Steve Jobs, the chief executive of Apple Inc, said on Monday a hormone imbalance had caused him to lose weight but that he would continue as CEO during his recovery, sending its shares up 3.4 percent.

For weeks the U.S. and international media have been following the story of Bernard Madoff and his "giant Ponzi scheme," as The Wall Street Journal called it, which may have cheated unsuspecting investors out of tens of billions of dollars. The Securities and Exchange Commission termed it "a stunning fraud that appears to be of epic proportions." But is this -- as it is being touted -- the largest Ponzi scheme in history? The answer is no. That honor goes to a Depression-era creation of the U.S. government itself: the Social Security system.

Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, one of the most prominent Hispanic politicians in the United States and President-elect Barack Obama's choice to be commerce secretary, dropped out of consideration for that post on Sunday.

The uncharted waters into which the Federal Reserve sailed in 2008 could become even more treacherous in the year ahead. Will the unprecedented measures that the Fed, the Treasury, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and other authorities took last year succeed in at last stabilizing the financial system and reviving a torpid economy? Or will the housing mess cause the economic/ financial crisis to drag on?

Maybe it's just me, but have you ever seen a piece of clip-art, a photo or a font for the umpteenth time and groaned? Using the stock graphics supplied with your page layout or presentation software doesn't exactly scream "unique" or "innovative." And custom design work looks fantastic, but costs accordingly. How can you set yourself, and your slides, apart from the crowd without breaking the bank? Investing a little time into making your business communication is attractive, creative and unique should certainly set you apart from your competition.

The number of Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States is expected to grow 41.8 percent in the next six years to 4.3 million, with total revenues surging 39 percent to more than $539 billion, according to new estimates by HispanTelligence. Spurred by growing entrepreneurial trends and affluence among the nation's largest minority population, the increase is expected to come at a robust rate of 8.5 and 8.7 percent, respectfully, over the next couple years.

For more than two decades, the annual Hispanic Business 500 directory has served as a barometer of the U.S. Hispanic economy. A purchase of the 2007 directory provides the top 500 Hispanic-owned companies list in Excel format including: CEO names; company addresses and telephone numbers; e-mail addresses for 375 companies and Web addresses for 430 companies; and company revenue and employees numbers for 2005 and 2006.

In the world of information technology, Hispanic innovators and risk-takers are at the frontier of some of the Web's most dynamic business ventures. They are forging new marketing models and redefining business-to-business relationships in the vanguard of tomorrow's business environment. Hispanic Business magazine recently caught up with three online entrepreneurs who are leading the way.

With the subprime debacle and housing market meltdown morphing into the current credit crisis, business owners are wondering what lies ahead in the first quarter of '09. Chief among the concerns is credit availability. To find out, we contacted some top financial experts to share their thoughts on how to manage cash and liquidity given the state of current credit markets. Here are some tips on surviving in today's volatile credit market conditions.