Hatton bout on; Pacman settles for 50-50

MANILA, Philippines—The Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton showdown will push through after all.

A day after the fight looked doomed, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum Thursday said the duel between boxing’s top pound-for-pound fighter and its 140 lb king is back “under control” because Pacquiao has agreed to a 50-50 split with Hatton.

The Los Angeles Times Thursday reported that Pacquiao is expected to sign the fight contract “sometime Thursday.”

“There was a lot of confusion about why we did 50-50, but everyone now understands why this is a good deal,” Arum told the LA Times’ Lance Pugmire. “This thing is going to happen. Thursday (Tuesday) was disarray. Today, everything’s back in order.”

Pacquiao’s lawyer, Franklin Gacal, on Monday said the Filipino superstar was demanding a 60-40 revenue sharing for the fight and hinted that they would look for another opponent if their terms were not met for the fight that is expected to gross $58.4 million.

The demand prompted Hatton’s handlers to threaten the Filipino champion with a lawsuit and Arum to call off the fight since the American promoter and the British Hitman’s handlers had verbally agreed to equal sharing late last month.

Pacquiao apparently backed out on his demand due to the expected windfall from the pay-per-view revenue in Britain, which Arum said is “attributable to Hatton.” The Filipino would get half of the PPV revenue.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. did not receive any share from the PPV income in Britain when he knocked out Hatton in 2007, Arum said.

Arum said that when he explained the Mayweather Jr. case to Pacquiao’s advisers, “everybody ... calmed down.”

The super fight, which will be held at a still undetermined venue in Las Vegas, is expected to be announced officially next week.

Source : http://globalnation.inquirer.net/cebudailynews/sports/view/20090116-183646/Hatton-bout-on-Pacman-settles-for-50-50

AMD cuts 1,100 jobs, reduce salaries

SAN FRANCISCO – US chip-maker Advanced Micro Devices said Friday it will lop 1,100 jobs and trim salaries to "navigate the turbulent economic conditions."

In February, California-based AMD will begin reducing its global workforce by nine percent, cut the pay of remaining workers and eliminate some benefits.

AMD board chairman Hector Ruiz and chief executive Dirk Meyer will have their base pay shrink 20 percent each, according to the firm.

"As a result of the continuing global economic downturn, we have determined that we need to take difficult, but prudent, actions designed to reduce our costs," AMD said in a written release.

"These actions, while difficult, will allow AMD to better navigate the turbulent economic conditions while protecting our core capability to execute our technology roadmaps and position AMD for long-term success."

Pay cuts for AMD employees in the United States and Canada will range from five percent for "overtime eligible" workers to 15 percent for vice presidents.

At AMD operations outside of North America, there will be "voluntary pay reduction measures consistent with local policies and regulations."

AMD will also suspend matching contributions it typically makes to worker retirement plans in the United States and Canada.

AMD's disheartening news comes a day after computer-chip king Intel reported that its net profit in the recently-ended quarter plummeted 90 percent from the same period a year earlier.

The Santa Clara, California-based company said net profit in the last three months of the year plunged to 234 million dollars on revenue of 8.2 billion dollars.

Intel also warned that it expects even worse results this quarter than the previous three months.

Source : http://technology.inquirer.net/infotech/infotech/view/20090117-183915/AMD-cuts-1100-jobs-reduce-salaries

LG KP500 Cookie

The LG KP500 "Cookie," which the company claims to be the cheapest touch-screen phone in the local market. At P11,900php, the LG Cookie plays Flash-based applications. But the sad thing is at that price at least you expect the features to be complete. There is no 3G and no WiFi Connection. So for me I will not recommend this phone if you expect to have this two features.

Basketball Bussiness

According to forbes last season was a rousing success for the National Basketball Association. The league's two marquee teams, the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, met in the finals, and television ratings soared 51% over the prior year. The league's two biggest stars, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, were on winning teams and getting a lot of prime-time exposure, wowing fans and sponsors. I think televesion ratings will soar over 51% if the finals reach up to 7 games and it will be exciting if it is a close game. This 08-09 season will be another year of exciting games, because teams are start to catch up for each other, in the EAST the measuring stick of boston will be the CLEVELAND CAVALIERS and the uprising ORLANDO MAGIC. ATLANTA HAWKS are on the radar with their stellar perfomance last year bringing BOSTON to 7 games. DETROIT PISTONS are climbing the standings quietly with 7 straight wins despite the injuries to Rasheed Wallace and Richard Hamilton. As for the WEST still LAKERS, SPURS, SUNS, DALLAS and UTAH and probably HOUSTON if healthy TMAC emerge, remains to be seen. Sorry there will be no upset in the WEST because there is no WARRIORS in this years playoffs. But i am looking forward for the DENVER NUGGETS can either upset the SUNS or HOUSTON in the playoffs, but still it remains to be seen, lets see how CHAUNCY BILLUPS carry to team to passing the first round of the playoffs.