TechnoBabble - Thur Apr 05, 2007

Get Your Apple Computers From Best Buy?
I can’t recall too many large department stores being authorized to sell Macs, but Best Buy will be one of them. Two hundred stores will be selling Macs by this fall.

While all of these stores are likely in the US, I’m hoping the Toronto store will be one of them, as my next computer is definitely going to be a Mac. I could order by phone or online, but I’m not big on making large purchases that way.

Google Billionaires Get Tiny Salary
Given how expensive it is to live in parts of California, you might think that the three top executives of Google - Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and CEO Eric Schmidt - would get healthy salaries. But in fact, their 2006 salary was US$1 each. However, they do collectively own 2/3 of all Google voting shares. All three of them received other compensation in vary amounts, from about US$3,600 to $535K.

Fewer Tech Grads In The UK?
Silicon.com reports that fewer students are taking pure IT and other technical degrees. It’s so bad that number dropped from 27,000 in 2001 to nearly half in 2005. Besides being bad news for employers that need IT skills, it could also be bad news for emerging technologies such as VoIP and RFID - both of which have a lack of skilled workers.