Filed under: Business, Internet, Windows, Productivity, Web services, Commercial, Freeware

Fatigued of sending emails back and forth trying to decide when to hold your next team meeting, video game night, or birthday celebration? Well, while we generally suggest having your birthday parties as close to the actual date of your birth as possible, Jiffle can help with the rest.

Jiffle is an on the internet scheduling service that lets users pick the times they’re free and then share their calendar with other users. In other words, it’s a lot like When is Good, but with a desktop client that works with Outlook to let you share your existing calendar on the internet. A new version will add Google Calendar compatibility.

You can sign up for Jiffle for free, but we found that when we tried to download the client this day we were instead greeted with a message letting us know that a new version would be available next week and we’d be notified when it was available. Jiffle is a commercial application, but there’s a free version that’ll let users schedule up to 10 meetings per month. For $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year, you can schedule unlimited meetings. A few bucks more gets you a version with your company branding, and for $99.99 per month you can get the corporate edition with licenses for five users and no advertising.

[via TechCrunch]

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Filed under: Business, World wide web, E-mail, Web services, Google, web 2.0

Salesforce for Google Apps goes live today, which basically means that Salesforce.com users can integrate Google Docs, Spreadsheets, Calendar, Gmail, Google Speak and other Google services with their Salesforce account.

Why exactly does this matter? Basically, it gives small business owners a one-stop shop for managing their workforce, customer, and marketing information. Saleforce has its own email application, for example, allowing you to keep track of business related emails from the same interface you use to manage contracts. But now that there’s Gmail integration, you can send an email from Salesforce.com, Gmail, or a desktop application like Outlook linked to your account. All of your information will be viewable from the Salesforce web interface.

The folks at Common Craft put together a simple explanatory video which you can see above. We kind of enjoy it superior than the official video from Salesforce, but you can check that one out after the jump.

Continue reading Google and Salesforce.com announce Google Apps integration

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Filed under: Deals, Competitive strategy, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Time Warner (TWX), Marketing and advertising, Verizon Communications (VZ)

It is the kind of deal most people would have thought would go to Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) or Google (NADSAQ: GOOG). Verizon (NYSE: VZ) will out-source the advertising sales for all of its world wide web operations.

In an arrangement that bypassed the usual subjects, AOL, a division of Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) will handle selling Verizon’s online inventory through the internet portal’s advertising network and marketing operation called Platform A. According to Reuters, “The Verizon ad deal, whose price wasn’t disclosed, will give Platform A the right to represent all of Verizon’s advertising space on the World wide web, including premium space.”

In the last year, Google, Microsoft, and Time Warner have all made purchases of businesses that’ll help them sort, target, and sell on the web ads. Big web operations like Facebook and MySpace have already cut deals for having one of the huge portals or search companies to sell their inventory, but AOL has not been in that mix.

It looks like the incumbents for on the internet advertising representation have a new competitor.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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Filed under: Deals, Blockbuster Inc ‘A’ (BBI), Circuit City Stores (CC)

As Doug McIntyre reported earlier, Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) has extended a preliminary offer to acquire Circuit City (NYSE: CC) “with an all cash offer in the range of $6.00 to $8.00 per share, subject to due diligence.”

In a press release, Blockbuster said that Circuit City has not yet provided it with information necessary to conduct due diligence, and that it “believes the shareholders of Circuit City should have the opportunity to participate in determining the destiny of the company.”

The pre-market trading tells the story on this one. Share of Circuit City are up more than 55% to $6.14, at the lowest end of the range Blockbuster’s press release contemplates. This indicates investor skepticism about the prospects of a deal getting done. In a press release responding to the offer, Circuit City noted that “to date Blockbuster has been unable to satisfy Circuit City and its advisors that Blockbuster’s proposal could be financed.” Meanwhile shares of Blockbuster are down about 11%, a sign that investors aren’t too excited about the prospect of a Blockbuster-Circuit City combination.

It’s easy to understand why. This deal would be the absolute epitome of “two drunken sailors trying to hold each other up.” Both of these companies have experienced precipitous declines in current years, reporting losses as industry changes and more nimble competitors take their market share.

This merger makes about as much sense as a typewriter maker and a VHS manufacturer teaming up to make typewriters that can play video tapes.

Very few people want to shop at Circuit City or Blockbuster, and combining them won’t make them any more attractive.

Blockbuster added that “The transaction would allow both companies to benefit from the revenue growth generated by their complementary products, while the resulting synergies would substantially improve consolidated financial performance, thereby increasing shareholder value.”

But a look at the 5-year chart for Blockbuster should give investors tiny faith in the company’s knowledge of what generates shareholder value.

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Filed under: Deals, Industry, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Merrill Lynch (MER), salesforce.com inc (CRM)

Under a new arrangement, Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM) will begin to market Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Apps software. According to The Wall Street Journal “The World wide web search company and Salesforce.com, a provider of on the web services for salespeople and marketers, plan to announce that they have built technology into their products to make it easier for customers to share information between Salesforce.com and Google Apps.”

Saleforce.com has tens of thousands of small business customers who use its products to manage their sales operations. The Google product competes with Microsoft’s (NADDAQ:MSFT) word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation products. Google’s software runs off of its servers while Microsoft’s uses the memory and processing power of the customer’s Personal computer or handheld.

With the Micorosft Windows product running on well over 90% of the world’s personal computers, the new partnership may not matter. Google’s financial reports do not indicate that its Apps business is bringing in any significant revenue. As it reports numbers for the last quarter, if their is no evidence that its software operations are kicking in sales, it maybe an indication that Microsoft does not need to worry and that the Salesforce.com deal is a waste of good PR.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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Filed under: Deals, Industry, Delta Air Lines (DAL)

Northwest Airlines (NYSE:NWA) and Delta (NYSE:DAL) may actually announce a merger this week. They have been having at it for months. The deal would put Northwest’s value at $3 billion. As The Wall Street Journal points out “That would be well below Northwest’s market value of more than $4.6 billion as of Feb. 1, reflecting the industry’s worsening prospects in current weeks.”

Since the pilots have not approved the deal, they could threaten a strike, but even they have to know that the industry is in for its worst year in half a decade.

The marriage might not do a thing to save the carriers from a difficult fate. With fuel prices rising and a recession prone to hurt airline travel, putting the two companies together solves neither of those problems. While the companies can eliminate some duplicate routes, unions will press for better pay to support the transaction. Merging reservations systems and IT operations often takes a year or more. In the meantime, customers have to deal with the fall-out of integrations and the reservations booking problems which they can bring.

If the cost of oil keeps moving up, the merger won’t matter much.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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Filed under: Before the bell, Earnings reports, Deals, General Electric (GE), Blockbuster Inc ‘A’ (BBI), Circuit City Stores (CC), Wachovia Corp (WB), Delta Air Lines (DAL)

Stock futures were down this morning as Wachovia Corp (NYSE: WB) posted its first quarterly loss since 2001 and cut its dividend. One of the biggest banks in the country, Wachovia reported a loss of $393 million, or 20 cents a share, compared with earnings of $2.3 billion, or $1.20 a year ago. The Wall Street Journal reported that Wachovia is to receive a capital infusion of about $7 billion.

Stocks tumbled on Friday after disappointing Q1 earnings from General Electric (NYSE: GE) and a 26-year low in U.S. consumer sentiment, among other economic bad news. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 256.56 points, or 2.04%, the S&P 500 lost 27.72 points, or 2.04%, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 61.46 points, or 2.6%. The Group of 7, who began meetings on Friday, “downgraded their outlook” for the global economy, saying that it may continue to slow.

In the news today, Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) made an unsolicited bid of $6 to $8 a share in cash for Circuit City Stores (NYSE: CC). The bid represents a premium of as much as 54% over the struggling electronic retailer’s closing price Friday, and is worth up to $1.35 billion. The Delta and Northwest merger, which would create the world’s largest airline, appears likely to be finalized as soon as Tuesday, according to the Wall Street Journal.

In Europe and Asia, stocks tumbled today on GE’s earnings surprise and pessimistic G-7 pronouncements. Royal Philips Electronics, Europe’s largest consumer electronics maker, also reported a bigger decline in Q1 profit than analysts had expected.

Economic figures due out this day include retail sales for March, which will be released at 8:30 a.m. EST. Sales are expected to rise slightly by 0.1%. Excluding autos, they’re estimated to rise by 0.2%. According to Bloomberg, any good news in retail sales would be a surprise, and if the news is all bad, “a recession in the first quarter will be certain.” February business inventories data are due at 10:00 a.m. EST.

This is a huge earnings week with quarterly reports due from JPMorgan Chase, Intel Corp., Johnson & Johnson, Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, and Pfizer, among others. These reports will, no doubt, set the tone for the week.

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Filed under: Deals, Wal-Mart (WMT), Blockbuster Inc ‘A’ (BBI), Best Purchase (BBY), Circuit City Stores (CC)

Some mergers make less sense than others. The Blockbuster (NYSE:BBI) effort to purchase Circuit City (NYSE:CC) makes no sense at all. It is based on the hope that putting together two zombies will create one live person.

According to Reuters “Blockbuster Inc. stated on Monday that it has offered to purchase electronics retailer Circuit City Stores.” The price for the offer was in a range of $6 to $8 pending due diligence.

Why putting a consumer electronics business together with a movie rental company makes sense is anyone’s guess. Each company is having remarkable trouble staying in business.

Blockbuster’s current share price is just above $3, down from a 52-week high of $6.67. The company is being ruined by competition from online DVD sales and VOD products delivered over the internet or by cable companies. In its last fiscal year, Blockbuster made only $39 million on revenue of over $5.5 billion.

Circuit City is even worse off. It made a little profit in its most recently reported quarter, but has been losing customers to larger operators like Best Buy (NYSE:BBI) and Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT). Circuit City shares are down from a 52-week high of $19.12 to $3.44

It is hard to see how a merger would grant for either cost cuts or revenue enhancements.

1+1=0

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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