In a letter today, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer has issued a deadline of 3 weeks to the Yahoo Board to strike a deal or else. “If we have not concluded an agreement within the next three weeks, we will be compelled to take our case directly to your shareholders, including the initiation of a proxy contest to elect an alternative slate of directors for the Yahoo board,” Mr. Ballmer wrote. “If we are forced to take an offer directly to your shareholders, that action will have an undesirable impact on the value of your company from our perspective, which will be reflected in the terms of our proposal.” I think that he means business...
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Boring Lawsuit Filed Against Google For Street View Photos
Aaron and Christine Boring of Pittsburgh's Franklin Park area have filed an invasion of privacy lawsuit against Google over pictures of their home that appeared in Google's Street View. The Boring's contend that images appearing on Street View had to have been taken from their driveway, which they say was posted as a private road. Google's response has been to remove the offending images, and company spokesman Larry Yu says "We absolutely respect that people may not be comfortable with some of the imagery on the site," and "We actually make it pretty easy for people to submit a request to us to remove the imagery." The Boring's attorney Dennis Moskal says "Isn't litigation the only way to change a big business' conduct with the public?" adding "What happened to their accountability?"
I find this all a bit funny, how many people do you think actually viewed the photo's of their home before the lawsuit was filed? Don't you think that they have brought more attention upon themselves by going the litigation route rather than using the mechanism offered by Google? Or dare I say it, is money actually the motivating factor? Globe and Mail article here. Smoking Gun article here.
I find this all a bit funny, how many people do you think actually viewed the photo's of their home before the lawsuit was filed? Don't you think that they have brought more attention upon themselves by going the litigation route rather than using the mechanism offered by Google? Or dare I say it, is money actually the motivating factor? Globe and Mail article here. Smoking Gun article here.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Pizza.com Sells For $2.6 Million
Chris Clark, 43, who has been maintaining the domain name pizza.com for $20 annually since 1994 has accepted an offer of $2.6 million from an anonymous bidder after a week-long online auction. After hanging on to the name for 14 years, "I thought, 'Why don't I just try to see what the level of interest is?'" Mr Clark said, and apparently there was interest! His only regret, not buying more domain names in the 90's. Me too! BBC article here.
College Student Builds 1/2 Scale Tank For Paintballing
College Student, Will Foster, has built himself a 1/2 scale Tiger Tank! The tank, complete with a paintball firing turret and a rebuilt diesel generator for a motor is surprisingly agile and according to Foster has raised a lot of suspicion amongst the neighbours! Check it out!
This story courtesy of the Make Blog.
This story courtesy of the Make Blog.
Jules Verne Hooks Up With Space Station
The European Space Agency's robotic space craft, the Jules Verne, made a near perfect docking with the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday bringing tonnes of needed supplies. “The docking of the A.T.V. is a new and spectacular step in the demonstration of European capabilities on the international scene of space exploration,” said Jean-Jacques Dordain, director general of the European Space Agency. Besides fuel, oxygen, clothing, food, and equipment, the A.T.V. delivered two original manuscripts handwritten by the ships name sake and a 19th-century illustrated edition of his novel “From the Earth to the Moon,” which will be returned to Earth at a later date. New York Times article here.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Amazon Launches TextBuyIt - Text To Purchase Service
Amazon has just launched a new service that allows you to text in a product name, UPC code, or ISBN and get a response with whether or not the item is stocked. The query will return two matches at a time and prompt you for the sale. If you decide to make the purchase you will be prompted for confirmation by identifying the e-mail address associated with your amazon account and then phoned to complete the checkout details. As Wired eludes, this brings a whole new tool into the game of comparison shopping... I suppose that is why they support UPC and ISBN codes. Text to 262966 ("Amazon" on the keypad) and give it a try!
Consumer Market Getting Hooked On The Crackberry?
It appears as though the Blackberry is not just for business anymore. Research In Motion (RIM) has announced that it had a great 4th quarter beating all predictions, and co-CEO Jim Balsillie attributes much of the success to the consumer market. 2.2 million new customers, an increase in consumer-focused devices, such as the Pearl, and a partnership with Facebook Inc. have put smiles on the faces of RIM investors particularly when it was thought that the iPhone would put a crimp in Blackberry sales. Over 1 million Blackberry owners have downloaded an application that allows them to update their Facebook pages and this points squarely at the acceptance of the device on the consumer side. Check out the Globe and Mail article here.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Microsoft Backs Report About Computer Human Interaction In 2020
The BBC is reporting on the release of a Microsoft backed report undertaken by 45 academics from the fields of computing, science, sociology and psychology, that predicts how we will be using technology in the year 2020. Embedded technologies that have single purposes or little purpose what so ever, and even more pervasive connectivity appear to be the theme of the findings. I don't think that this should surprise anyone, but the article is a decent read. I'm heading out to find the report, hope it's available. Check out the video in the article, it's short but features some interesting applications.
update:
Report is available here.
update:
Report is available here.
AT&T - First Microsoft Surface Deployment
This news is exciting for those of us who have been anxiously awaiting the roll out of the Microsoft Surface PC. AT&T is said to be rolling out the Microsoft Surface PC to select retail stores later this month. The fact that it's a cellphone retailer should not surprise anyone as the early videos of the device showed an application where users could place a phone on the surface and receive information about it and the plans that are available for that particular phone. "We believe in Microsoft Surface and what it can do for our customers," said Andy Austin, AT&T director of retail customer experience. AT&T got "very, very excited" when it first saw the Surface computers, he said. If you are in Atlanta, San Antonio, the San Francisco area, or New York City (2 sites) be on the lookout for the surface!
According to Todd Bishop at Seatlepi.com
Microsoft Press Release
AT&T Press Release
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
International Olympic Committee Warns China About Internet Access During Games
Inspectors dispatched by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have said that China is obligated to provide journalists with web access under its Games contract. The final inspection before the games begin in August is currently underway and IOC's Kevan Gosper has said "There was some criticism that the Internet closed down during events relating to Tibet in previous weeks - but this is not Games time," Gosper added that "Our concern is that the press is able to operate as it has at previous Games during Games time." 30,000 journalists are expected to be in Beijing covering the Olympics. I suspect that if there are incidents during the games and Internet access goes down, there will be a very good technical reason for the coincidence... whether it reflects poorly upon the host nation or not. BBC News Story here.
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