IT major Mastek Ltd has been forced to reduce its staff strength and employ other cost cutting measure to mitigate the impact of global slowdown. About 425 staff members of company, out of 4,243 employees, mostly trainees or junior employees, have been put on 'virtual bench' for the next 12 months, in a bid to control the worsening situation aroused due to low demand and recession all around the world.

Internet services major Yahoo Inc. has decided to close its Briefcase online storage service, having Web 1.0 capacity of 30MB, from March 30. The move is aimed to reduce costs by closing some operations in the midst of global financial crisis and tight liquidity conditions prevailing in the world.

The development came after the appointment of Carol Bartz as it Chief Executive, who is doing her best to control tough situation caused due to slump in online advertisement, a major source of revenue of Yahoo!

With the aim to create even faster CPU than its current Yorkfield 45nm Core 2 based Xeon, Intel is planning to come out with an upgraded edition of the same that will operate at 3.16GHz. The present fastest Yorkfield based Xeon is X3370 at 3.0 GHz clock 12MB cache and FSB 1333 was carrying a price tag of $525, but from 18th January its price has come down to $317.

On Thursday three latest cellphone models were launched by Nokia, among which the successor to its slim hit model Nokia 6300 is also included.

In the second quarter of this year, Nokia will come out with its 6700 classic with a price tag of 235 euros ($307.4) when excluding subsidies and taxes, which is the follow up of the Nokia 6300 that was among Nokia's top sellers for many quarters.

The features of this model will include a 5-megapixel camera and GPS navigation with Nokia Maps.

The leading luxury mobile phones manufacturer Vertu launched new mobile phone, the Vertu Signature, available at Vertu boutiques and many leading watch, jewellery and department stores worldwide.

At the product launch ceremony, President of Vertu, Alberto Torres said, 'We are delighted to present our new Signature collection, here in Paris. Especially, since we launched our first ever phone in this beautiful city, back in 2002. '

India's largest IT exporter, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is all set to call back about 20 per cent of its onsite staff in US to India, clearly to cut costs and mitigate impact of global slowdown on its overseas operations. The company is facing low demand with no new contracts from clients across the globe.