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MEXICO CITY Mexico indicated Wednesday it expects the downturn in the U.S. will mean much slower growth this year for its own economy, which depends on its northern neighbor for the bulk of its trade and investment.The Treasury Department said it was lowering its forecast for Mexico’s 2008 economic growth to 2.8 percent from 3.7 percent - a 24 percent drop.”It is expected that the prevalent international economic scenario in 2008 will be less favorable for Mexico than what was anticipated,” the department said in a report posted on its Web site.Mexico’s gross domestic product is expected to have grown about 3.2 percent last year, the department said.More than any other country in Latin America, Mexico’s economic fate is tied to the U.S., its partner in the North American Free Trade Agreement. Mexico sends more than 80 percent of its exports to the U.S., which is also Mexico’s largest source of direct foreign investment and remittances.Mexico’s central bank on Wednesday also lowered its growth estimate by half a percentage point - to between 2.75 percent and 3.25 percent, compared to its previous estimate of 3.25 percent to 3.75 percent - also citing the U.S. downturn.Banco de Mexico said it expects there will be 620,000 jobs created in the formal economy this year, down from 756,000 in 2007.The bank also said remittances from Mexicans living abroad - the country’s second-largest source of foreign income after oil - had increased by a modest 1 percent last year compared with 2006, to $23.9 billion.It said it expected similar remittance growth in 2008.The lowered Mexican growth projections came on the same day the U.S. Commerce Department announced a growth rate of just 0.6 percent for the fourth quarter of 2007, the worst rate since 2002. Some fear a recession as U.S. growth - just 2.2 percent for all of 2007 - has stalled due to the ailing housing market and credit tightening.The Treasury Department said, however, there are “diverse factors that will mitigate the effects” of the slowing U.S. and global economy. It cited strong Mexican economic policies, increased spending on infrastructure, housing and other sectors, and anticipated high oil revenues.If it were not for those factors offsetting the U.S. slowdown, “the effect would have been much worse,” said Mauricio Gonzalez, president of the Mexico-based analysis firm Grupo Economistas Asociados.Latin America - especially Mexico - has always been hit hard by U.S. economic downturns. The region as a whole directs 50 percent of its exports to the United States, said Keiji Inoue, an economist at the United Nations.But Latin America is less vulnerable than in past crises, when a case of the sniffles in the U.S. economy prompted full-blown pneumonia across the region, economists say.One of Mexico’s strongest weapons is a huge public-private infrastructure plan proposed by President Felipe Calderon, who promised the government would spend $39 billion annually over his six-year term on roads, bridges, seaports, dams, and oil installations.Calderon noted the coming difficult times for the U.S. and global economy.”What we do not want is that this puts the brakes on the Mexican economy,” he said.In addition to Mexico’s infrastructure plan, the country is “revving the motors of our economy” with housing-construction projects, credit-lending programs, tourism development and diversification of its export markets, Calderon said earlier this month at a ceremony marking the start of construction on an $800 million dam.Such factors will indeed help to lessen the impact of the United States’ economic woes on Mexico, said Gonzalez, who noted that when former President Vicente Fox’s term began in 2000, Mexico’s growth rate dropped from about 6 percent to zero growth due to a U.S. drop from 3 percent to 1 percent.”That was not even a recession,” he said. “This time it’s not going to be that way.”If the U.S. does slip into a recession, the United Nations predicts Latin America as a whole would grow by only 2.6 percent, while Mexico’s growth would slow to about 1 percent, said chief U.N. economist Robert Vos.”That the U.S. downturn will affect us - there can be no doubt,” Gonzalez said.(This version CORRECTS year to 2007 from 2008 in 7th graf. )

The top business news from The Associated Press for the morning of Thursday, Jan. 31, 2008:Investors Want More Interest Rate CutsWASHINGTON (AP) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, criticized last year for being too tentative in cutting interest rates, has shown he can act boldly. But the Fed’s two aggressive rate cuts in the past eight days have left investors demanding still more. That may be a sign of how much trouble the economy is facing, with many analysts contending that the country is flirting with a recession and may, in fact, already be in one.—House, Senate at Odds on StimulusWASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate is set to begin voting on dueling economic aid proposals, as senators rush to add jobless benefits and tax rebates for high earners, the elderly, and disabled veterans to a House-passed package. Senate Democrats and some Republicans are teaming up to tack $32 billion onto the House measure with a bill that would send rebates of $500-$1,000 to all but the richest taxpayers. Families also would get $300 for each child. Senators could begin voting as early as Thursday in hopes of completing the package by week’s end.—Starbucks Axes Sandwiches As Part of FixSEATTLE (AP) - The scent of ham, eggs, cheese and bacon will soon stop competing with the aroma of coffee in Starbucks stores as hot breakfast sandwiches become the first casualty of the company’s battle to win back customers. The sandwiches, which will disappear by this fall, boost a typical store’s annual revenue by $35,000, so pulling them off the menu will cost at first. Chairman and Chief Executive Howard Schultz said that proves the company isn’t letting the soft economy distract it from committing to big changes that will pay off over the long haul.—Amazon Expects Sales to Rise in 2008SEATTLE (AP) - This year isn’t looking quite as sweet for Amazon.com shareholders as 2007. Despite a possible recession in the U.S. economy, the Web retailer said it expects sales to rise briskly again in 2008. But the gains won’t translate as readily to bottom-line growth. “A lot of old Amazon bears are going to be growling,” said Tim Boyd, an analyst at American Technology Research.—Sony Quarterly Profit Rises 25 PercentTOKYO (AP) - Sony reported a 25.2 percent jump in profit for the October-December quarter Thursday as its PlayStation video game business stopped losing money after six straight quarters of losses. Profit at the Japanese electronics and entertainment company climbed to 200.2 billion yen ($1.88 billion) for the fiscal third quarter from 159.9 billion yen the same period the previous year.—Super Bowl’s Big Day for TV, Pizza SalesNEW YORK (AP) - Super Bowl Sunday may be the biggest day of the year for football fans, but it’s also a big day for people who sell big screen TVs, recliners and pizza. Yes, some sports fans are willing to pay thousands of dollars for a TV just to watch the game. Jim Ferrero, of Yardley, Pa., has done so twice.—Cost Cuts Push Lenovo Profit Up 198 Pct.BEIJING (AP) - Lenovo Group, the world’s No. 4 personal computer maker, said Thursday that profit in its third fiscal quarter rose 198 percent and forecast strong sales this year despite a possible U.S. economic slowdown. Driven by strong sales and aggressive cost-cutting, profit for the three months that ended Dec. 31 was $172 million, or $1.93 per share, on revenue of $4.6 billion, Beijing-based Lenovo said. That was below the average $253.5 million expected by analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires.—Market Turmoil Felt in Central EuropeWARSAW, Poland (AP) - It took years for Andrzej Solyga to muster the courage to invest in mutual funds. But in June 2007, at the urging of a friend, the Polish sculptor invested 200,000 zlotys ($82,000) in a fund that had been earning rich returns of 50 percent a year, joining a growing number of small investors in Europe’s post-communist countries who finally succumbed to the lure of booming stock markets.—$50M Grant Will Finance Plant ResearchPHOENIX (AP) - A collaboration of botanists and computer scientists is being awarded a $50 million federal grant to conduct research into plant biology with an eye toward resolving global problems related to agriculture, environment and energy production. The five-year National Science Foundation grant announced Wednesday will pay for research on topics such as climate change, development of biomass energy, and agricultural land use, said foundation Director Arden L. Bement. The University of Arizona is leading the project.—Mardi Gras Means Money in New OrleansNEW ORLEANS (AP) - That happy, singsong sound heard on Bourbon Street is trickle-down economics at its best as hundreds of thousands of Carnival season visitors spend themselves silly before Fat Tuesday. The city’s tourism industry, getting back on its feet after Hurricane Katrina, is counting on a big weekend crowd to fill restaurants and hotels leading up to Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras, on Feb. 5.—Gold PricesLONDON (AP) - Gold opened in London Thursday at a bid price of $923.10 per troy ounce, up from $920.85 on Wednesday.—Japan MarketsTOKYO (AP) - Japanese stocks rose Thursday as reports that a troubled U.S. bond insurer had closed an investment deal helped to ease concerns about the subprime loan crisis. The Nikkei stock index rose 247.44 points, or 1.85 percent, to close at 13,592.47 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The index shed 0.99 percent the day before.—Dollar-YenTOKYO (AP) - The dollar fell against the yen in Asia Thursday amid anxieties about U.S. bond insurers and continuing fallout from the subprime mortgage crisis. The U.S. dollar was trading at 106.46 yen at 2:50 p.m. Thursday, down from 106.95 yen late Wednesday in New York. The euro fell to $1.4879 from $1.4898.

BOSTON A combination of Microsoft and Yahoo could reshape the Internet landscape for millions of Web users: Would the two companies join their online portals? Could they rethink the desktop computer to integrate Web content more directly?The changes are potentially huge, but probably not in the short term.Microsoft executives did not indicate Friday exactly what they would do with Yahoo’s brand if their bid, now valued at $42 billion, is accepted. But analysts expect the combined companies to preserve many of their separate free services, like instant-messaging and e-mail programs.A more likely medium-term change is that some of Microsoft’s Web content could fade away or get added to Yahoo, which has a vast collection of news and features aggregated from other providers.Microsoft’s Web properties, including its Yahoo-like MSN portal, aren’t exactly slouches: They rank third, trailing only Yahoo and Google, in total visitors. But while Yahoo still is profitable, Microsoft’s online services are a consistent money loser. The MSN search engine is a laggard, even with recent efforts to soup it up under Microsoft’s online umbrella it calls “Live.”Having Yahoo in its tent could give Microsoft a rationalization for abandoning its unprofitable online elements.”I think MSN folds into Yahoo,” said Ian Campbell, CEO of Nucleus Research. “It would be foolish to keep that separate.”Perhaps the biggest change Microsoft and Yahoo could achieve together would be creating a better way to combine the Web and desktop computing - not to mention cell phones, TVs, cars and any other gadgets that might someday plug into the Internet.Consumers who access the Web on cell phones and handheld computers might be the first to find something new as a result of a Microsoft-Yahoo combination. Devices that run Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system could be better integrated with Yahoo content and possibly yield new services, like social networking functions.New ideas will be key to compete with Google’s Web presence. After all, people don’t “Microsoft” or “Yahoo” anything. Microsoft in particular tends to be tolerated more than loved. Google is also leading development of an alternative cell-phone operating system it calls Android.Eventually, a teamed-up Yahoo and Microsoft might be able to rethink the PC desktop - where Windows still runs 90 percent of the world’s PCs - so that Internet data such as stock prices, sports scores and weather are automatically baked in.”We all have our home page because we have a concept of a home page,” Campbell said. Before long, “we may not have a home page - it might just be the background of my desktop. There’s no reason why Microsoft can’t push this another level.”Microsoft might also use Yahoo’s online strengths to galvanize Web-based versions of some of its powerful desktop software applications, like Word and Excel.Open-source rivals and Google are threatening to bite into Microsoft’s lucrative Office software franchise with free versions of those kinds of “productivity” software. Microsoft is developing Web-based versions of its own, but slowly.Now Yahoo could be the face through which Microsoft offers those online applications. Perhaps one day a Microsoft-fueled package of “Yahoo Apps” will go up against “Google Apps.”Even with these possibilities, analyst David Mitchell Smith, a vice president at Gartner Inc., believes the biggest change from a Microsoft-Yahoo deal probably will be the one most Web surfers don’t notice. That will come as the companies try to broaden their ability to deliver ads all over the Internet, wherever it reaches.It’s necessary because being the most popular online destination - as Yahoo already is - is no longer enough. The explosion of blogs, video sites and other user-generated content has made our Internet travels more wide-ranging. As a result, the biggest Internet companies now need their ad networks to reach far beyond their home portals. Google has mastered that. Microsoft and Yahoo have not.”I think that’s really what it’s all about,” Smith said. “It’s about advertising. It’s about search.”(This version CORRECTS value of bid to billion sted million; CLARIFIES that deal is now worth 42, not 45, billion.)

MEXICO CITY Mexico indicated Wednesday it expects the downturn in the U.S. will mean much slower growth this year for its own economy, which depends on its northern neighbor for the bulk of its trade and investment.The Treasury Department said it was lowering its forecast for Mexico’s 2008 economic growth to 2.8 percent from 3.7 percent - a 24 percent drop.”It is expected that the prevalent international economic scenario in 2008 will be less favorable for Mexico than what was anticipated,” the department said in a report posted on its Web site.Mexico’s gross domestic product is expected to have grown about 3.2 percent last year, the department said.More than any other country in Latin America, Mexico’s economic fate is tied to the U.S., its partner in the North American Free Trade Agreement. Mexico sends more than 80 percent of its exports to the U.S., which is also Mexico’s largest source of direct foreign investment and remittances.Mexico’s central bank on Wednesday also lowered its growth estimate by half a percentage point - to between 2.75 percent and 3.25 percent, compared to its previous estimate of 3.25 percent to 3.75 percent - also citing the U.S. downturn.Banco de Mexico said it expects there will be 620,000 jobs created in the formal economy this year, down from 756,000 in 2007.The bank also said remittances from Mexicans living abroad - the country’s second-largest source of foreign income after oil - had increased by a modest 1 percent last year compared with 2006, to $23.9 billion.It said it expected similar remittance growth in 2008.The lowered Mexican growth projections came on the same day the U.S. Commerce Department announced a growth rate of just 0.6 percent for the fourth quarter of 2007, the worst rate since 2002. Some fear a recession as U.S. growth - just 2.2 percent for all of 2007 - has stalled due to the ailing housing market and credit tightening.The Treasury Department said, however, there are “diverse factors that will mitigate the effects” of the slowing U.S. and global economy. It cited strong Mexican economic policies, increased spending on infrastructure, housing and other sectors, and anticipated high oil revenues.If it were not for those factors offsetting the U.S. slowdown, “the effect would have been much worse,” said Mauricio Gonzalez, president of the Mexico-based analysis firm Grupo Economistas Asociados.Latin America - especially Mexico - has always been hit hard by U.S. economic downturns. The region as a whole directs 50 percent of its exports to the United States, said Keiji Inoue, an economist at the United Nations.But Latin America is less vulnerable than in past crises, when a case of the sniffles in the U.S. economy prompted full-blown pneumonia across the region, economists say.One of Mexico’s strongest weapons is a huge public-private infrastructure plan proposed by President Felipe Calderon, who promised the government would spend $39 billion annually over his six-year term on roads, bridges, seaports, dams, and oil installations.Calderon noted the coming difficult times for the U.S. and global economy.”What we do not want is that this puts the brakes on the Mexican economy,” he said.In addition to Mexico’s infrastructure plan, the country is “revving the motors of our economy” with housing-construction projects, credit-lending programs, tourism development and diversification of its export markets, Calderon said earlier this month at a ceremony marking the start of construction on an $800 million dam.Such factors will indeed help to lessen the impact of the United States’ economic woes on Mexico, said Gonzalez, who noted that when former President Vicente Fox’s term began in 2000, Mexico’s growth rate dropped from about 6 percent to zero growth due to a U.S. drop from 3 percent to 1 percent.”That was not even a recession,” he said. “This time it’s not going to be that way.”If the U.S. does slip into a recession, the United Nations predicts Latin America as a whole would grow by only 2.6 percent, while Mexico’s growth would slow to about 1 percent, said chief U.N. economist Robert Vos.”That the U.S. downturn will affect us - there can be no doubt,” Gonzalez said.(This version CORRECTS year to 2007 from 2008 in 7th graf. )

SEOUL, South Korea Egyptian wireless company Orascom plans to invest up to $400 million in a new mobile phone network in North Korea, one of the world’s poorest and most tightly controlled societies.Hatim E. El Gammal, an investor relations official with Orascom Telecom Holding S.A.E., said Thursday that the network would be the first based on 3G in North Korea.El Gammal didn’t elaborate on the deal but said construction would begin “in the near future.”Orascom said in a statement on its Web site Wednesday that a joint venture subsidiary, CHEO Technology, would offer services throughout North Korea for 25 years under the terms of the deal and exclusively for the first four years.Orascom, the largest mobile communications company in the Middle East with 65 million subscribers, said it controls 75 percent of CHEO and the rest is held by the state-run Korea Post and Telecommunications Corp.North Korea, a highly militaristic dictatorship in which dissent is severely punished, has lagged far behind its neighbors economically, with development stymied by years of mismanagement and isolation.Still, the country has a working mobile phone network that covers the capital, Pyongyang, and some outlying areas. The network is based on the GSM, or global system for mobile communications, standard.Mobile phone use, though not widespread, was once increasingly visible among North Koreans. Visitors to the country say it has markedly declined since 2004.Orascom’s investment will cover network infrastructure and license fees for the first three years “to rapidly deploy a high quality network and offer voice, data and value added services at accessible prices to the Korean people,” the statement said.The deal “is in line with our strategy to penetrate countries with high population and low penetration by providing the first mobile telephony services,” said Naguib Sawiris, Orascom Telecom’s chairman and CEO.It operates networks in Algeria, Egypt, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Tunisia and Zimbabwe and previously had a business in Iraq.North Korea, which carried out an underground nuclear test in 2006, has been negotiating with the United States and other countries to receive aid and political concessions in exchange for abandoning its nuclear programs.The country has also taken some steps to liberalize its dilapidated economy in recent years, and it courts foreign investment.Alex Kuznetsov, an analyst at Bear Stearns in London, estimates that North Korea will achieve 20 percent wireless penetration in 2012 and Orascom will begin turning a profit on the venture two years before that.Though Kuznetsov acknowledged that political risk is “quite a serious factor” in North Korea, Orascom’s background in other emerging markets suggests it can succeed.Orascom Construction Industries, also of Egypt, said in July last year that it signed a deal with a state-owned North Korean trading firm to acquire a 50 percent stake in a local cement company near Pyongyang.Lafarge SA of France announced in December it was acquiring Orascom’s cement businesses. Lafarge shareholders approved the deal this month.

WASHINGTON The Energy Department on Wednesday canceled a futuristic, virtually emissions-free coal plant scheduled to be built in Illinois, saying it preferred to spend the money on a handful of projects around the country that would demonstrate the capture and burial of carbon dioxide from commercial power plants.”This restructuring … is an all-around better deal for Americans,” said Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman in making the announcement to scuttle the FutureGen program.Bodman said the Energy Department would solicit industry applications for participation in the new carbon capture projects. The idea is for the government to pay for building the carbon capture and storage facilities and industry to build the modern coal-burning power plant. Each project would be designed to capture 1 million metric tons of CO2, the leading greenhouse gas linked to global warming, officials said.The shift has stunned officials in Illinois, where an industry group announced in December it would build the $1.8 billion FutureGen plant, three-fourths of which was being paid for by the federal government - funds now no longer available.The FutureGen program was envisioned as a unique research project that would trigger development of a virtually pollution-free coal plant where carbon dioxide emissions would be captured and buried deep beneath the earth. It would produce both electricity and hydrogen.First proposed nearly a decade ago with an estimated cost of just under $1 billion, its cost has soared to nearly double that. The project for years had trouble getting adequate funds and some critics long ago dubbed it “Never Gen.” But in 2003, President Bush hailed it as a potential breakthrough in clean coal technology and a key to eventually achieve wider use of hydrogen as a fuel.The FutureGen Alliance issued a statement saying it “remains committed to keeping FutureGen on track” but it was unclear how that would be possible without the federal funding.Michael Mudd, the alliance’s chief executive officer, called the project “America’s best hope for near-zero emission coal technology” as quickly as possible. “It will take four to five years for DOE to evaluate new proposals, place contracts, and conduct environmental reviews for new projects,” said Mudd in a statement on the Alliance’s Web site.The Energy Department on Wednesday cited its concern about the FutureGen cost escalation. Officials said it was preferable to pursue separate clean coal technologies instead of what one official called “a living laboratory” concept. It will begin a process leading to a solicitation of industry bids for projects by the end of the year.”There was a consensus view that the price of this project will only increase,” said Deputy Energy Secretary Clay Sell of the FutureGen program.Sell said FutureGen was viewed has having little prospect of commercial viability. If industry pulled out of the program at some point in the future “it would put taxpayers at risk,” said Sell.The announcement to cancel the program came 43 days after the FutureGen Alliance, the private coalition developing the program, announced it would build the plant in Mattoon, Ill., winning a competition with two other sites in Texas.Illinois’ congressional delegation waged a last ditch, and unsuccessful, appeal to the White House to keep the project intact.Illinois Reps. John Shimkus and Timothy Johnson, both Republicans, contacted President Bush aboard Air Force I.”President Bush did take the time to listen to our concerns,” said Shimkus.Some Illinois officials, noting Bush’s connections to Texas, said they believe the plant was scuttled because the industry group had selected Mattoon, Ill., over a proposed side in Odessa, Tex.Sell called such a charge “outrageous” and said the department had tried to keep the FutureGen Alliance from making a site selection on Dec. 18, so as not to give false hope to the people of Mattoon, where the project would have brought thousands of construction jobs.Sell said he and Bodman learned only last March that FutureGen’s cost had escalated from an original $950 million to $1.8 billion. “I knew (then) that we were in to something that would not end well,” Sell told reporters in a conference call Wednesday.The department will propose as part of its fiscal 2009 budget to be unveiled next Monday $241 million for demonstration programs involving carbon capture and storage from coal-burning power plants, including $156 million related to the FutureGen “restructuring.”

Two of Boise’s better-known high-tech companies are joining forces.MobileDataforce, which develops software for mobile computing applications, announced Tuesday that it had bought Treetop Technologies, a company that focuses on database management, Web design and Web development projects.The sale price was not disclosed.Kevin Benedict, CEO of MobileDataforce, said the purchase will better position his company for future growth.”We keep doing bigger and bigger worldwide projects that require bigger and larger enterprise databases and more complex skills and for 11 years Treetop has focused on delivering those solutions,” said Benedict, who will continue to lead the merged company. MobileDataforce was founded in 2000 as a information-technology consulting company but in 2004 started transforming itself into a mobile software company.Benedict joined the company in 2004 as CEO. Originally from the Seattle area, where he worked in the software industry, Benedict came to Boise in 1999 to take become an e-commerce manager for Micron Electronics, now MPC Corp.Founded in 1997 by Jason Crawforth, Treetop Technologies is one of Boise’s highest profile technology companies. In 2005, Inc. Magazine named the company the 18th fastest-growing software company in America. Crawforth, the CEO and an Idaho native, has been a leading voice in the Idaho tech sector’s effort to better promote itself and win more support from state leaders. Crawforth served for more than two years on the Governor’s Science and Technology Advisory Council before it was disbanded earlier this month.The merger will combine MobileDataforce’s 30 employees with 13 from Treetop. All employees will be located at MobileDataforce’s offices at 3380 Americana Terrace.Benedict said MobileDataforce had already been contracting with Treetop to provide things like database management, Web design, Web development and integration, so it made sense to combine the two companies.Although he’s relinquishing the CEO title, Crawforth said he will remain with MobileDataforce as a board member and the company’s chief strategy officer.Benedict said the company plans to hire more employees.”The merger was based upon growth, and we expect in the next 24 months to double the size of MobileDataforce,” Benedict said.MobileDataforce will benefit from Treetop’s client list, which includes companies like Bose, Hewlett-Packard and the state of Idaho, he said. Since the company was founded in 2000, Benedict said the demand for MobileDataforce products has grown each year. The company’s primary product is called PointSync, which allows users to develop custom software applications on mobile computing devices like personal digital assistants, cell phones and laptop computers. “Everyone is always pushing the envelope for efficiencies, and instead of having someone out with a clipboard writing things down and going back to an office and typing information in, we’re automating the entire process from end to end,” Crawforth said.Ken Dey: 672-6757

Fed up with Facebook? Miffed at MySpace? Or are you just annoyed at people who abuse alliteration?If so, feel free to express yourself on a handful of antisocial networking sites, a curmudgeon’s version of popular online places to collect “friends” and interest strangers in your tone-deaf garage band.On sites such as Snubster.com and www.Enemybook.info, users can take a big gulp of Haterade and let fly. Instead of gathering friends, you can go all Richard Nixon and make an enemies list.Snubster takes things a step further, allowing you to (a la Stephen Colbert) put people “on notice” or make them “dead to me.”In a way, this snarky backlash was inevitable, says Brian Choung, the 26-year-old software engineer from Washington, D.C., who started Snubster in 2006. It now boasts more than 16,000 users.”It just seemed ridiculous and a platform ripe for parody,” Choung says. “I decided that it would be an amusing exercise to develop a site that did the opposite. Really, it started out mostly as a joke and an exercise in Web development.”I guess it just caught on from there. People would go online to see why they were put on a list on Snubster, browse the site, get the joke and then make their own lists.”And, yes, Choung is quick to add, the site is a parody. But, like many such jokes, it also sheds light on the inherent vacuity of social networking sites.”More people I didn’t really know were putting me on their Facebook friends list,” Choung says. “I hate the awkward social situation that is created by becoming `friends’ with someone online that you barely know in person, but obviously a lot of people thrive on it.”What puzzles me even more than these `friend collections’ is all the effort to create `personal profiles’ and photos carefully picked and crafted to create a shiny persona online for all your new Internet friends to admire.”There’s nothing shiny and friendly about Enemylist and Snubster, both of which, ironically, can also be accessed as applications on Facebook.Snubster’s litany of kvetches and snide remarks ranges from the obvious (President Bush) to the seemingly innocuous (people who floss at stop lights). Besides Bush, who’s No. 1, the five most snubbed people or things include Scientologists, emo kids, MySpace and Paris Hilton.Some get mightily specific, though. For example, a user named Meredith put “Kym” on notice because “She hasn’t sent me more than one weekly e-mail although she promised to send me more this year yet still will use work as an excuse and I don’t want to hear it.”OK, then.Choung says he had hoped social networking sites could have evolved into more meaningful dialogue.”I just don’t get it,” he says. “It’s the year 2008 - I thought the Internet could do better than this. Ultimately, what are these social networking sites? A better way for teens to send smiley faces? A new way to anonymously snoop on people?”And what of Snubster? Well, Choung thinks the negativity can be cathartic.”A lot of time’s it is liberating when you get to just vent about something that grinds your gears,” he says. “And when people make connections with other people based on these real-life observations, I think it’s something special.”

Two of Boise’s better-known high-tech companies are joining forces.MobileDataforce, which develops software for mobile computing applications,
announced Tuesday that it had bought Treetop Technologies, a company that
focuses on database management, Web design and Web development projects.
The sale price was not disclosed.The merger will combine MobileDataforce’s 30 employees with 13 from Treetop.
All employees will be located at MobileDataforce箂 offices at 3380 Americana
Terrace.Kevin Benedict, CEO of MobileDataforce, said the purchase will better
position his company for future growth.”We keep doing bigger and bigger worldwide projects that require bigger and
larger enterprise databases and more complex skills and for 11 years Treetop
has focused on delivering those solutions,” said Benedict, who will continue
to lead the merged company.Founded in 1997 by Jason Crawforth, Treetop Technologies is one of Boise’s
highest profile technology companies. Crawforth, the CEO and an Idaho
native, has been a leading voice in the Idaho tech sector箂 effort to better
promote itself and win more support from state leaders.For more details, pick up the business section of Wednesday’s Idaho
Statesman.Ken Dey: 672-6757

The first step toward responding to our state’s energy challenges is realizing they exist. The high price of gasoline, rising utility bills and the fact that Idaho imports the majority of its total energy needs leads to a general conclusion - the time is now to act!But there is no need to panic. There are numerous emerging opportunities presenting themselves to help meet our energy needs into the future. Energy-related developers are showing significant interest in Idaho. Proposed projects include nuclear, natural gas generators, wind, geothermal, biomass, methane digesters, pump storage hydro, interstate pipelines and transmission. And there is innovative activity to convert methane from dairy waste into pipeline-quality natural gas. Regarding transportation fuels, development of biofuels is expanding and more service stations are offering ethanol and biodiesel to Idahoans. There clearly is an interest in developing energy resources to serve Idahoans. When we focus on big-ticket items, there are five interstate transmission projects, three natural gas pipelines and two nuclear generation ventures that are exploring options here. This represents more activity than we have seen in decades. But why now? The reason for all this potential new supply is simple demand. We have seen tremendous growth, and our ability to manage it with the existing energy infrastructure is nearing capacity. It is time to build. And as a state, we have to be prepared to accommodate those projects that are economically feasible and cost-effective. Collaboration is under way among state, federal and local units of government to coordinate our efforts as these projects move forward. We cannot allow projects to fail because we lacked the ability to deal with them appropriately. As we confront our energy needs, we also must accept that factors beyond our control limit our options. A case in point is the impact that greenhouse gases have on our choices for generation resources. People can and do argue both sides of the science, but Wall Street has essentially settled that argument for developers. Investors simply will not risk their money on carbon-emitting resources. We already are feeling that impact in Idaho. Idaho Power and Rocky Mountain Power each had previously proposed building coal-fired generators in Idaho. Both utilities have scrapped those plans. They simply cannot build them until costs associated with greenhouse gases are resolved.So what can we build? Based on greenhouse gas realities, and the fact that renewables such as wind, solar and geothermal are not yet ready to meet our large-scale needs, our resource options are limited to the three “N’s” nuclear, natural gas, or nothing. Each of these options carries baggage. Nuclear is carbon-free, but concerns over waste and safety require our attention to overcome. Additionally, completion of a nuclear plant is 10 to 15 years away. Nuclear offers long-term solutions, but does not resolve our short-term requirements. Natural gas facilities are low-carbon emitters, but they expose utilities and customers to volatile fuel prices. And if we do nothing, our energy plan would likely need to include scheduled rolling blackouts.There clearly is no silver bullet. That is one of the reasons Gov. Butch Otter placed the 25 by ‘25 initiative under the Office of Energy Resources. The goal is to have 25 percent of Idaho’s energy provided by renewable resources by the year 2025. This challenge represents a tremendous opportunity to explore all renewable options and their financial viability. Additionally, it enables us to examine the role that carbon trading can play in pushing projects to fruition. Ultimately, the 25 by ‘25 initiative allows us to thoroughly investigate possible energy resources. We want to avoid stomping on innovation before it has a chance to bloom.There is something each of us can do. Through energy efficiency, conservation and demand-side management we can control the size of our energy bills and reduce the burden on our existing infrastructure. If you want to do your share, go to your utility’s Web site and explore some of the options that exist. You also will find some cash incentives there that could make your choices a little less expensive. The cheapest energy is the amount we do not consume. Working together, we can meet our energy needs. Paul Kjellander is the director of the state’s Office of Energy Resources.