Verizon Hands Seidenberg a Big Raise

Verizon (VZ) CEO Ivan Seidenberg got a 25% raise last year for total pay of $26.5 million.

The raise came largely in the form of stocks. The New York-based phone shop gave Seidenberg $19.2 million worth of stock awards last year. Seidenberg's $2.1 million salary, however, remained the same as it was in 2006.

Verizon shares rose 48% last year.

Report: Mac sales up 60% in February

Macintosh sales were up sharply in February, according to a brief report on the latest NPD data posted Monday at flyonthewall.com (registration required).

The report shows growth in Mac unit sales up 60 percent from 2007 and growth in dollar terms up 66 percent. That's considerably higher than Pacific Crest's estimate of 10 percent, according to the same report.

AppleInsider's chart of the NPD data is pasted below the fold. It shows MORE

Nacchio's Conviction Tossed Out

Joe Nacchio won his appeal and a new trial as his six-year insider-trading sentence was thrown out on appeal.

The former Qwest CEO who oversaw $2 billion in bogus revenue bookings off capacity "swaps" and sold $52 million worth of stock ahead of a looming industry collapse, was granted another day in a court Monday. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals threw out a conviction reached in MORE

Sprint's Dan Hesse stars in new TV commercial

By Michal Lev-Ram

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse has been in office for just three months, but he's already starring in the company's latest television commercial -- an ad for its new unlimited pricing plan, which offers both voice and data for $100 a month.

The black-and-white ad is the first in Sprint's (S) new branding campaign, which will emphasize a more "immediate approach" to customer service and highlight the "capabilities" of the MORE

Apple and Microsoft's Flash dance

What does Microsoft see in Adobe Flash that Apple doesn't?

Two weeks after Steve Jobs signaled that Apple (AAPL) would not be building Flash support into the iPhone, Microsoft (MSFT) on Monday took the opposite stance -- signing a licensing agreement with Adobe (ADBE) for both Flash Lite and Reader LE in its competing Windows Mobile platform. (link)

This despite the fact that Microsoft is working on a product -- Silverlight for MORE

Flash vs. hard drive battle heats up

Lenovo's critically acclaimed ThinkPad X300 laptop does without a hard drive. Image: Lenovo

While munching on a reuben at Birk's, a steakhouse in Silicon Valley, Seagate (STX) CEO Bill Watkins is explaining why he's not too worried about a these trendy new laptops that have everything but a hard drive.

On the surface, this would seem to be a big problem. Seagate, after all, is the world's largest hard drive maker with MORE