spending by 12.2 percent, marking a fresh double-digit increase of its defense budget.The world's second-largest economy announced a military budget of 808.23 billion yuan ($131.8 billion), compared with 720 billion yuan last year, as it opened the annual legislative session of China's National People's Congress.China's rapid military modernization has increased tensions with its
Android tops as tablets go mainstream: report

Mar 4, 2014

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) ― Tablet computer sales soared last year with Android-powered devices dethroning iPads atop a booming global market, according to figures released Monday by Gartner.Sales of tablet computers surged to 195.4 million last year in a 68 percent jump from what was seen in 2012, the industry tracker reported.The raw number of iPads sold climbed more than 9 million to a total of 70.4 million.Meanwhile, the portion of sales grabbed by tablets running on Google-back Android rose to 61
Brutal winter freezes U.S. auto sales

Mar 4, 2014

CHICAGO (AFP) ― Brutal winter weather chilled U.S. auto sales in February, with General Motors, Ford and Toyota reporting losses Monday even as rival Chrysler extended a winning streak.Total industry sales were unchanged from February 2013 at 1.2 million vehicles while the sales pace came in at an adjusted, annualized rate of 15.3 million vehicles, according to Autodata.That was an improvement over the three percent drop posted in bitterly cold and storm-swept January.The U.S. auto industry had
Apple dials up effort to meld iPhone with cars

Mar 4, 2014

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ― Apple is accelerating the race to make smartphone applications easier and safer to use in cars. Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo are previewing Apple’s iPhone technology for cars this week at an auto show in Geneva. The partnerships give Apple an early lead over Google’s loosely knit family of Android phones in a duel to make mobile applications more accessible while drivers are behind the wheel. Apple’s iOS mobile software and Google’s Android operating system power most of
Obama’s 2015 budget eyes economy boost

Mar 4, 2014

WASHINGTON (AP) ― President Barack Obama is unwrapping a nearly $4 trillion budget that gives Democrats an election-year playbook for fortifying the economy and bolstering Americans’ incomes. It also underscores how pressure has faded to launch bold, new attacks on federal deficits.Obama’s 2015 fiscal blueprint, which he is sending Congress Tuesday, was expected to include proposals to upgrade aging highways and railroads, finance more pre-kindergarten programs and enhance job training. The Whit
Buffett: Bitcoin ‘not a currency’

Mar 4, 2014

NEW YORK (AFP) ― The Oracle of Omaha is not a believer in Bitcoin.Warren Buffett, chief executive of investment conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway and one of the world’s most respected investors, told CNBC television Monday that Bitcoin “does not meet the test of a currency.”“I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not around in 10 or 20 years,” said the 83-year-old billionaire, whose nickname stems from his investment savvy and his home city of Omaha, in the U.S. state of Nebraska.Buffett called the virtu
IMF faces growing pressure to help Ukraine

Mar 4, 2014

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Can the International Monetary Fund say “no” to Ukraine?Called to the rescue by Kiev, the global crisis lender is under increasing pressure from all sides to give the green light to an aid program, even as it risks its own credibility in doing so.A team of IMF experts landed in Ukraine on Monday to launch discussions with the authorities, dissecting the economy’s problems and shaping an aid plan, even as the new government struggles with the threat of Russia in Crimea and says
Geneva Motor Show to make tracks out of crisis

Mar 3, 2014

PARIS (AFP) ― The Geneva Motor Show will kick off this week on an optimistic note as the long-suffering European car market appears to finally have swerved out of the slow lane.Luxurious sports cars, high-end SUVs and city cars will be bumper-to-bumper at the show ― one of the auto industry’s biggest and most diverse events ― as it cruises out from under the long shadow of industry crisis.Carmakers and analysts alike say the worst of the difficulties are now in the rear-view mirror.“The worst of
‘Ultra-connected world’

Mar 3, 2014

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) ― We’re in the beginning of a world in which everything is connected to the Internet and with one another, while powerful yet relatively cheap computers analyze all that data for ways to improve lives. Toothbrushes tell your mirror to remind you to floss. Basketball jerseys detect impending heart failure and call the ambulance for you. At least that’s the vision presented this past week at the Mobile World Congress wireless show in Barcelona, Spain. The four-day conference
Widening BOJ price target seen as option by board member Shirai

Mar 3, 2014

Bank of Japan board member Sayuri Shirai suggested the central bank could broaden its 2 percent inflation target into a numerical range once price gains advance closer to the goal. “The idea of applying a range to the inflation target should not be ruled out,” Shirai said in a speech given in New York and published March 1 on the BOJ’s website. A band “might be examined after the inflation rate exceeds at least 1 percent in a stable manner, and after it is judged that inflation expectations are
ECB rate-cut momentum seen ebbing

Mar 3, 2014

Euro-region economic reports in the past month turned out reassuring enough to convince most economists that Mario Draghi doesn’t need to cut interest rates this week. With data on growth, inflation and economic sentiment all exceeding estimates, only about a quarter of forecasters in a Bloomberg News survey say the European Central Bank president and colleagues will reduce the benchmark rate from the current record-low 0.25 percent. Policy makers announce their decision in Frankfurt on March 6.