By Ian Sherr

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – The U.S. economy may have begun to recover in 2009, but holiday office parties are sinking even further into the dumps.

Fewer companies plan to break out the bubbly this season than in 2008, at the height of the global financial crisis, according to a survey from Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.

Only 62 percent of about 100 companies that responded to the survey were planning holiday parties this year, down from 77 percent a year ago and 90 percent in 2007, as recession-era cuts extended from benefits and profit-sharing to Santa hats and disc jockeys.

“For companies that have recently announced layoffs or other significant cost-cutting measures, such as wage freezes, it would be difficult to justify, let alone get in the mood for a holiday party,” said John Challenger, the firm’s chief executive officer.

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By Ian Sherr

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – As Microsoft Corp’s Windows 7 release approaches, early reviews are generally positive. But so were reviews for Windows Vista just before its launch.

In the months leading up to Windows 7′s release this Thursday, publications from ComputerWorld to the New York Times have written favorable assessments, praising, in particular, its increased speed and compatibility with older computers.

But Vista got high marks before its release as well, with writers back then praising a new visual design — and glossing over quirks that later became common gripes.

“I was the editor of PC World at the time that review was done and yes, I wish in retrospect we’d held to somewhat a higher standard,” said former Editor-in-Chief of PC World, Harry McCracken, who now blogs on his own site, Technologizer.

After its release in 2007, Vista — which runs on roughly 20 percent of the world’s PCs made by the likes of Hewlett-Packard Co, Acer and Dell Inc — went on to become a roundly criticized and unpopular product, with many opting to stick to the aging Windows XP instead.

But to have read the reviews at the time, one would have thought Vista was certain to be a success.

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By Ian Sherr

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Price cuts helped Sony Corp’s Playstation 3 become the top-selling video game console for the first time since its release, as U.S. sales of video game gear and software in the United States rose a modest 1 percent in September from a year ago, a research group said on Monday.

The PlayStation 3 dethroned long-running champ Nintendo and its Wii console to take the top spot, according to NPD. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 came in third.

“If they didn’t have the price cut, it wouldn’t have happened,” said Wedbush Morgan analyst Edward Woo, noting the PS3′s $200 in price cuts over the past two years.

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By Ian Sherr

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – ANALYSIS – Nvidia Corp’s decision to indefinitely postpone investment in chipsets for Intel Corp’s next-generation processors signals a shift in focus to fast-growing mobile devices that could see the company exiting the PC chipset market.

Led by Taiwan-born Chief Executive Jen-Hsun Huang, executives at the company that spends up to $1 billion annually on research have been talking up its Tegra mobile chip platform — which manages power, memory and graphics for devices such as Microsoft Corp’s Zune media player.

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