http://www.pressdemocrat.com Local News from The Press Democrat en-us Copyright, http://www.pressdemocrat.com Editorial http://www.pressdemocrat.com http://www.pressdemocrat.com/images/logo2.gif http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091127/business/911271045
]]> Dilithium Networks recently raised $10.9 million in venture funding. The Petaluma company's technology allows people to watch live TV and other video content on their iPhones and other smartphones. Fri, 27 Nov 2009 09:59:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091127/business/911271045 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091127/news/911279998
]]> Sonoma County bargain hunters were out early Friday searching for deals on everything from laptops to blue jeans. Fri, 27 Nov 2009 08:20:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091127/news/911279998 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091127/news/911271101
]]> WASHINGTON -- Troubled by the rising jobless rate, President Barack Obama and the Democratic majority in Congress are assembling a jobs package that would devote billions of dollars to projects meant to put people back on payrolls in 2010 and keep them working. Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:03:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091127/news/911271101 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091127/business/911271050
]]> The holiday season is as much a time for tech as for toys. Electronic gadgets are at the top of many wish lists and account for an ever-growing share of holiday shopping budgets. Fortunately for shoppers, tech gifts don't have to break their budgets. Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:03:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091127/business/911271050 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091127/business/911271053
]]> As long as there has been online shopping, there has been Cyber Monday. But is that now more virtual than real? Online retailers for the past decade have counted on the Monday after Thanksgiving to deliver for Web merchants what Black Friday does for brick-and-mortar stores -- a turbo boost into the holiday shopping season. Online sales surged on... Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:03:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091127/business/911271053 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091127/business/911271047
]]> Bankruptcy filings in federal courts jumped by more than one-third this year, as businesses and individuals struggled to regain their footing in a weakened economy. Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:03:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091127/business/911271047 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091127/business/911271051
]]> COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. There could be less jingle in the Salvation's Army's hallmark red kettles this season. The charity is testing kettles that take debit and credit cards. Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:03:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091127/business/911271051 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091126/business/911261077
]]> DOWNEY -- This blue-collar suburb on the edge of Los Angeles once helped send men to space. After the collapse of its aerospace industry, its ambitions are now more down-to-earth but still looking toward the future. Thu, 26 Nov 2009 04:03:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091126/business/911261077 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091125/articles/911259858
]]> Retailers eager to stay one step ahead of their competition are jumping the gun and opening for business on Thanksgiving Day. Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:58:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091125/articles/911259858 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091125/business/911259986
]]> Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday it will replace accelerator pedals on about 4 million recalled vehicles in the United States because the pedals can get stuck in the floor mats. Wed, 25 Nov 2009 08:23:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091125/business/911259986 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091125/business/911259960
]]> As stores prepare for hordes of Black Friday shoppers and mark down high-definition TVs and hot toys, they're also pushing deals on something more mundane - necessities like socks and diapers. Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:38:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091125/business/911259960 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091125/business/911251051
]]> WASHINGTON -- The summer's trend of rising home prices faded at the end of the traditional home shopping season, two reports Tuesday showed. Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:03:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091125/business/911251051 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091125/business/911251038
]]> WASHINGTON -- Fed policy makers have become slightly more optimistic about the pace of the economic recovery, but they continue to predict that unemployment will remain well above 9 percent through the end of 2010, according to forecasts released Tuesday. Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:03:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091125/business/911251038 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091125/business/911251044
]]> DETROIT -- A deal for General Motors Co. to sell Saab to a specialty carmaker has collapsed, leaving the storied Swedish brand born from jets in 1947 close to extinction. Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:03:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091125/business/911251044 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091125/business/911251049
]]> The government-administered insurance fund that protects depositors fell into the red for the first time since the fallout from the savings-and-loan crisis of the early 1990s as the pace of bank failures accelerated. Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:03:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091125/business/911251049 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091125/business/911251057
]]> DETROIT -- Tire prices are inflating. Tariffs on imports, lower supplies and higher demand from drivers buying winter tires are combining to jack up costs. Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:03:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091125/business/911251057 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091125/business/911251028
]]> U.S. senators are pressuring European antitrust regulators to hurry their investigation of Oracle Corp.'s proposed acquisition of Sun Microsystems Inc., citing Sun's "precarious" financial condition and fears about more layoffs at the struggling computing company. Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:03:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091125/business/911251028 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091125/business/911251027
]]> Tesla Motors is close to a deal to build an electric car factory at the site of a former NASA manufacturing plant in Downey, a blue-collar city south of Los Angeles, Mayor Mario Guerra said Tuesday. Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:03:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091125/business/911251027 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091125/business/911251026
]]> Green Mountain Coffee Roasters sweetened its offer for Diedrich Coffee by $2 per share Tuesday, matching a rival bid from Peet's Coffee & Tea. Tuesday's bid comes two days after Peet's raised its own offer for Diedrich, hoping to get a foothold in the wholesaler's popular and growing single-serve coffee pod business. Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:03:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091125/business/911251026 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091125/business/911251025
]]> Facebook has created a dual-class stock structure designed to give founder Mark Zuckerberg and other existing shareholders control over the company. The move could be seen as laying the groundwork for an initial public offering, though the social network said Tuesday it had no plans to go public "at this time." Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:03:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091125/business/911251025 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/articles/911249924
]]> Friedman’s Home Improvement announced a deal Tuesday to open a store in Petaluma, where the family business started in 1946. It would become the second large store in a proposed retail center anchored by Target. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:26:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/articles/911249924 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/articles/911249958
]]> Medtronic’s Santa Rosa-based vascular business had double-digit growth in the second quarter, with global sales up 20 percent over the past year. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:54:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/articles/911249958 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/business/911241037
]]> Ali had Frazier. Coke has Pepsi. The Yankees have the Red Sox. Now Wal-Mart, the mightiest retail giant in history, may have met its own worthy adversary: Amazon.com. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:03:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/business/911241037 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/business/911241034
]]> There's no surprise that charitable giving is down this year. A recession can make even the most altruistic person pull back. Fifty-one percent of charitable organizations responding to a poll by the Association of Fundraising Professionals reported lower fundraising totals so far in 2009 compared to the same time period last year. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:03:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/business/911241034 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/business/911241029
]]> SAN FRANCISCO -- Hewlett-Packard Co.'s profit jumped 14 percent in the latest quarter, helped by cost-cutting and better results from its technology services division. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:03:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/business/911241029 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/business/911241026
]]> WASHINGTON -- First-time buyers taking advantage of a special tax credit gave sales of existing homes their biggest surge in a decade, raising hopes for a turnaround in the housing market and pleasing Wall Street. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:03:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/business/911241026 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/business/911241057
]]> WASHINGTON -- Faced with limited job options, many young adults are turning to an old standby to weather the recession: moving back in with mom and dad. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:03:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/business/911241057 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/business/911241032
]]> WASHINGTON -- A lot more Americans are feeling stressed out by debt this holiday season, raising the glum likelihood they'll behave like Scrooge rather than Santa. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:03:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/business/911241032 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/business/911241019
]]> Consumers got more serious about paying down their credit card debt this summer, a time when deliquencies usually go up. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:03:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/business/911241019 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/business/911241021
]]> Google Inc. has snapped up another startup in its quest to sell more visual advertising on the Web. The acquisition of Teracent Corp., a 3-year-old startup, provides Google with more tools for customizing the online billboards known as display advertising. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:03:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/business/911241021