Deserts have a way of reclaiming whatever is built upon them. In the case of Dubai, the global financial implosion has sent that process into overdrive. After six years of frenzied expansion, during which the population grew at 7% annually and nearly $600 billion went into construction, reality has come rushing into view.

With the launch of disaster/apocalypse movie 2012 last weekend, a new question has popped up on the Net: Are dystopian movies more popular when the world is already gloomy from an economic depression? You'd think perhaps yes, wouldn't you?

If Apple's recent financial report had a musical theme, you might choose Tchaikovski's 1812. But Microsoft's just-revealed quarterly stats might incline toward something somber from Handel ... they're not looking cheery.

At the end of the day in Seattle yesterday Apple dropped its third quarter financial results. It's a regular act, nothing to be excited about. Except Apple's figures are, in the light of the current economic slowdown, astonishing.

Though Nokia's not a massive name in the U.S., across the rest of the world it's enormous--the biggest cell-phone retailer by far. But the giant company's just announced its second-quarter profits, and they're terribly bad.

In fact, the figures for the second quarter net profits of €380 million represent a slump of some 66% year-on-year. That's an incredible downwards trend, and it's got Nokia on the defensive as the company also noted that it thinks the low demand for its products is beginning to bottom out.

Job-seeking refugees from the for-profit world shouldn't go running to the not-for-profit sector.