BUSINESS BRIEFS
Software license sold for $250K
Advertiser Staff and News Services
Convergence CT, a Honolulu-based software company co-founded by former Hawai'i Gov. George Ariyoshi and veteran technology entrepreneur Lambert Onuma, said it sold a $250,000 license for its database product to the Kettering Medical Center Network of Ohio.
Revenue from the license could increase to as much as $150,000 annually depending on Kettering's use of the software, Convergence CT Vice President Rob Albertson said.
REDEMPTION OF CONTAINERS 78%
Nearly 54 million beverage containers were redeemed statewide during January for a redemption rate of 78 percent, the state Department of Health announced yesterday.
The redemption rate has been gradually rising since the state began redeeming in January 2005. To date, the overall redemption rate is 57 percent, the state said.
TRADE DEFICIT HITS $68.5B
WASHINGTON — Rising oil prices and Americans' seemingly insatiable appetite for foreign goods — from Chinese clothing to French wine and Japanese cars — sent the U.S. trade deficit to a record.
The Commerce Department reported yesterday that the deficit jumped to $68.5 billion in January, 5.3 percent more than in December. Analysts had expected the trade gap to worsen, given the surge in world oil prices, but the increase caught them by surprise.
NO MORE EASY MONEY IN JAPAN
TOKYO — The Bank of Japan yesterday ditched a five-year policy that kept domestic borrowing costs next to nothing, marking a historic milestone in the country's economic comeback and joining a global trend away from easy money.
