Business Channel 2007-02-01&03

（单词翻译）

Well that long-awaited Vista¹ operating system will be available to consumers starting at midnight tonight. CompUSA, Best Buy and Circuit City are among the stores that will have extended hours tonight so that you can be the first on your block to install Vista. But this is not expected to be like the launch of a new video game systems. Retailers² are not anticipating big crowds for the much-delayed launch of the latest Windows version. They are expecting excitement for Vista but also some confusion that's because many of Vista's features work differently than older versions of Windows, also older PCs may not be able to run the software without a significant upgrade. Retailers are now selling Vista-capable PCs and offering to install the new software for a fee. Melissa.

Let's talk about something else. Another news item for computer users. There is a well-known website that's going to start paying users?

Melissa, millions of YouTube view users may soon be able to make money using the site. News reports say the popular video-sharing website will start giving users the opportunity to share in its revenues. The site's co-founder says this is one of the latest innovations currently in the world to improve the site. YouTube was recently bought for more than one and a half billion dollars by Google. The company says more than 70 million videos are viewed on YouTube each and every day.

OK. Trying to understand this, aside from dividends⁴, most companies want to keep their profits. So why is YouTube doing this?

Well, it's confusing. Yes. YouTube says giving customers its money will make opportunity. This money-making opportunity will foster creativity on the website. But it did not say how users would be paid, how much or exactly when this would happen. Melissa.

OK. Let's also talk about investing and a lot of ways. People sock away their cash just in the savings⁵ account. And it looks like online banking⁶ just maybe the way to go.

Well, this is really interesting, Melissa. The latest offer is from HSBC Direct where you can get a 6% annual rate on your savings account. (Wow) Now the new 6% annual interest rate is a jump of nearly 1 percentage point for the online bank and the new rate is higher than most of its competitors.
By comparison ING Direct by far the largest online bank offers 4.5 percent. HSBC launched its online bank in 2005 and now has about 300,000 customers. Now you should know the promotional offer rate expires on April 30th and only applies to new deposits, but that's a pretty significant rate.


Vocabulary


long-awaited adj. A long-awaited event or thing is one that someone has been waiting for for a long time.
...the long-awaited signing of a peace agreement.

dividend³ n. A dividend is the part of a company's profits which is paid to people who have shares in the company.
The first quarter dividend has been increased by nearly 4 per cent.