News In Brief

I'm worth how much?

At one time or another, many of us have forgotten an appointment. Or, say, an ATM password. In the case of a Boston salesman who prefers to remain unidentified, it slipped his mind that he still owned at least 1,000 shares in a computer data storage company, EMC Corp. By the time the Massachusetts Abandoned Property Division tracked him down about the stock, which he'd bought in 1987, its value had shot up. Make that way, way up. To almost $4 million. Said our guy, who plans to keep his job: "I really didn't know what I was doing."

YOU CAN SEE IT 16 MILES AWAY

Itu is a city in Brazil that's famous for its oversized attractions. Example: a giant phone booth, along with an enormous streetlight. And now, Itu claims to have the world's tallest artificial Christmas tree. It's 250 feet high - counting the 13-foot red star on top.

Chicago is most cellphone- friendly city, new report says

No other major US city scored better than Chicago in a study of the availability of cellular telephone models, usage plans, roaming charges, carriers in general, and carriers able to offer wireless Internet content, according to Cellmania, a company that maintains a database of comparative data on products and services for clients and consumers. In its "first national report card," Mountain View, Calif.-based Cellmania gave no city more than an 87 percent score or letter grade of B+. The city scoring lowest: New York, which earned only 64 percent, a D. The top 10 cities, their scores on a scale of 0 percent to 100 percent, and their letter grades, from the Cellmania study:

1. Chicago B+ 87%

2. Miami B 83%

3. Boston B 82%

4. Detroit B- 81%

5. Los Angeles B- 80%

6. Washington C+ 78%

7. Columbus, Ohio C 77%

(tie) Minneapolis C 77%

(tie) Phoenix C 77%

10. Austin, Texas C 76%

- Business Wire

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