gci

Retailers expect a strong turnout on Black Friday this year, but they are careful to explain that it doesn't guarantee a winning holiday shopping season.

Consumers are being lured by good deals and special promotions, and Black Friday specials have been leaked earlier than usual this year in the hopes of generating some buzz. The retail sector needs it. Last year's holiday season was the worst in decades, thanks to the financial crisis. This year, the survivors will benefit from fewer competitors chasing the same consumer dollars.

Google (GOOG) is letting a few developers peek behind the curtain. The early look the company's new operating system, Chrome, is happening in true Google style: by invitation only. When it's released, which should be in time for the holidays, developers will be able to bang away at an open source solution, tapping an army of volunteers who are eager to work for bragging rights.

The open source version is called Chromium OS, which will hit the market a year before the "consumer" version is ready, which is how Google will be able to tap the wisdom of developers around the world. In a blog entry, Google explained, "This means the code is free, accessible to anyone and open for contributions." The project includes the code base, user interface experiments and some preliminary designs, all of which can be used for ongoing development efforts. To energize the potential base of contributors, Google said that "development will be done in the open from this point on."

I have had my problem with Starbucks (SBUX) CEO Howard "Schultzie" Schultz in the past, but his latest little stunt has really ticked me off.

First things first, I will enjoy the occasional cup of Starbucks coffee, but the price has put a venti mocha-frappa-latte-chino out of my budget so I have started making my own at home. The company's product is good, but its competitors -- namely McDonald's (MCD) and Dunkin' Donuts -- offer a comparable product at a fraction of the price. I have long thought that Starbucks' saturation business model has been its biggest fault, with Schultzie's leadership running a close second.

Google (GOOG) and Apple (AAPL) were once favorite friends. When Google CEO Eric Schmidt resigned from Apple's board of directors, though, the gloves came off. With Apple's venerable and extremely popular iPhone selling for $99 (for the base edition), Google's "Android" phones -- made by several manufacturers and sold by many carriers -- have not matched those low Apple prices. Not any more.

Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy (BBY) is selling the Samsung Moment and the HTC Hero for $99 through December -- matching Apple's iPhone pricing for a two-year contract. That's with no rebates, either. So, the question is this: will Google's Android-powered phones start gaining traction on the iPhone? With AT&T's (T) penchant for poor service and for exorbitant calling plan prices, this may be enough to get those on the iPhone fence switching over to a touchscreen Android phone.

Old Navy is back!

At least, that's what most media outlets are reporting. According to Associated Press, "the bad economy has been good for the chain's lower-price Old Navy brand, which was retooled last year to resume catering to frugal moms after an ill-fated foray into trendier fashions."

Every day, it's becoming clearer that e-readers will be the hot holiday gifts of 2009. Amazon (AMZN) is obviously in the game with its Kindle, with which it took an early lead in the industry. Barnes & Noble (BKS) has made a play with its new Nook reader, applying some pressure to what was once a wide open space.

Even though we're still short of Black Friday, the weeding process has begun. Sony (SNE), which is also in the e-reader market, has revealed that it makes no guarantees about delivery by Christmas.

BT Group, which virtually owns the UK telecommunications market, isn't waiting for Google (GOOG) to launch a full attack. The company probably expects to be under assault from the search engine (and advertising and e-mail) giant, so it's taking early action. Google Voice is still being tested, but words like "free" and "powerful" and "internet-based" are bound to inspire fear in even the most established of companies.

To protect itself from the eventual attack from Mountain View, BT picked up Ribbit Mobile, and testing is in progress. Ribbit's technology has some overlap with Google Voice and even beats it with a few capabilities, according to Bloomberg. Ribbit just launched its beta product this month. It allows either the user's current phone number or a new one from Ribbit -- which is no different from Google's alternative. The product suite is generally the same, with phone- and web-based voicemail retrieval and automatic transcriptions that can be sent by text message or e-mail. For an extra fee, BT's Ribbit does provide human transcription, though it is free during testing. And, calls can be taken directly from a computer, using a microphone and speakers.

The price of oil has risen from about $30 per barrel at the height of the economic recession to the present $77 per barrel. Much of the increase is due to the weakness in the U.S. dollar. Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon Mobil (XOM) told CNBC: "If you put the price of oil, which is priced in dollars around the world, and if you look at what some effects are with the weak dollar -- in our view that is contributing $20 to $25 dollars per barrel to the price."

Globally, Tillerson said, oil is well supplied with historic high inventory levels, especially in the U.S. This is causing the market to be a "bit soft," according to Tillerson.

Interesting little battle shaping up in the fast-food realm, and it isn't between restaurants -- it is within one. According to the Associated Press, Burger King (BKC) franchisees are suing the company over its recent $1 double cheeseburger promotion.

The reason for the lawsuit is that the franchisees are losing money on the deal because the company is setting maximum menu prices, which Burger King is not allowed to do. The National Franchise Association (NFA), which represents more than 80% of Burger King's U.S. franchise owners, says that the promotion is forcing restaurant owners to sell the quarter-pound burger at a 10-cent loss. One Burger King franchisee said that the burger in question typically costs franchisees $1.10.

For McDonald's (MCD), 32,000 restaurants in 100 countries isn't enough. The quick service restaurant announced in a meeting with Wall Street analysts that it will open 1,000 new restaurants next year. Most will be in the United States, China, Australia, Russia, Germany and France. Don't expect to see any in Iceland, though, as the company is closing its three restaurants there and has no plans to return in the near future.

The company is also looking to rehabilitate the interiors and exteriors of another 2,300 locations in 2010 – approximately half of them in Europe. In all, this should cost around $2.4 billion. For 2009, McDonald's expects its capital expenditures to reach $2.1 billion on 900 new restaurant openings. The chain is increasing its rate of new restaurant openings by more than 10% from 2009 to 2010.

It's easy to save the world when you've already taken care of yourself. But, we rely on these mavericks -- the wealthy who realize they can make a difference -- to do what we cannot on our own. So, it comes as a relief that Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft (MSFT) believes executive compensation is still too high.

It's a murky topic, and some forms of regulation, Gates believes, won't help. In a discussion on philanthropy at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan, where many of the people Gates criticized send their kids for early education, the former CEO and still rich guy cites the $1 million executive salary cap required by law in 1993 as a big mistake. While compensation has to be controlled, he believes this measure backfired and thinks that other, similar efforts are doomed to fail now.

Back in 1981, Logitech (LOGI) began selling computer mice. It was excellent timing. Now, the company is the dominant player in the market for peripherals.

But to continue the growth, Logitech has been expanding into new categories. One of the biggest is video conferencing. In fact, Logitech has announced that it will pay $405 million for LifeSize Communications, which is a major player in the market.