iff

Darren Shafae operates Paper-Check.Com, which is a proofreading business. Without web-based technologies, his business would probably be far smaller.

"I have taken the best of ideas I have seen, and refined them to meet our needs and improve work flow and customer and employee satisfaction," said Shafae.

So, what kinds of applications does Shafae use to improve his business? Well, let's take a look:

GotVMail: Basically, this is a virtual PBX system. In other words, there is no need to manage hardware or pay for consultants. Instead, Shafae pays for the service on a subscription basis.

Some of the features include custom greetings, multiple extensions, music-on-hold, toll-free numbers, Dial-By-Name Directory and so on. According to Shafae: "GotVMail offers professional voice talent that gives the impression that there are thousands of operators standing by to address client needs and concerns."

Jabil Circuit (NYSE: JBL) is a leading electronics manufacturing services firm, providing comprehensive design, manufacturing and product management services to global electronics and technology companies. The firm works for original equipment makers in the automotive, storage, medical, networking, telecommunications, computer and consumer products industries. Top customers include Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) and Nokia (NYSE: NOK).

The company had good news for investors earlier in the week, when it reported fiscal Q3 EPS of 26 cents and revenues of $3.09 billion. Analysts had been looking for 20 cents and $3.08 billion. Management also guided Q4 EPS to 29-33 cents (29 cent consensus) and Q4 revenues to $3.2-$3.3 billion ($3.19B consensus). Credit Suisse subsequently reiterated its "neutral" rating on the stock, but RBC Capital Markets repeated an "outperform" recommendation and Needham said "buy" again.

Online video has already exploded between video sharing sites like YouTube and all the premium content that media companies are putting online. Cisco (NADSAQ: CSCO) says it will explode again. According to The Wall Street Journal, the firm "is projecting a sixfold jump in Internet traffic between 2007 and 2012."

Not likely. YouTube and its peers are still growing, but not as fast as they were over a year ago when video online was more of a novelty. Media companies have not figured out a way to make a lot of money from putting their programming online. That may mean that they will do less and less of it.

Perhaps the most important reason the use of online video will slow is that carriers, both phone companies and cable firms, want to cut back the amount of bandwidth their customers can use or charge the heavy users. The operations claim services like file sharing are clogging their "pipes" with too much traffic. They need to either cut that down, or make a profit on it.

Cisco may want to check its numbers.

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

Many of us would be happy to benefit from a quiet retirement without facing concerns of losing all of our hard earned money. Fortune 40 gives us a helping hand by suggesting some big names to invest in that could offer us the results that we are looking for.

One such company is Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT), whose earnings surged 35% during its last quarter, helped by its famous anti-inflammatory drug Humira and HIV treatment Kaletra. Looking ahead to the company's performance, CEO Miles White is planing to keep his main attention on its medical devices unit which is seen as a key element against strong competition.

Fortune 40 also looks at beverage maker The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO), which benefits from strong international gains able to beat recent weakness in U.S. In addition, it looks like the company's acquisition of Glacéau and its VitaminWater brand offer it a good support to outperform on the market.

Retire Rich: Best Stocks to Retire On
FORTUNE's trademark long-term portfolio can help put you on the road to a secure future. They include Abbott Labs, Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, Cisco, 3M, Walgreen, Cascade, Novaratis and Vodafone to name a few of the 40 stocks on FORTUNE's list.
Fortune 40: Best stocks to retire on - FORTUNE

Shoppers Beware: Products Shrink, But Prices Remain the Same
There's a reason why the tub of ice cream you bought last week looks a tad smaller than ones you bought last summer. It is. Many major ice cream makers, hit by higher dairy costs, have shrunk their standard containers to 1.5 quarts from 1.75 quarts, about 1 cup less. As packaged goods makers' costs rise, they eventually have just two choices: raise prices or put less stuff in the package. While most are trying a price boost first, a growing number are shrinking the contents of their packages -- from Frito Lay's chips to Dial soap to Dreyer's ice cream. Other shrinking products include Hellmann's mayo down to 30 oz. from 32 oz., Cheerios & Wheaties have shrunk 1.5oz., Bounty papertowels down to 60 from 52 towels and more.
Shoppers beware: Products shrink but prices stay the same - USATODAY.com

For the first time Monday I heard John McCain comparing Barack Obama to Jimmy Carter. I had heard this before in other arenas, but not from McCain. I guess that despite these two presidential candidates pledging to the American people to bring change and resist politics as usual, they are both, as usual as one could get.

Obama is being shaped by the pressures of running for office and to believe otherwise is delusional. I suppose one has to have hope but the effects of the campaign are becoming clear. Obama has been painting McCain as an extension of Bush, which is nonsense, and now in a typical tit-for-tat response, McCain is filling the air with Carter references.

Both McCain and Obama are wrong in their assessments of their opponents and they are becoming commoners to resort to the bottom of the barrel campaign techniques used in every campaign for most of our nation's proud history. Obama gave up the high ground too easily and McCain has decided he can sling mud with the best of them.

Monday, June 9

• The Pediatric Ethics Subcommittee of the Pediatric Advisory Committee will meet at 8:30 am to discuss the application of 21 CFR 50.52 (Clinical investigations involving greater than minimal risk but presenting the prospect of direct benefit to individual subjects) to FDA-regulated research. The discussion will be illustrated with hypothetical case examples of research involving HIV vaccines in adolescents and controlled trials of inhaled corticosteroids in children with asthma.
• Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) to give mid-quarter update at 5:00 pm.

Tuesday, June 10

• The Pediatric Ethics Subcommittee will meet at 8:00 am to discuss the application of 21 CFR 50.52 to FDA-regulated research illustrated with a hypothetical case example of research using stem cells for treating periventricular white matter injury in children.
• Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) to hold conference call at 11:00 am to discuss business video innovation.
• Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) to hold mid-year review meeting at 12:00 pm.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE: A) provides electronic measurement and bio-analytical solutions to the communications, electronics, life sciences and chemical analysis industries. Its Electronic Measurement segment offers such instruments as data generators, multimeters, and oscilloscopes. The Bio-Analytical Measurement unit sells instruments, software, consumables and services for quantifying the physical and biological properties of substances. Customers include Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) and Merck (NYSE: MRK). The firm was a 1999 spin-off of Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ).

Agilent pleased investors last week, when it announced fiscal Q2 EPS of 51 cents and revenues of $1.46 billion. Analysts had been looking for 48 cents and $1.43 billion. Management also guided Q3 EPS to 52-56 cents (55 cent consensus), Q3 revenues to $1.44-$1.49 billion ($1.46B consensus), FY08 EPS to $2.07-$2.15 ($2.08 consensus) and FY08 revenues to $5.82-$5.93 billion ($5.83B consensus). Needham subsequently reiterated its "buy" recommendation and boosted its price target to $42. Standard & Poor's raised its Agilent outlook from "stable" to "positive".

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) beat Q2 expectations but offered a weak outlook.
• Clear Channel Communications Inc. (NYSE: CCU) higher Q1 profits failed to beat expectations.
• Crocs Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX) just missed EPS estimates but raised its full-year guidance.
• CVS Caremark Corp. (NYSE: CVS) strong Q1 results only met Wall Street expectations.
• eResearch Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: ERES) beat Q1 expectations and offered Q2 and full-year guidance.
• Foster Wheeler Ltd. (NASDAQ: FWLT) beat estimates due to a boost in its power plant segment.
• Internet Brands Inc. (NASDAQ: INET) reported strong Q1 results on ongoing M&A.
• Midway Games Inc. (NYSE: MWY) widened its loss in Q1 but beat expectations.
• News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) Q3 earnings jumped on a one-time transaction with Liberty Media.
• NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) missed Q1 estimates but was upgraded by analysts anyway.
• NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) reported a first-quarter profit above analysts' estimates.
• Sara Lee Corp. (NYSE: SLE) Q3 profits surged but fell short of analysts' expectations.
• World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: WWE) posted strong results but couldn't cover its dividend.

Upcoming results to watch for include Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S), XM Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: XMSR), Sirius Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI), Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS), Whole Foods (NASDAQ: WFMI), Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE), Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL), Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT), JC Penney (NYSE: JCP), Macy's (NYSE: M), Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

As you saw in a Market tankola note earlier, today can be blamed on oil or many other things. But the charts are likely the real culprit as old resistance levels didn't hold as the new support levels. The bears may have gotten an upper hand for a while if today's sentiment holds.

To top it off, worker productivity data came out strong enough today that it might even allow companies to make more layoffs. Below are the unofficial closing bell prices today:

• DJIA 12,814.35 (-206.48; -1.59%)
• S&P500 1,392.56 (-25.70; -1.81%)
• NASDAQ 2,438.49 (-44.82; -1.80%)
• 10YR-TBond 3.867% (-0.026)
• 52-WEEK LOWS.
• TOP 10 ANALYST CALLS

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) beat Street estimates for earnings Tuesday with $1.77 billion in net income, or $0.29 EPS, a 5.4% drop from first quarter 2007. Sales of $9.79 billion beat estimates of $9.75 million. Cisco gave 2008 guidance that met expectations as demand for Cisco's costly networking systems may still be slow during the economic slowdown. Shares fell 2% to $25.78 despite being positive earlier this morning.

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) reported Q3 EPS of 38 cents.

Robert Baird says: "Good execution in challenging environment after the market close tonight. CSCO is recently down 2 cents to $26.32.

CSCO call option volume of 59,006 contracts compares to put volume of 88,669 contracts. CSCO May 25 straddle is priced at $1.11, below a level of $1.97 just prior to last night's EPS. CSCO June option implied volatility of 28 is below a level of 35 from yesterday and below its 26-week average of 33 according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says natural gas producers are having a great year, and Anadarko may be the best of the bunch.

Marcellus Shale. Ghana. Brazil. Wherever the oil and gas is. Wherever the chances to boost output.

That's Anadarko (NYSE: APC) (Cramer's Take).

Fifteen percent growth or higher for many years. That's Anadarko.

Creating value for shareholders. That's Anadarko.

IPO of Western Gas. That's Anadarko.

And more important, it is not ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) (Cramer's Take).

Anadarko is one of six companies, including Apache (NYSE: APA) (Cramer's Take), Southwestern (NYSE: SWN) (Cramer's Take), XTO Energy (NYSE: XTO) (Cramer's Take), Chesapeake (NYSE: CHK) (Cramer's Take) and Devon (NYSE: DVN) (Cramer's Take) (El Paso (NYSE: EP) (Cramer's Take) is threatening to join them!) that are believers.

U.S. stock futures were lower early Wednesday as investors, worried about inflation, await data on pending home sales and labor costs. Earnings news in focus this morning comes from tech bellwether Cisco Systems, which gave a cautious outlook, and from Walt Disney, which reported good results.

After that, weekly crude inventories are scheduled to be reported. Crude futures have held up near $122 a barrel despite the dollar advancing against the yen and the euro.

Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) did just fine in its last period. For the fiscal second quarter, the company reported a 7.2% increase in net and a 16.5% increase in revenue. Both numbers hit or bested forecasts.

But, it was Cisco's look into the future which troubled Wall St. Some sectors did unusually well. Emerging markets revenue moved up 44%.

The company did not post a robust forecast John Chambers, Cisco's CEO "Cisco had experienced an increase in caution among U.S. and European customers, with orders dropping off in January after a strong December," according to The Wall Street Journal

The Cisco predictions say a great deal about what is likely to be going on in telecom and cable spending. Its switches and routers run much of the broadband internet. Wall St. had assumed that large US companies in the sectors would accelerate spending to meet customer demand for faster internet service. Instead, they are tapping the breaks. This is an indication that corporations in the sector are willing to use their old "plants" for awhile longer and give consumers a bit less than they want, of, worse, that consumer spending is trailing off.

If the consumer is pinched when it comes to telephone and TV service, then the overall economic downturn has a ways to go.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com and author of the Ten Stocks Under $10 letter.

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) scheduled to report Q3 EPS after the market close tonight:

CSCO was recently down 28 cents to $26. CSCO call option volume of 95,092 contracts compared to put volume of 99,581 contracts. CSCO May 25 straddle was priced at $1.97, June at $2.70. CSCO June option implied volatility of 35 was near its 26-week average of 33 according to Track Data, suggesting flatter price movement after EPS.

Options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.