With the recession forcing tech companies to announce thousands of layoffs, IBM Corp. is joining the fray — but not advertising it.

The Armonk, N.Y.-based company has cut thousands of jobs over the past week, including positions in sales and the software and hardware divisions. IBM says the cuts are simply part of its ongoing efforts to watch costs, and the company won’t release specific numbers, even as reports of firings stream in from IBM facilities across the country.

Workers have reported layoffs in Tucson, Ariz.; San Jose, Calif.; Rochester, Minn.; Research Triangle Park, N.C.; East Fishkill, N.Y.; Austin, Texas; and Burlington, Vt.

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Texas Instruments posted a smaller-than-expected drop in quarterly profit, but said it may post a loss in the current quarter and announced a 12 percent cut in jobs, as demand for cell phone chips fell.

But shares of the maker of wireless and analog chips rose 5 percent in after-hours trading on Monday as analysts said the better-than-expected fourth quarter and the cost-cutting measures meant TI could be positioned for growth when demand recovers.

“The hope is that we’ll start to find the bottom at these levels. That, along with expense reductions, will create a greater flow through to the bottom line when revenue starts to recover,” said Collins Stewart analyst Ashok Kumar.

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Sales of flat panel TVs are going flat.

In a reversal of fortune, television sales in the United States are predicted to drop in 2009, according to a new report from DisplaySearch, a market research firm. It would be the first sales decline in at least a decade, said DisplaySearch, and the first decline in revenue since 2000.

TV makers have long argued that TVs were recession-proof because Americans would continue to buy them as a cheap way to entertain their families. But consumers are now starting to shun the LCD and plasma sets, even as prices fall sharply.

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Etched into the back of every iPhone are the words “Designed by Apple in California. Assembled in China.” Apple might as well have added “Made in Taiwan.”

With little fanfare, Taiwan companies are playing a big role not only in the production of Apple’s latest device but in a wide array of other communications equipment, including the broadband modems in homes across the United States and the next generation of high-speed wireless gear.

Apple does not discuss which vendors it uses, but news reports in Taiwan said that Hon Hai and Quanta received orders to produce millions of iPhone handsets, reports that those companies declined to confirm. Other manufacturers there were almost certainly involved because they provide components used in advanced phones, industry analysts said.

Taiwan companies also have a hand in making iPods and iMacs, they said, as well as game machines for Sony and Microsoft.

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The Ubuntu Dell systems deal with the “Home and Home Office” category and only that. According to cosborn72, an Ubuntu Forums user, Dell refused selling him one of its Ubuntu Dell systems because he intended to buy it for his business and not for personal use only.

After contacting Dell’s small business departments, the above mentioned user, (cosborn72) found out it could not order one of the Ubuntu computers through that department, which is not actually surprisingly at all so far, as the respective systems were placed to the “Home and Home Office” category. Therefore the client went to the home department. Here is where the surprise was to come. The Dell representative the man contacted responded: “these Dell computers are designed for personal use only, as long as you use it for personal use, you can purchase one.”

But that’s not all. If you lie and say you buy the system for yourself and not for your business you’ll stumble upon another problem at pay time, in case you intend using the business credit card. Dell would accept only personal cards. What a shame.

A while ago, Dell Inc. company made an announcement according to which it would start releasing desktop computers and notebook systems with pre-installed Linux as an option. At the time Dell said it did not decide on what Linux distro would be shipped with their systems. In the end, after the suspense and rumors reached a really high quota, Canonical broke the silence and stated that its brand new Ubuntu 7.04, Feisty Fawn, was the chosen Linux version to run on Dell’s computers. The open source fans got so excited with the idea that they even set up online motions to convince Dell to start selling the systems outside the US too.