ACROSS THE BOARD : THE WEEK AHEAD.MONDAY Treasury bill auction. TUESDAY: Commerce Department reports on housing starts for April. Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee meets to review interest rates. THURSDAY: Labor Department The Department of Labor (DOL) administers federal labor laws for the Executive Branch of the federal government. Its mission is "to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners of the United States, to improve their working reports on weekly jobless claims. Commerce Department reports on international trade for March. Freddie Mac reports on weekly mortgage rates. FRIDAY: Treasury reports on federal budget for April. BIZ BYTES PLUG IN THE DOG: This dog is already housebroken house·bro·ken v. Past participle of housebreak. adj. 1. Trained to have excretory habits that are appropriate for indoor living: a fully housebroken dog. 2. . It doesn't need expensive shots or food. And whenever you're tired of playing with it you can just hit the pause button. Japanese electronics giant Sony Corp. will start selling a robot dog called AIBO (Artificial Intelligence roBOt) A battery-operated robotic dog from Sony that behaves like a living animal, learning and growing through experience. Capable of autonomous behavior, AIBO understands voice commands, and it simulates instincts and feelings with sound and in early July. It says the dog is smart enough to do a few tricks, and can even let you know when it is happy. About the size of a Chihuahua, AIBO, which means ``pal'' in Japanese, is programmed to enjoy getting a petting. Through a sensor on its head, it can tell the difference between a friendly pat and a scolding slap. It shows that it's happy with a wag of its tail or a flash of its green LED eyes. Sony will make 3,000 AIBO robots available for sale in Japan for $2,070 each and 2,000 in the United States for $2,500 each. They will be sold only over the Internet. - Associated Press SITE OF THE WEEK PRIVATE EYE: Want the lowdown low·down n. Slang The whole truth: gave us the lowdown on what happened at the party. lowdown low (inf) n he gave me the lowdown on it → on your publicly traded employer? Looking for signs of insider trading? Just plain curious about what Web addresses Company XYZ XYZ interj. Informal Used to indicate to someone that the zipper of his or her pants is open. [ex(amine) y(our) z(ipper).] owns? Check out www.CompanySleuth.com, a terrific resource on all things related to corporate stock. The free site offers a daily e-mail update on up to 10 companies you preselect pre·se·lect tr.v. pre·se·lect·ed, pre·se·lect·ing, pre·se·lects To select beforehand, usually according to a specific criterion. pre , including chat board discussions and official company press releases. - Daily News CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO (Color) no caption (AIBO robot dog) |
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