Yahoo reports decline in earnings and revenue

Yahoo Inc. said Tuesday that its second-quarter earnings and revenue declined, hurt by a decline in display advertising sales that the company has been struggling with in recent years.

The Internet company earned $270 million, or 26 cents per share, in the March-June quarter. That’s down from $331 million, or 30 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier. Adjusted earnings were 37 cents per share in the latest quarter.

Revenue fell 4 percent to $1.08 billion from $1.14 billion. After subtracting commissions paid to Yahoo’s ad partners, revenue totaled $1.04 million, down 3 percent from $1.07 billion a year ago.

Apple and IBM joining forces to win corporate customers

Apple is teaming up with former nemesis IBM in an attempt to sell more iPhones and iPads to corporate customers.

The exclusive partnership announced Tuesday calls for the two technology companies to work together on about 100 different mobile applications designed for a wide range of industries.

The applications, expected to be released this fall, will feature some of the data-crunching tools that IBM Corp. sells to companies trying to get a better grasp on main markets while scouring for new money-making opportunities.

IBM is also pledging to provide better security to reassure companies concerned about hackers stealing vital information off the mobile devices of their employees.

Comcast ’embarrassed’ by employee’s behavior

Cable and Internet giant Comcast is apologizing after a tech-savvy California customer posted eight minutes of telephone conversation online in which he tried repeatedly to get a customer service representative to disconnect his service.

The customer, Ryan Block, succeeds in getting the unidentified Comcast rep to agree to disconnect his service, but only after the rep repeatedly asks Block for a reason.

Philadelphia-based Comcast said Tuesday the employee’s behavior is unacceptable and the company is “embarrassed” by it. Comcast said it would contact Block to apologize.

Novartis, Google team up to produce smart contact lens

Pharmaceutical giant Novartis International and technology giant Google have teamed up to create a smart contact lens capable of measuring diabetics’ glucose levels and correcting farsightedness.

As part of the deal, Novartis is licensing technology behind Google’s smart contact lens. Still in development, the smart lens was first announced in January. The new partnership is intended to speed up development and commercialization. Google will work with Alcon, Novartis’ eye-care division.

The device could provide diabetic users measurements of their glucose levels by gauging their tear fluid then transmitting the data wirelessly to a smartphone.

—From news service reports