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Shareworthy articles and content syndicated from other sites. These aren’t things I’ve written or necessarily endorse, for the record.

Steve Jobs Questioned In iTunes Monopoly Suit

An anonymous reader writes “Twelve years ago Bill Gates had to deal with lawyers questioning him in regards to the Microsoft antitrust case. Now it might be that other tech mogul’s turn. Steve Jobs has been ordered to answer questions regarding Apple’s iTunes music monopoly. From the article: ‘U.S. Magistrate Judge Howard Lloyd, based in San Jose, California, ruled on Monday that lawyers representing the plaintiffs in the antitrust lawsuit may question Jobs for a total of two hours. Apple may appeal the decision. A company spokeswoman declined to comment, while attorneys for the plaintiffs did not respond to requests for comment.'”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Investors re-elect Jobs to Disney board

Bloomberg is reporting that Disney investors today have re-elected Steve Jobs to Disney’s board of directors. The re-election comes despite proxy advisers who advised the share holders not re-elect Jobs, on account that his health issues might affect his ability to serve in an adequate manner.

The vote, which was held in Salt Lake City earlier today, found 74 percent of investors voting to keep Jobs on the board along with 12 other re-elected nominees. After the vote, Disney sent out an emailed statement saying, “The Walt Disney Company considers itself fortunate to have Steve Jobs as a member of its board of directors.” Today’s vote was anxiously watched by many analysts, as it was primarily seen as a vote in confidence about whether or not investors thought Steve Jobs could still partake in major strategic decisions.

As a consequence of Disney’s acquisition of Pixar in early 2006, Jobs’ majority stake in Pixar led to him becoming Disney’s largest individual shareholder by a wide margin (7 percent ownership; former Disney chairman Michael Eisner came in 2nd with 1.7 percent of shares outstanding). He has held a seat on Disney’s board since that time.

Investors re-elect Jobs to Disney board originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 23 Mar 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Despite Hype, Companies Doubt the Benefits of Collaboration Tools

keyboard-closeup.pngFor all of the excitement generated by the wide range of Web-based business collaboration tools out there, you’d think most companies would be touting the revolutionary effects that these products have had.

Instead, most companies are seeing very few, if any, benefits from online collaboration software, at least according to a new report by Forrester. Of the survey’s respondents, 64% said they saw anywhere from zero to four benefits after implementing collaboration software.

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Those benefits do appear to increase, however, as companies invest in more such tools. In other words, deploying a robust suite of collaboration tools leads to greater efficiency and faster time-to-market for product launches. It also helps to integrate them directly into existing product development processes and the workflows people are already using.

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The biggest advantage such software does offer is in reducing travel costs, which 62% of businesses reported as a payoff. Improved communication and project management were also cited.

As the workforce becomes increasingly decentralized, it’s clear that remote collaboration tools are rather useful. The report notes that 42% of all workers do at least part of their job outside the office in a typical month. For this ever-growing number, Web-based productivity tools are increasingly indespensable.

What Collaboration Tools Are Companies Investing In?

Of all the money businesses are investing in collaboration, most of it is going toward team workspaces, social tools and real-time communication software.

At the bottom of the list of things companies are planning on investing more in is hosted email. As much buzz surrounds cloud-based email services, companies seem to be sticking with their existing on-premises email solutions for now.

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