Business news for Mon, 31 Dec 2007 & with word technology. 17 news.

Reuters - Stocks fell on Monday, but the market managed to make a modest advance in 2007 after gains in energy and technology offset the dramatic sell-off in financials from the mortgage market meltdown.

US stocks fell on Monday, but the market managed to make a modest advance in 2007 after gains in energy and technology offset the dramatic sell-off in financials from the mortgage market meltdown.

SCHARWOUDE, Netherlands - If you've ever blistered your bare feet on a hot road you know that asphalt absorbs the sun's energy.

Six months ago, the Bush administration quietly eased some restrictions on the export of sensitive technologies to China. The new approach was intended to help American companies increase sales of high-tech equipment to China despite tight curbs on sharing technology that might have military applications.

In today’s "Globalised Economy" the more obvious developments of the current industrial generation concern the use of information technology in communication, and mechanisation in production.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Technology stocks began the last trading day of the year in the red Monday on what was expected to be a relatively light session ahead of the the New Year's Day holiday. Among bellwether tech stocks, Google Inc. shares fell $4.67 to $697.81 amid a report that the company is in discussions with several newspaper publishers to sell advertising space online. Declines also came from Apple Inc. , Microsoft Corp. , Dell Inc. and Texas Instruments Inc. . The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell 11 points to 2,663.

Vonage and Nortel agreed to settle their patent litigation in a deal that allows for cross-licensing of technology and does not require any cash payments.

This year will go down as an exciting one for technology. Here are 10 things that caught my attention in 2007: 1.

Less than a year since its launch, Wal-Mart has scrapped its online video download service. The decision to end its downloading operation resulted from Hewlett-Packard discontinuing the technology that powered the service.

TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- Magic Software Enterprises Ltd., the Or Yehuda, Israel, provider of business-integration and application-development technology, sold its Advanced Answers on Demand subsidiary to Fortissimo Capital for $17 million. Fortissimo is the Rosh ha'Ayin, Israel, investment firm. Magic expects to post a more than $9 million gain on the sale of AAOD, which develops software for application in long-term health care, including retirement facilities as well as home-health and rehabilitation agencies. As part of the deal, Magic has licensed to AAOD the right to continue to sell its product portfolio for three years.

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Strategists at Citigroup expect double-digit returns in 2008, according to a note published Monday. "European equities should be supported by lower rates, macro resilience, earnings growth, reasonable valuations and liquidity," the strategists said. They are sellers of sectors exposed to financial or consumer leverage, but buyers of food and beverage, industrial goods and services, personal and household goods, telecoms and technology.

[Technology] Continental Airlines kicked off a U.S. trial using paperless boarding passes with QR code--printed two-dimensional bar codes made popular in Japan--in early December. The bar code, issued to air travelers at Houston's Intercontinental Airport, is being used to verify passengers at the gate.

Like many individuals, the technology world should make a New Year's resolution to go on a diet. But rather than cutting back on calories, it needs to start conserving kilowatts.

This is the year consumer technology holiday sales went flat.

The rise of social networks such as Facebook and wireless gadgets such as the iPhone has set off a small stampede of companies hoping to build on or replicate their success. Many are counting on advertising to pay the bills.

For government contractors, 2007 wasn't pretty: They had to contend with tighter budgets and increased oversight from a new Democratic Congress, as well as polarizing controversies surrounding the conduct of contractors in Iraq.

The oil major Shell is thought to be preparing to shed around 3,200 jobs, mostly in its information technology division. As with many other public and private sector concerns, the plan is to hive the jobs off to external specialist contractors.