In law, a company refers to a legal entity formed which has a separate legal identity from its members, and is ordinarily incorporated to undertake commercial business. Although some jurisdictions refer to unincorporated entities as companies, in most jurisdictions the term refers only to incorporated entities. It has been judicially remarked that "the word company has no strictly legal meaning",Re Stanley ^* 1 Ch 131 at 134 but is taken to mean a specific form of entity created under the laws of the relevant jurisdiction. Because of the limited liability of the members of the company for the company's debts and the separate personality and tax treatment of the company, it has become the most popular form of business vehicle in most countries in the world.

Lacking a concise definition of their own, companies are often defined by reference to what they are not. Companies are separate and distinct from:

• sole traders
• partnerships
• trusts, although conceptually trustees managing a trust fund for the benefit of beneficiaries is in many ways similar to the directors managing the company's assets for the benefit of the shareholders.
• guilds
• unincorporated associations of persons, or clubs

Modern companies are generally formed for one of three purposes:

• non-profit companies, formed for social, charitable or quasi-charitable purposes to provide the sponsors with the benefit of limited liability and to form an administratively convenient mechanisms for the administration of the organization.
• small business companies, usually formed by either sole traders or partners to take advantage of limited liability and (sometimes) as a means of tax avoidance, whilst still retaining overall control in the hands of the founders.
• public investment companies, formed to enable members of the public to invest in a business or enterprise without actually becoming involved in the running of it (which is left to the board of directors).

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L.A. Times - Technology News

Say goodbye to rattle and hum
Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800
The Sunda family and their Orange County Speaker repair business have been making beautiful music together since 1968. The way we listen to music has changed dramatically in the last 15 years -- earbuds instead of headphones, digital tracks instead of cuts on vinyl. But the basic design of an audio speaker, says Eric Sunda of Orange County Speaker, is the same as it was a century ago.
IPhone sales in China are nothing to call home about
Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800
Only 5,000 of the Apple phones have sold since the Oct. 30 launch. High prices and a lack of Wi-Fi capability are blamed, especially with a thriving gray market in iPhones. Apple Inc.'s iPhone has been a ringing success wherever it has been launched. But in China few are picking up the buzz.
Windows 7 tops Vista in early consumer sales by more than 200%
Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800
Aggressive pricing and relatively positive reviews are key factors. But the discounts and specials may have crimped Microsoft's revenue from the product. It wasn't a high bar, but Windows 7 cleared it.
Activision posts profit despite small drop in video game sales
Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800
Quarterly earnings are $15 million, or 1 cent a share, compared with a loss of 8 cents a share in the year-earlier period. Revenue declines 1% to $703 million. Activision Blizzard Inc., the world's largest video game company, posted a third-quarter profit, but sales slipped slightly as consumers continued to keep close tabs on spending.
Google's new Dashboard service lets users see what personal data are on file
Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800
The Dashboard is the Internet search giant's response to questions about how it uses information about consumers. Google Inc. on Thursday unveiled a new Web page that allows users to better see which of their data are being stored by the Internet search giant.
No Doubt sues Activision over use in Band Hero game
Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800
The rock group says the Santa Monica video game maker went far beyond agreed-upon uses of members' likenesses in Band Hero, including manipulating them to perform songs popularized by other acts. Rock band No Doubt has filed a real-world lawsuit over its virtual role in the just-released Band Hero edition of the Guitar Hero video game series, contending that the game has "transformed No Doubt band members into a virtual karaoke circus act," singing dozens of songs the group neither wrote, popularized nor approved for use in the game.

Googling Google

See what Google knows about you, kind of
Garett Rogers Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:47:17 -0000
Google has launched an all-in-one dashboard that attempts to show you what they know about you. It’s basically an updated “Google Accounts” page that gives you more information than was available previously. The complete list of Google services that are participating in “Google Dashboard” include: Google Account Alerts Blogger Calendar Contacts Docs Finance Gmail Health iGoogle Latitude Orkut Picasa Web Albums Product Search Profile Reader Talk Tasks Voice Web History YouTube Not every Google service is represented [...]
Microsoft doesn't believe Google Apps numbers
Garett Rogers Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:36:24 -0000
Google Apps has been picking up some steam recently — announcing a huge deal with the city of Los Angeles, and revealing numbers that suggest over 20 million users and over 2 million companies using the service. Microsoft, on the other hand, doesn’t believe the numbers Google is touting — saying that millions of [...]
Google "attacking" developer community?
Garett Rogers Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:42:58 -0000
So, as most people are happy that Google continues to build new features into their applications — like Google Maps Navigation and Google Latitude — there are others who aren’t so impressed. Some people are upset that Google is building features that have already been developed by Android developers, and in doing so, hurting [...]
Google Maps Navigation: The newest feature on Android
Garett Rogers Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:54:59 -0000
Google Maps Navigator is a feature on the newest Android 2.0 devices like Motorola’s new Droid. The application basically makes the GPS device you currently use in your car useless. The features Google has packed into this application are better than most anything you would find on a typical Garmin or TomTom — it’s hooked [...]
[Sponsored]
Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:54:59 -0000
Use Google Voice with your existing phone number
Garett Rogers Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:42:43 -0000
Google now gives users of a subset of Google Voice features if they want to simply use their service without getting a brand new “Google Number”. Mobile phone users can now forward incoming calls to their “Google Voice” mailbox rather than the one hosted by their carrier. The features available to these users [...]

Computer Companies - Google News

Steve Jobs Conquers the Decade - Now What? - TechNewsWorld
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Jobless rate hits double digits for first time since '83 - Dallas Morning News
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Nvidia takes cartoon shots at Intel Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal - Bizjournals.com
TG DailyNvidia takes cartoon shots at Intel Silicon Valley / San Jose Business JournalBizjournals.comIntel (NASDAQ:INTC) was sued by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday, accusing the computer company of violating state and federal antitrust ...Nvidia Fires Back at Intel – With CartoonsPC Magazineall 56 news articles »

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