News: The Business of Technology

[Rambus]

IBM Corp replaced Toshiba Corp as the No 1 seller of notebook computers worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2000, according to the research firm Dataquest Inc.

Dell Computer Corp took second place and Toshiba third as more corporate buyers sought to procure all of their computing equipment from a single source, analysts said. Compaq Computer Corp and Sony Corp were in fourth and fifth place.

"IBM, Dell and Compaq can provide customers with servers, desktop computers and notebooks," said Ian Bertram of dataquest, according to Bloomberg News. "Toshiba is still catching up."

Worldwide, notebook shipments grew 21 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, compared with 1.6 percent growth for desktop shipments.

Toshiba, meanwhile, is betting that it can compete in the fast-growing market for handheld computers. The Japanese daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that the company's devices would incorporate the Bluetooth mobile communications standard and Microsoft Corp's Pocket PC operating system. A spokeswoman for the company confirmed that the company planned to intriduce handhelds worldwide but declined to provide any details.

- International Herald Tribune

[lupuS]

In a continuing attempt to discover a viable dotcom business model, two internet pioneers recently announced plans to adjust their terms of service with their subscribers:

1) Yahoo will now charge customers who want to have their websites located at the top of Yahoo's lists. Previously, sites were listed either alphabetically or in order of popularity (based on a top-secret formula for determining popularity).

2) Juno free internet service have advised subscribers to leave their computers on and connected to the network, to enable Juno to use the idle capacity to run distributed supercomputing applications which they intend to sell to biotechnology companies. Revenue from biotech computing will allow Juno to continue offering free internet access to subscribers.

[KuyaDanny]

The online retailer amazon.com recently notified book publishers that it will begin to charge a fee (as much as $10,000 a title) in exchange for amazon's recommending the books in email promotions sent to customers.

Previously, book recommendations were made solely by amazon's editorial staff. Amazon says it will continue to make these independent recommendations, putting them alongside those for which publishers have paid. Amazon says it will disclose at its website (not necessarily in its email messages) the paid recommendations.

[Rambus]

Instant messaging, once the communications medium of choice for chatty teenagers, has now found a new convert: the United States Navy. In the story below, the commander of an aircraft carrier battle group now conducts his nightly debriefings with commanders of his support ships via instant messaging software running over an encrypted satellite link. Corporate users will not be far behind.

http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,22221,00.html?nl=int

[payaSo]

IBM sees opportunity in the current California energy crisis. The maker of perhaps the widest line of computing equipment is pitching a new advantage of its once-predominant mainframe computers: energy savings. The company is telling potential customers that its new z900 mainframe is the antidote to power-hungry "server farms" which now drive corporate websites and process transactions, and aims to take sales from its rival, Sun Microsystems, Inc.

[lupuS]

Yahoo Inc said the number of items for sale in its online auctions had fallen "considerably" since it began charging fees for listings last month. Yahoo began charging from 20 cents to $2.25 for each item listed for sale in a quest for new sources of revenue to lessen its dependence on advertising sales.

- International Herald Tribune

[Carlos Agassi]

The 154-year-old German conglomerate suddenly doesn't look too old anymore, having found a new market which it aims to dominate - cellphone handsets. Preliminary figures for Year 2000 sales indicate that Siemens has jumped to second place in the race to supply Europe. Globally, the company appears to have displaced Samsung and Panasonic for the Number 4 spot. In five years, Siemens has increased its market share from almost nothing to more than 7%, and aims to grab 15% of the market in the next two to three years. That would probably put Siemens in second place, behind Nokia.

[payaSo]

Paraphrased from The Asian Wall Street Journal

The internet auction powerhouse eBay Inc has begun monitoring items for sale on its site for possible copyright infringement. Since Devember, eBay has been removing about a dozen listings per day for software, movies, music and other copyright content. The company's screening process removes items that obviously infringe a copyright.

This represents a major shift in legal strategy for eBay, which previously refused to screen items for fear of being held liable for fraud and illegal sales.

EBay's steps follows the actions of competitor Amazon.com, which recently agreed to a set of "model practices" drafted by the Business Software Alliance. Another rival, Yahoo! Inc also announced it was installing new technology to ensure software sales were legitimate.

Another industry group, the Software and Information Industry Association ("SIIA"), has been engaging in sting operations against pirates participating in auctions who post illegal items for sale on the Web. The BSA and SIIA claim that more than 90% of software sold through auction sites is copied illegally or violates in some fashion the license under which it originally was sold (see chart below).

Data from a March 2000 survey on how much counterfeit software was auctioned on Web sites:

Legend: Site/Legal/Illegal/Undetermined/Total

Amazon/0/1/5/6
Excite/8/343/11/362
Yahoo/30/478/48/556
eBay/100/544/20/664

Source: SIIA

[payaSo]

Originally posted by payaSo
The company is telling potential customers that its new z900 mainframe is the antidote to power-hungry "server farms" which now drive corporate websites and process transactions, and aims to take sales from its rival, Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Why server farms are no longer welcome in California?

Power consumption, in watts per square foot:

Typical home - 1
Commercial office buildings - 5
Chip-manufacturing plants - 30 to 50
Server farms - 75 to 100

Source: Silicon Valley Power

[payaSo]

SEATTLE (AP) — The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating stock sales by Amazon.com chief executive Jeff Bezos just before a negative report on the company was released, The New York Times reported Friday.

The commission would neither confirm nor deny an investigation. The commission typically only makes investigations public when an action is taken, SEC spokeswoman Carol Patterson said.

Amazon spokesman Bill Curry said the Internet retailing giant wasn't aware of any investigation. "If there proves to be one we're certainly going to be happy to help in any way we can," he said.

Bezos filed documents with regulators on Feb. 2 and Feb. 5 stating that he intended to sell 800,000 shares of Amazon stock worth roughly $12.2 million. Curry confirmed that Bezos had sold the shares, which he said represents about one-third of all the shares Bezos has sold.

Prior to that, Amazon executives received an advance copy of a research report compiled by Lehman Bros. that questioned the company's ability to continue operating through 2001.

The report also speculated that Amazon's deteriorating financial situation could subject it to a credit squeeze later this year.

Curry said Amazon executives had seen the report and had attempted to convince Lehman Bros. that the conclusions were erroneous. Amazon contends that it will finish the year with $900 million in cash.

Curry said the company did not know exactly when the report would be released, and that the sales were not timed to the report's release. He also contends the report did not release new information, since Lehman Bros.' analysts had questioned whether Amazon could survive before.

Under federal regulations, executives such as Bezos can only legally sell stock at certain times. That window closes if executives become privy to information not available in the public that could strongly influence the future of the company and its stock.

[KuyaDanny]

In an interview with the BBC, Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos advised small investors that "we are not a stock you can sleep well with at night. We're a volatile stock. We're working hard on building a lasting company. And we think over time we'll build a very valuable company. But for a short-term investor, or for a small investor, I wouldn't invest in Internet stocks."

Bezos further advised that small investors should wait until market volatility has blown itself out before considering dot-com stocks again.

[KuyaDanny]

TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- Sony Corp. said on Friday global shipments of its PlayStation 2 game console hit the 10 million mark, meeting a target that had been pared back earlier this year due to glitches in production of a key component.

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., the company's game-making subsidiary, said it planned to make 1.5 million of the consoles in April, ramping up monthly production to two million units by this autumn. It also reiterated its target of shipping 20 million units in the 2001/02 business year starting in April.

Shipments since the PlayStation 2's debut in Japan on March 4 of last year were triple those of the original PlayStation during the same period after its launch in December 1994, the company said.

Complete story here (http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/ptech/03/23/sony.playstation.reut/index.html)

[Rambus]

In a deal approved by stockholders Friday, 03/30, Quantum Corp will sell its disk drive business to rival Maxtor Corp. The deal leaves Quantum with a business selling entire storage systems, including tape drives and network attached storage (NAS) devices.

Quantum expects to use the proceeds from sale of the drive business to add to its cash reserves and acquire small companies to bolster its storage systems business.

[lechon 2000]

According to a report recently released by the research firm Dell'Oro Group, Alcatel topped the DSL modem market in the fourth quarter of 2000. The firm shipped 636,800 DSL modems during the period, representing a 34.9% market share, nearly twice as many units as its closest competitor.

[lupuS]

Intel Corp co-founder Gordon Moore, an elder statesman of the semiconductor industry, is retiring from the company's board after 32 years of service. Moore, 72, has reached the mandatory retirement age for Intel directors.

Moore, who with the late Robert Noyce co-founded the company in 1968, served as both chief executive and chairman. He is best known for Moore's law, which holds that semiconductor makers double the performance of chips every 18 months.

According to TJ Rodgers, CEO of Cypress Semiconductors, Moore is "sort of the dean of semiconductors for Silicon Valley." While Moore was in charges, "each page in the Intel catalogue has turned into an entire industry."

[KuyaDanny]

The Business Software Alliance (BSA) is warning the public and business firms in the country to be on guard for scrupulous entities that may conduct illegal raids on pretext of anti-piracy drives.

The organization of multinational software publishers issued the warning after it has received a complaint about an illegal raid from two operators of a computer business in Baguio City in northern Luzon.

For the full story, visit

http://itmatters.bworldonline.com/news/news_04172001c.html

Note: I have quoted verbatim from the article. However, there seems to be something wrong with the first sentence.

[KuyaDanny]

Online advertising is already hurting. Now software that zaps Web ads is about to go mainstream.

With advertising click-through rates running a pitiful 0.5 percent or less, Web marketers have turned to more-intrusive forms of advertising. Their strategy is simple: Bigger displays will lead to higher response levels. But consumers are annoyed by the new formats, not least because they tend to slow download speeds.

That's where ad-blocking software comes in. Marketed under such brand names as AdKiller, AdSubtract and Junkbuster Proxy, the software has been quietly spreading among Web users for the past three years. More than 4 million people have downloaded WebWasher, a Siemens spinoff, and InterMute's AdSubtract expects to have 2 million users by the end of the year.

http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,23640,00.html?nl=int

[KuyaDanny]

Intel Corp reported its earnings for the first quarter of 2001 plunged 82% from the same period last year. The company, however, did see some signs that the market for PC processors had stabilized, and was hopeful for a better second half.

Intel shares were up 11% to 28.97 in after hours trading, after the earnings announcement.

Market share for PC microprocessors:

4Q 2000
Intel: 81.5%
AMD: 17.1%

1Q 2001
Intel: 77.1%
AMD: 21.2%

[lupuS]

Total Worldwide Mobile Phone Handset Sales

1997 - 101,695,000
1998 - 162,855,500
1999 - 283,581,000
2000 - 412,731,400
2001 - 450,000,000 (estimate)

Market Shares, %, 1997/1998/1999/2000

Nokia - 20.6/22.9/26.9/30.6
Motorola - 22.1/19.8/16.9/14.6
Ericsson - 16.4/14.6/10.5/10.0
Siemens - 3.9/3.1/4.6/6.5
Panasonic - 6.5/8.2/5.5/5.2
Alcatel - 2.9/4.3/4.1/4.7
Samsung - 0.0/3.2/6.2/5.0
Others - 27.5/23.8/25.3/23.3

Source: Dataquest/The Asian Wall Street Journal

[Rambus]

Asia Leads World In Wireless Internet Technology Markets (http://champagne.sweet-n-sour.com/brinjal_05032001.html)

From the ashes of the first generation of dotcoms is arising a new breed of players: more focused, more result-oriented, and more targeted on emerging technologies like the mobile Internet - the "m-dotcoms."

And the largest and fastest growing markets in the world for the wireless Internet are right here in Asia, particularly east Asia.

"Asia is beating Europe and North America in pure wireless markets, and will lead in the wireless Internet as well," said Emmanuel Sauquet, Asia Director of wireless product solutions for Nortel Networks, at the recent Wireless Internet World Asia 2001 conference (www.internetworldasia.com) in Singapore.

Wireless communication standards and capabilities are evolving rapidly across the spectrum, from 1G (voice only) in 1979, 2G (GSM/TDMA, with speeds of 9.6 to 14.4 Kbps) in 1992, 2.5G (GPRS, with speeds capable of 115 Kbps in 2001; EDGE, capable of 384 Kbps, in 2002), and 3G (WCDMA, 2 Mbps) this year.

The wireless Internet industry is also moving rapidly beyond WAP. "WAP has been one of the biggest failures in the industry. Wireless Internet has to be a real multimedia experience, not just a few lines of text," according to Sauquet, though WAP certainly has its share of the faithful.

"WAP is complex to set up and slow to use. It has discredited the industry," argued Sauquet.

The paradigm of the 3G world will be any device, any network, any content. "As for devices, we will see both a convergence and a divergence," he said.

[lupuS]

Red Herring Communications Inc is quietly shopping itself to rival publishers, as the market for magazines focusing on technology and the new economy continues to shake out.

The company has approached bot AOL Time Warner and Ziff Davis Media in the last few weeks, but apparently neither entity is interested in pursuing a deal.

The news does not surprise those in the publishing industry, who have watched Red Herring and similar magazines grow fat on dot-com advertising during the Internet boom days, only to fall dramatically this year. According to Publishers Information Bureau, Red Herring's advertising pages fell 28% in the first quarter of 2001.

It was still a better performance than some of its peers, considering that the magazine's ad rates are higher due to its high circulation (325,000 guaranteed) and higher frequency.

[Rambus]

In a speech before a business gathering in Hong Kong, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that the company will rely on server software as the main driver of revenue growth over the next few years.

Sales of server software now account for $3 billion, or 12%, of the company's annual revenues. Ballmer said that it could easily be 20% of their business in the coming years.

[lupuS]

Smart Communications, Inc became the country's largest GSM cellular service provider with 3.021 million subscribers as of the end of March 2001. Rival Globe Telecom had 2.926 million GSM subscribers as of the same date.

Ramon Isberto, spokesman for the PLDT wireless group, said that continued growth in Smart's subscriber base has not dragged down the company's ARPU (Average Revenue Per User). Smart's ARPU from prepaid subscribers, who comprise 98% of its total subscriber base, is about P600.

Globe, meanwhile, reported that its gross ARPU for prepaid subscribers for the same period was P520, while gross ARPU for postpaid (plan) subscribers was P1,982. The Glose subscriber base is 87% prepaid, 13% postpaid.

Analysts expect ARPU to decline in the next two years, as new subscribers lean heavily toward prepaid users.

Source: BusinessWorld

[Carlos Agassi]

Honda Motor Company of Japan announced a plan to revamp its European model lineup by adding diesel-powered cars. Honda does not currently sell any vehicles with diesel engines, which causes a gap in its product offerings in Europe, where 30% of the market consists of cars with diesel engines.

Honda's plan calls for selling diesel Civics starting in 2002, and diesel Accords starting 2003. The company will also introduce a 1.3-liter gasoline-engine minicar next year. The Civic 1.7 liter diesel engines will be manufactured by Isuzu in Poland, while the Accord diesel engine will be made by Honda in Japan.

[lechon 2000]

America Online will raise its monthly fee on unlimited service by $1.95, its first increase in three years. The monthly price for unlimited AOL service goes up to $21.95 effective July.

When the company last increased its rates in April 1998, competitors were largely unsuccessful in stealing away AOL's customers. That was when AOL had 11 million subscribers. They now have 29 million.

The company said the modest price increase will help fund system improvements. The increase affects only the unlimited accounts.

[lechon 2000]

Music Corporation, a Philippine chip designer, dismissed 70 percent of the staff of its US-based music.com website, bringing the Internet unit closer to shutting completely.

Music.com's offices in Nashville and Los Angeles will be closed, and the salaries of the site's remaining 12 employees will be cut by as much as half.

[Zen]

Panasonic Debuts Web-Based Home Health Care Device (http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010531/wr/health_panasonic_dc_1.html)NEW YORK (Reuters) - Panasonic is introducing a monitor to let chronically ill patients send their vital signs to health care providers from their homes and reduce trips to the doctor, the company said on Thursday.

``We believe it has the potential to revolutionize home health care for people with chronic illness,'' said Akio Matsumoto, Panasonic's vice president of strategic planning.

The toaster oven-sized terminal plugs into a telephone line and features attachments that enable patients to send their blood pressure, pulse rate, temperature, weight, blood sugar and other vital signs to their health care providers over the Internet.

Doctors can e-mail patients through a terminal in their offices and program the machine to alert them if a patient's vital signs are unusual.

The device also sends reminders to patients to take their medicines and a camera allows videoconferencing with doctors or nurses, said Panasonic, a subsidiary of Japan's Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (6752.T). Matsushita is the world's largest consumer electronics group.

Many technology firms of all sizes are looking at technology as a means to contain health care cost inflation.

Ruby Holder, health care analyst at ABN AMRO, said that acceptance of the terminal will depend heavily on whether MediCare, Medicaid and private insurers decide to reimburse the cost of its use.

Matsumoto said at a press conference to introduce the PC-based device will reduce health care costs, despite a price tag that runs at some $400 per month or $15,000 over three years.

HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS ARE INITIAL MARKET FOCUS

The machines will be marketed primarily to health care providers and people who are self-insured, Panasonic executives said. The company may develop a consumer strategy if the terminal gains wide acceptance, which would lead to lower prices.

Most of Panasonic's competition would come from smaller firms, such as Cyber-Care Inc. (NasdaqNM:CYBR - news), American Telecare Institute or LifeVest Inc..

``With the whole Internet blow-up, the whole e-health industry blew up as well,'' Holder said. ``You had a lot of people looking to go down this path, but their funding dried up or their opportunities dried up.''

While this may pave the way for Panasonic, but Holder noted that many large companies have tried to enter the health information market only to lose money.

Holder said large corporations have tried to enter this market every few years since the 1970s.

``They go in and realize how backward health care is and they want to get out,'' Holder said.

Judith Hicks, president of Focused Health Solutions, said the costs of the machine are recouped for the chronically ill who make frequent trips to the hospital or have nurses visit the home. Focused Health tested the machine along with a central receiving station that a nurse uses to monitor patients.

Although the terminal is based on a PC using Microsoft Windows and a modem to link with health care providers, the touch-pad with simple instructions makes it unlike using a computer.

``We don't want this to look like a PC,'' Matsumoto said. The most common users would be the elderly, many of whom are not comfortable with computers, he said.:nerdgirl:

[lupuS]

According to new research from Gartner Dataquest, Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone supplier, extended its lead over its rivals for the first quarter of 2001. The Finnish company increased its global market share to 35%, nearly three times as much as the number 2 Motorola, which had a 13% share. Ericsson of Sweden was third with 8.7%, and Siemens of Germany was fourth with 6.9%.

Gartner said about 97 million mobile phones were shipped to consumers in the first quarter, meaning that 2001 sales are tracking the 500 million level.

[KuyaDanny]

Internet auctioneer eBay Inc will rent space on its websites to merchants who want to sell their goods at fixed prices. The move, an effert to grab a bigger share of e-commerce revenues, puts eBay in direct competition with online retailers Amazon.com and Yahoo, both of which already offer online storefronts as well as auctions on the web.

[lechon 2000]

Dutch Philips Electronics NV said on Tuesday it would cease to be an independent maker of mobile handsets, resulting in a 300 million euro ($258.4 million) charge in the second ot third quarter.

The long awaited announcement brings to an end the unit, which so far has drained about 850 million euros from its parent. Formes as a 60-40 venture with Lucent Technologies in 1997, the unit has only once, in 2000, reported an operating profit.

[lupuS]

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) is looking at regulating long-distance calls made over the Internet, called Internet telephony or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), by allowing only licensed voice providers to offer the servoce, for now.

NTC Commissioner Eliseo M Rio Jr told reporters last week that while the government agency will eventually allow Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to offer VoIP, it will restrict the service for now to voice providers to give telcos time to recover their investments as well as for the voice quality to improve.

- BusinessWorld

[lupuS]

Tycoon Ends Online Venture in Hong Kong (http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/05/technology/05HONG.html?ex=995352361&ei=1&en=a338c224bd29a0d6)

By MARK LANDLER, The New York Times

TAIPEI, Taiwan, July 4 — For Richard Li, the brash tycoon once celebrated as an Asian Internet visionary, it has come to this: He announced today that his telephone company, Pacific Century Cyberworks, had all but shelved its most ambitious venture in cyberspace — and the company's shares soared nearly 8 percent.

Cyberworks, which is based in Hong Kong, said it would fold Network of the World, a satellite-delivered entertainment and information network, into its existing Internet service in Hong Kong. The move will result in 340 layoffs, or 40 percent of its Internet work force, and cut the company's spending by nearly $100 million a year.

[lupuS]

Since June 2001, Islacom has been out of the paging business and has been advising subscribers of its ICON paging service to shift to JasPage.

Gil B Genio, Islacom chief operating officer, said they have made provisions to sell the company's paging facilities and equipment. Islacom decided to get out of the paging business and instead concentrate on its roolout program for its fixed-line network as well as its fledgling mobile business.

[Rambus]

Sony Corp will become the latest Japanese elctronics manufacturer to try to capitalize on the growing popularity of DVD players in Europe by opening a production line in Hungary.

Sony said the plant will begin operation on Wednesday as part of an already existing audio-equipment plant, and it will target a monthly output of 50,000 units.

The global DVD market is expected to grow by 65% to 28 million units in 2001-02, industry sources say.

In June, JVC, a rival audio and video equipment maker, said it had started production of DVD players in Europe. JVC plans to produce 250,000 DVD players this year at its plant in Berlin, and sell 500,000 players this year in Europe, up from 200,000 units last year.

[KuyaDanny]

Michael Dell to be named CEO of year (http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/invest/2001-07-18-dell-ceo-of-year.htm)

By Del Jones, USA TODAY


Michael Dell, 36, will be named CEO of the Year Thursday, winning the distinction in a year that has been trying for many corporate chiefs.

Ford Motor's Jacques Nasser faced the Firestone tire controversy. Former CEO of the Year Jack Welch, who failed to close GE's acquisition of Honeywell, discovered that globalization also means the globalization of regulation.

Dell Computer has been a standout, but last year was not exactly one for the highlight film. Slumping demand recently forced the first job cuts in the company's 16 years, and the stock was down 66% in 2000, not what shareholders had grown to expect.

[lupuS]

Justice Department Hires a New Anti-Microsoft Gun (http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,28121,00.html)

By Keith Perine, The Industry Standard


WASHINGTON - The Justice Department has tapped Philip Beck, a Chicago trial lawyer, to be its new field general in the government's antitrust battle with Microsoft. The move is a sign that the Bush administration is girding itself to take up the more-than-three-year-old legal fight against the software giant in a new courtroom round.
Separately, Microsoft told a federal appeals court that it might ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review a June 28 ruling.

In that ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed that Microsoft had illegally maintained a monopoly market share in Intel-compatible PC operating systems. The appeals court vacated a previously ordered breakup of the company and remanded the case to a district court here for further proceedings on a remedy. Beck, a founding partner at Barlit, Beck, Herman, Palenchar & Scott, will advise the government side and take charge of courtroom proceedings much as did David Boies, who worked for the government on the case until last year.

[Rambus]

U.S. companies achieve a hardware renaissance (http://www.herring.com/index.asp?layout=special_report_gen&channel=10000001&doc_id=590015459&rh_special_report_id=320000032)

(A Red Herring special report)

TiVo (Nasdaq: TIVO) personal video recorders, Handspring (Nasdaq: HAND) and Palm (Nasdaq: PALM) PDAs, DirecTV satellite boxes, Diamond Rio MP3 players, 3Com's (Nasdaq: COMS) Kerbango Internet radios, and Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Xbox game console: what these Internet-age consumer electronic devices have in common is that they were all developed, or will be developed, by companies based in the United States, not in Japan.

It's products like these that are leading a U.S. resurgence in consumer electronics, two decades after Japan Inc. nearly wiped out U.S. capitalists in digital watches, TVs, stereos, semiconductor chips, and just about everything else electronic. For the second half of the 20th century, the Japanese appropriated consumer markets while impatient U.S. companies fled to businesses with better margins and with sales growth greater than the 2 to 3 percent per year that the industry offered. Now the injection of new technologies, the proliferation of entrepreneurial capitalism, and the prospects for faster growth have pumped up U.S. participation again.

[lupuS]

Lucent Sells Golf Course and Makes a Profit

Lucent Technologies Inc (NYSE:LU), the embattled telecom equipment maker which reported a $1.89 billion loss this week, appears to have eked out a profitable transaction with the sale of a high-end New Jersey golf course and executive retreat called Hamilton Farm Golf Club.

Over the past three quarters, Lucent has lost $6.6 billion and has announced 40,000 job cuts. Henry Schacht, Lucent's current chairman, ordered the golf course sold after taking over last October.

Late last month, the company sold its interests in the 36-hole golf development to real estate developer Townsend Capital in Towson, Maryland, for $51 million in debt and cash, according to chairman Dennis Townsend. Lucent is estimated to have spent $45 million on purchasing and developing the course.

- The Asian Wall Street Journal

[balanuS]

Internet Analyst Mary Meeker is Sued (http://cnnfn.cnn.com/2001/08/01/investing/wires/meeker_wg/)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mary Meeker, the Morgan Stanley analyst once dubbed "Queen of the Internet" for her bullish reports on the sector, was named as a defendant in a pair of lawsuits Wednesday alleging she provided biased research on eBay Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.

The lawsuits come amid increasing scrutiny of Wall Street analysts from investors, regulators, and politicians. Analysts at nine major unnamed brokerage firms used their positions to profit from the companies they covered, acting Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Laura Unger told Congress Tuesday.

Meeker, whose firm had no immediate comment, is not the first high-profile analyst to be named in a complaint by disgruntled investors. Internet analyst Henry Blodget of Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. was named in a $10.8 million arbitration case at the New York Stock Exchange. Merrill paid $400,000 to settle the complaint.

Law firm Schiffrin & Barroway LLP, based in Bala Cynwyd, Pa., filed the lawsuits against Meeker and Morgan Stanley on behalf of shareholders of Internet icons Amazon (AMZN: up $0.01 to $12.50, Research, Estimates) and eBay (EBAY: down $0.95 to $61.62, Research, Estimates) – whose stocks have cratered in the last year. Neither firm is named in the suit.

[KuyaDanny]

PT Cruiser knocks on wood

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/_photos/2001-08-16-pt-woodie.jpg
Photo by DaimlerChrysler

From USA Today staff reports

DaimlerChrysler says it will offer a woodie-look trim package on the 2002-model PT Cruiser, beginning in November, priced at $895. It will be the only automaker to offer a woodie styling option. A 3M-made film applied to the sides of the vehicle will make it appear to have oak panels framed in ash, like the authentic wood combinations of original 1940s and '50s wood-side vehicles. DaimlerChrysler says it's responding to demand from Cruiser customers.

[KuyaDanny]

Global shares of mobile phone handset market, second quarter 2001
In percent

Nokia 34.8
Motorola 14.8
Ericsson 8.3
Siemens 7.9
Samsung 6.9
Panasonic 4.6
NEC 3.2
Others 19.5

- Gartner Dataquest

[KuyaDanny]

The combined global market shares of Compaq/HP in selected product lines, as of 2Q01:

Printers: 39% (next is Epson with 21%)
Servers: 37% (next is Dell with 18%)
PCs: 19% (next is Dell with 14%)
Handhelds: 15% (behind Palm with 60%)

- Asian Wall Street Journal

[lupuS]

Federal government to increase technology spending.

IT spending by US federal government:

2000 - $41.4 billion
2001 - $44.5 billion (estimate)
2002 - $44.9 billion (projected)

Source: Office of Management and Budget

[payaSo]

Salon, Magazine on the Web, Will Charge Readers of News (http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/02/business/media/02SALO.html)

By FELICITY BARRINGER

The Web magazine Salon, facing sharply lower advertising revenues and increased costs for gathering news, has decided to make its news and political coverage available only to paying subscribers.

The goal, said David Talbot, the editor of the six-year-old magazine, is to rely on circulation revenue for half of next year's $7.5 million budget. That goal, an ambitious one by the standard of any magazine, print or online, is an indication of the unremittingly sour climate for Web advertising.

[Sumi_Das]

The Hype Is Right: Web Services Will Deliver Immediate Benefits
9 October 2001
by Daryl Plummer, Whit Andrews

Using Web services will help reduce costs and improve the efficiency of IT projects by 30 percent. Enterprises should experiment now and resist the temptation to wait for the perfect implementation.

Event
By 2005, the aggressive use of Web services will drive a 30 percent increase in the efficiency of IT development projects, according to Gartner research presented this week at Gartner Symposium ITxpo 2001.

First Take
One the hottest trends in IT, Web services are software components that interact with one another dynamically via standard Internet technologies, making it possible to build bridges between IT systems that otherwise would require extensive development efforts. One of the tenets of Web services is that systems can advertise the presence of business processes, information or tasks that can be consumed by other systems.

Gartner believes that more than 40 percent of enterprises' first experience with Web services will be an internal deployment of a Web services-enabled architecture. In these implementations, enterprises will begin to realize immediate benefits even before the development of well-behaved Web services (that is, those Web services that do it all — from discovery to transport to environment and event notification: see Gartner Research Note COM-12-7087 "Requirements for Web Services: Terms and Technology").

Web services will offer some business-to-business benefits early on as well, namely by transforming the process through which enterprises make connections with one another. Established trading partners will seek to drive down the costs of interconnection by reducing the energy devoted to maintaining contacts. One way this will eventually happen is when enterprises begin using Web services systems to establish more-efficient connections with new business partners by directing these partners to Web services directory entries.

The financial-services industry will be among the first to adopt Web services, due to this industry's ready-made network of authentication and reputation systems. Other early-adopter industries will include transportation, energy, high-tech and small businesses that have little or no investment in installed software.

Enterprises should experiment with Web services early, and not wait for the perfect implementation. By doing so, they will accrue immediate benefits through improved development practices, less-complex integration projects and changes in the fashions of development strategy.

[lupuS]

VIA Technologies to Sell Boards With Its Own Brand

Taiwan chip designer VIA Technologies Inc intends to expand into a new market by selling motherboards with its own brand, according to people familiar with the company's plans, a move that risks alienating other motherboard makers that are its main customers.

Via executives are aware of the risk, the people said, but the company hopes it will help boost sales. Major motherboard and personal-computer makers are reluctant to design products around VIa's chip sets that are compatible with Intel Corp's Pentium 4 processor, because of legal wrangling between Via and Intel.

The disappointing sales come amid weak PC demand world-wide that has hurt Via's earnings this year.

Via is trying to monimize the risk by farming out the manufacturing of the boards to outside makers, rather than building a plant of its own, according to the people familiar with the company's plans.

- The Asian Wall Street Journal

[AcePintura]

The great divider (http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?siteid=mktw&dist=nwtwk&guid=%7B2F2DCFA1%2D2948%2D49C1%2DAB05%2DBDFCE31BFC00%7D)
Access to new technology widens gap between rich, poor

By Marshall Loeb, CBS.MarketWatch.com



NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- It's a problem confident champions of the "New Economy" don't like to talk about.

People who know how to use the computer and other high-technology tools are rapidly becoming much more productive and consequently richer. That, of course, is terrific.

But people who do not know how to use those awesome tools are falling farther and farther behind. And that is terrible.

The more affluent you are, the more access you have to high-tech innovation. As we hear over and over, the ragged gap between the "haves" and the have-nots" -- based on knowledge -- is growing wider.

The biggest global issue of the 21st Century will be the clash between the world's rich and poor, between the comfortable and the angry, between what we can call the world's North and South, aggravated and accelerated by the spread of information technology. Because of it, the global economy -- and employment -- increasingly will be built on thinkwork and knowledge.

[payaSo]

ONE OF LEONARDO'S ENGINEERING DESIGNS REALIZED IN NORWAY

In 1502 Leonardo Da Vinci was commissioned by Sultan Bajazet II to design a bridge to span the Golden Horn in Istanbul's Bosphorus. The project was abandoned as the sultan lost faith in the project of the world's longest bridge which would have had an expanse of 352 meters long (1,155 feet). Five centuries later, Norwegian artist Vebjoern Sand, who saw a drawing of the bridge at an exhibition in Stockholm, realized Leonardo's design in the small town of Aas, south of Oslo. He reduced the size proportionally to 100 meters (220 feet). The 8-meter-high (26 feet) structure serves as an overpass for cyclists and pedestrians above the E-18 highway. Instead of the stone envisioned by the Italian master, the construction is made of wood. It is the first time any of Leonardo's architectural and civil engineering designs has been built full-size. The artist stated the realization of the project "symbolizes the connection of ideas through centuries, cultures and religions."

[KuyaDanny]

BANK ROBBERS IN ROME MAKE FIRST EURO HEIST

For the first time thieves have made off with a cache of Euro dollars after a robbery at a Banca di Rome branch in Rome. Three bandits, all armed with pistols and wearing wigs, assaulted the bank's manager and bound and gagged another five employees shortly after the bank's opening. The thieves reportedly got away with about a hundred million lire and 260,000 Euros, worth about half of a billion lire.

[Krakista]

Palm says Q2 loss to meet estimates
... trims work force

NEW YORK -- Hand-held computer maker Palm, Inc. said on Wednesday (Thursday, Manila time) it expects a second-quarter loss to meet consensus estimates as it tries to cut costs, which include trimming its work force by about 250 employees and contractors.

The company, whose shares have fallen about 90% this year and whose chief executive recently resigned, said it expects to report revenues for its fiscal second quarter of $250 million to $280 million, which is toward the upper end of its prior guidance.

Palm also said it expects to meet Wall Street estimates before amortization, restructuring charges and other items, of a pro forma loss of seven cents a share.

In September, the Santa Clara, California-based company forecast second-quarter revenues "flat-to-up" from first-quarter revenues of $214 million. But that was one-half of the $420 million analysts had predicted in the quarter.

"We are pleased to report an improvement in our revenue outlook," said chairman and chief executive Eric Benhamou. "Palm is executing better than a few months ago in both of our core businesses. And we are now in a position to further reduce our cost structure."

The staff cuts take into account jobs added as a result of Palm's recent acquisition of certain assets of Be, Inc., including 45 software engineers and support staff.

As part of the company's efforts to cut costs, Palm also said it was slimming down functions throughout the company, including information technology, finance and human resources.

This is the third set of job cuts for Palm this year, which began with the company as one of the technology sector's hottest properties.

While Palm still controls the market for the gadgets and the software that powers them, the economic slowdown, a troubled rollout of new products and an aggressive price war with chief rival Handspring, Inc. has taken its toll on the company's share price and bottom line.

Palm is in the process of completing plans to split its software and hardware groups into two separate but wholly owned businesses.

Lehman Brothers analyst Joseph To said the cuts were expected, particularly in light of Palm's recent decision to shut its my.palm.com date Web site, where users could keep scheduling and address data.

Moreover, he said the revenue projection was slightly encouraging considering the economy's slump after the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

"The cuts were expected for a while, since they were related to the calendaring business which didn't quite take off the way they wanted it to," he said.

"And given the fact that you had September -- and September 11 -- included in this quarter, it's not bad that they were in line with expectations," he said. "It sounds like they are not going backward, like they were earlier in the year."

Shares of Palm rose to $3.61 in after hours trade on Wednesday after closing at $3.41, off 21 cents or about six percent. -- Reuters

[KuyaDanny]

IT salaries stabilizing (http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200-8104205.html?tag=owv)
By Troy Wolverton
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
December 7, 2001, 2:30 p.m. PT
The hot market for IT professionals has definitely cooled.

Starting salaries for information technology workers will increase by just 0.1 percent in 2002, a new survey by RHI Consulting projects. Last year, the placement firm projected that starting salaries in 2001 would increase 8.4 percent.

Katherine Spencer Lee, executive director of RHI Consulting, attributed the slowing growth in IT salaries to the weakening economy and the decline of the dot-com sector.
"Pretty much everything is stabilizing," Lee said. "Really what's happened is more of a return to a normal situation."

With the economy sinking into recession over the last year, dozens of dot-com and high-tech businesses have laid off workers or closed their doors completely.

[lupuS]

Survey: Internet shrinks as domain numbers fall (http://www.idg.net/ic_784842_1773_1-3921.html)

ITworld.com 1/3/02

Joris Evers, IDG News Service, Amsterdam Bureau

The total number of Web sites on the Internet is shrinking as domains registered during the Internet boom of late 1999 are dropped, according to Web server information firm Netcraft Ltd.

Netcraft's Web Server Survey, released earlier this week, found that the number of Web sites fell by 182,142 from November to December last year. In November, 36,458,394 Web sites were found, dropping to 36,276,252 in December. The decline is only the second recorded by the survey, which started in August 1995, Netcraft said.

The first drop was a blip caused by failures and changes at several large hosting companies, Netcraft said. This time, however, the number of domains not renewed exceeds the number of new registrations, resulting in fewer Web sites. The number of .com domains fell by about 130,000 in the last quarter of 2001, according to Netcraft.

[Rambus]

Encouraging signs for online ad market (http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2832409,00.html)

By Stefanie Olsen, News.com
December 13, 2001

The online advertising market may have seen its worst days, according to analysts and media executives, who say they are increasingly optimistic of a recovery by mid-2002.
Encouraging signs include immediate hopes of better-than-expected ad sales at bellwether Yahoo, stable advertising volume and rates across the Web, and slight increases in next year's online marketing budgets from big spenders such as Microsoft and Oracle. Internet ad sales hit $1.79 billion in the third quarter, down 4.1 percent from the second quarter. But Internet analysts said they were encouraged because the decline had slowed.

"We're on the bottom couple of stairs," said Salomon Smith Barney analyst Lanny Baker. "We've probably seen the bottom, but we're going to get intimately acquainted with it over the next six months."

[lupuS]

UK mobile software maker RTS calls in receivers (http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3LF84U5XC&live=true&tagid=ZZZPCGI2B0C&subheading=telecoms)

RTS Networks, the UK mobile phone internet software company, went into receivership on Friday after it admitted that months spent trying to find new funding had come to nothing.

The group's position has worsened since it announced interim operating losses, after amortisation, of £5.5m in October and Bernard Fisher, non-executive chairman, said the company needed long-term funding to secure its future.

RTS created a range of Wap software products and had clients including France Telecom, Reuters, Tesco and the US National Guard.

The failing group announced several times over the past months that it was in talks with potential buyers, but earlier this week admitted it required funding in the very near term.

[Ivan Boesky]

Samsung jumps ahead of Siemens and Sony Ericsson to become the number three handset maker

According to the Swedish newspaper Dagens Industri, Samsung eclipsed both Swedish-Japanese venture Sony Ericsson and German firm Siemens to become the world's third-largest handset maker. The newspaper cited its own industry figures along with research from Gartner Dataquest in its report.

Samsung claimed 7.5 percent of the global cell phone market at the end of 2001, up from 7 percent at the end of 2000. Sony Ericsson's market share for 2001 was 7.3 percent, down from Ericsson's 10 percent market share in 2000. Siemens had eclipsed Sony Ericsson in the summer of 2001 to become the number 3 handset maker. No figures are yet available on where Siemens currently stands in the global handset market. Nokia remains the world's undisputed handset champ with a 35.6 percent share of the handset market for 2001, up from its 30.6 percent share in 2000.

http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/020208/l08271846_1.html

[mufdiver_69_III]

Adult Web Site Owner Dupes US Army

A computer specialist was charged Thursday with operating a sex show web site on a high-speed line which he

got the U.S. army to pay for by telling them it was used for communicating with forces in Bosnia. Gilbert Benjamin, 49, was arrested at his Neptune, New Jersey, home by special agents of the Army Criminal Investigation Division and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service. A 68-count indictment charges him with mail and wire fraud and submitting false claims with the intention of defrauding the government, said assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Guadagno.

The indictment alleges Benjamin charged the Army more than $100,000 for the cost of running the T-1 Internet line between 1997 and 1998, telling officials at the Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, Army base it was needed to back up the base's communications with U.S. military forces in Bosnia. Instead, Benjamin was using the line to operate an adult entertainment Web site called Blue Sky whose paid subscribers could participate in two-way video hook- ups including live sex shows, Guadagno said. In a second ploy, Benjamin allegedly ordered computers and computer parts claiming they were needed for Army-related activities. But he used them for his venture then resold them to an electronics company owned by his brother in Berlin, New Hampshire.

The total loss to the government is estimated at more than $300,000, Guadagno said. Benjamin faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and $250,000 fine on each count.

[iroqui]

Wireless LAN-extending Internet and networks without the wires

Philippine Daily Inquirer
March 18, 2002

Back on the road again and raring to cash in on the free time of the office desk. But a presentation is bubbling in the mobile professional's head at the same time at the mood to listen to Top 40 music kicks in. No problem. All he needs is a laptop computer and Internet access.

Laptop computer, no problem. Internet acess, no problem.

Cables to connect, problem?

No problem.

A not-really-new but rapidly spreading technology called
wireless LAN(local area network) is capable of handling broadband connectivity to the Internet and networked computers while in public places. As "wireless suggests", it does not restrict Internet and network connections to the presence of cables and sockets, thus extending the areas of Internet access to public spots such as universities and coffee shops.

This means all a user needs is a laptop computer and a wireless LAN card attached to it and he is ready all ready to check and upload his attachment-loaded email, update his daily reports or access shared files from his company's network, no plugs necessary.

He updates his company's inventory database over coffee without going back to the office and he immediately knows which items are in stock and which are running low. This makes supply and delivery systems more efficient for this company and more beneficial to the customers he is serving.

Or he is a frequent traveler. He hardly makes contact with his office desk, and his laptop computer is his workspace. Wireless LAN helps him extend productive work hours and gets more wealth of information on the Internet because mobility does not limit his Internet and network access.

And by the way, he is also able to download his favorite MP3s or watch a streaming broadcast of his favorite NBA team sweeping the scoreboards. Not only does he get quality work done, he also gets quality high-bandwith entertainment.

The wireless LAN technology operates on the 802.11b specification developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers(IEEE) more commonly know as Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity) which offers a 2Mbps maximum bandwith range and provides data rates of up to 11 Mbps. This enable the user to download webpages in an instant, watch streaming videos and enjoy the benefits of having broadband Internet access minus the complications of jack and ports.

Wireless LAN is gaining popularity in Asian cosmopolitan hubs, and the Philippines is catching on. Wireless LAN is fast becoming a lifestyle necessity of the mobile professional, Filipino mobile professionals included.

ePLDT, the information and communication technology company of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) is pilot testing this wireless LAN technology in the Philippines with exclusive partner Cisco Systems, the world's leading networking technology company.

ePLDT and Cisco have identified certain public areas called "hotspots" for the pilot deployment of "Blink"
ePLDT's wireless LAN solution from Cisco's Mobile Office Program such as hotels, resorts, convention centers, cafes universities, airports.

ePLDT will launch "Blink" very soon in these "hotspots," aiming to service the needs of mobile professionals to improve their lifestyles, to stay connected and update in the face of fast and demanding business and social trends.

ePLDT Blink is brewing the next exciting episode. What's the next scene to watch for? Corporate data with coffee. In a blink.

For more information, visit the ePLDT website at http://www.epldt.com or send an email to info@epldt.com

[lupuS]

http://newsforge.com/newsforge/02/05/07/2234251.shtml?tid=3

Did you know Microsoft was convicted of software piracy last year by a French court? Not many people do. The Commercial Court of Nanterre fined Microsoft 3 million francs because it illegally included another company's proprietary source code in SoftImage 3D, a top-of-the-line animation package.

The only authoritative report on the event was written by Lionel Berthomier and first published in the French paper, Le Monde Informatique. An English version was reprinted at PCWorldMalta on November 28, 2001 -- about two months after the court's decision. Both Le Monde Informatique and PCWorldMalta are affiliated with IDG, the parent of InfoWorld and LinuxWorld. Yet, neither of these sites published a word about Microsoft's conviction on September 27, 2001.


(thanks to Jerome Tan)

[payaSo]

Judge bars software firm from placing pop-up ads at other Web sites (http://www.detnews.com/2002/technology/0207/16/technology-537802.htm)

By Michael Buettner / Associated Press

RICHMOND, Va. -- A California software company must stop delivering ads that pop up unauthorized when surfers visit the Web sites of several prominent media companies, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton in Alexandria, Va., issued the preliminary injunction Friday in a lawsuit that 12 media companies filed last month against Gator Corp. of Redwood City, Calif.

The plaintiffs, including parents of The Washington Post, The New York Times and USA Today, accused Gator of parasitic behavior.

No date has been set for trial.

Janet Collum, an attorney for Gator, said company officials were considering an appeal of the injunction, confident it will win the case at trial. "We believe strongly that the facts and the law are on our side," she said.

Gator, which runs an ad network that claims 22 million active users and 400 advertisers, produces pop-up ads that appear when computer owners with its software browse Web sites targeted by Gator's advertisers.

Internet users get Gator advertising software when they install a separate product for filling out online forms and remembering passwords. Gator also comes hitched with free software from other companies, including games and file-sharing programs.

As users surf the Web, Gator runs in the background and delivers advertisements on top of what the surfer would normally get at a site.

Terence P. Ross, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said the court injunction "is an indication that the judge thinks our case does have merit."

[Krakista]

Comtech Solutions Worldwide Inc. Opens office in Makati City, Philippines.

Houston, TX – Comtech Solutions Worldwide, Inc. announced today the opening of a new Product Development and Support Center in Makati City, Philippines. “Sales of our new Adept Financials program have been beyond expectations. By opening this product development and support center we can continue to enhance Adept Financials while improving the support services for our existing customers” says Gary Harrison V.P. of Product Development who will also take on the role as President of Comtech Worldwide Solutions Philippines Inc.

Projects planned for this office include an advanced “Point of Sale” module, more tightly integrated CRM and MRP features, additional web modules, multimedia help videos and a more comprehensive help library - to name a few.

The new office, which is located opposite of the IBM Plaza in Makati City, will be Comtech Solutions first company owned office outside the United States. "Software is a global business and given the current success that we have had with our products in the United States, we feel that now is the right time for us to begin our global expansion plans." says David Morris V.P. of International Marketing. "We are already looking to expand our Philippines office to become our regional sales office for the Asian market."

Comtech Solutions Worldwide Inc., which is headquartered in Houston, Texas, also has a sales and web development office in Beverly Hills, California. Comtech Worldwide Solutions Philippines Inc. is located in Makati City Philippines.

http://66.141.149.212/welcome.asp?http://66.141.149.212/rNewsDetails1.asp?NewsID=10

(Isn't IBM Plaza in Libis, Quezon City?)

[KuyaDanny]

Global shares of mobile phone handset market, second quarter 2002
In percent

Nokia 35.6
Motorola 15.7
Samsung 9.5
Siemens 8.4
SonyEricsson 5.4
LGE 3.1
Alcatel 3.1
Panasonic2.8
Kyocera 2.7
Others 13.8

- Gartner Inc, AWSJ

[Krakista]

Software Maker Peregrine Systems Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

Associated Press

SAN DIEGO -- Software maker Peregrine Systems Inc. (PRGNE, news) (PRGNE, news) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Sunday and said it planned to bring a $250 million lawsuit against its former auditor, Arthur Andersen LLP , blaming it for Peregrine's dire financial condition.

San Diego-based Peregrine listed assets of $1.7 billion and more than $607 million in liabilities in its filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. The Chapter 11 petition is the latest move in a downward spiral that began in May with the disclosure of irregularities in financial statements audited by Andersen.

An internal investigation found the company had inflated its revenue by as much as $250 million from April 1999 to the end of 2001. The company said it improperly booked the sale of accounts receivables as revenue.

A cash and credit crunch, an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and a host of shareholder lawsuits followed the disclosures. Peregrine's stock, which trades for pennies, was removed last month from the Nasdaq Stock Exchange.

Peregrine said it planned to file suit Monday against Andersen and audit partner Daniel Stulac in San Diego Superior Court for "negligence, fraud, and breach of audit and accounting duties," according to a company news release.

"Had they acted in a prompt manner, we would not be in the dire financial straits we find ourselves in now," said Gary Greenfield, Peregrine's chief executive.

[Krakista]

Local software firm Jupiter Systems Inc. (JSI) has its eyes on set on China.
http://itmatters.com.ph/news/news_10032002c.html

JSI is in the final stages of setting up its joint venture with three investors from Hongkong, chief operating officer Fermin Taruc told i.t. matters.

Based in Hongkong, the joint venture (to be incorporated as Jupiter Systems China) will distribute to the greater China area the company's core software product, the Enterprise Resource Information and Control (ERIC). ERIC is a comprehensive solution for inventory, purchasing, sales order processing and accounting functions. The joint venture will distribute a fully localized Chinese version of ERIC.

In a phone interview, Mr. Taruc said three Hongkong businessmen "...are involved in other IT ventures in Hongkong. We are fully aware of their track record."

JSI owns a 30% equity stake in the Hongkong company. Around $1 million will be invested in "marketing costs" for Jupiter Systems China over the next two years. "The same 70-30 equity share will more or less apply for this investment," Mr. Taruc noted.

The company has already established presence in other markets in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. With the joint venture, JSI will extend its market reach to China.

"Our priority has always been creating awareness in as many markets by extending our customer base. China is one of the few markets that will continue to have significant growth in the next few years. We hope to start generating profits after two years," Mr. Taruc said.

With minimal investment in research and development, he said the focus will be on establishing local support through a network of distributors in China.

Having targetted small and medium enterprises in the Philippines, the company will employ the same strategy in China, hoping to create the same niche market as in other countries.

"There are Philippine companies establishing operations in China who are already existing ERIC users, " Mr. Taruc added.

ERIC also has a mobile version which runs on Palm OS that allows allows field sales people to encode sales-related information -- such as inputs, stock inventory, receivables, and credit and collection status -- and chronize these data to back-end ERP (enterprise resource planning) applications.

For Mobile ERIC alone, JSI invested around 300 million Philippine pesos (US$5.709 million at PhP52.55=$1) for research and development. -- Lawrence D. Casiraya

[Krakista]

Sybase Phils. downgrades to distributorship from subsidiary status
http://itmatters.com.ph/news/news_10032002d.html

Sybase Philippines has announced a change in its business tack from being a full subsidiary to a distributorship and the adoption of a new corporate identity as Sybase Solutions.

While the change takes effect this month, president and general manager Delfin Hallare, Jr. said there would be no major changes in terms of the relationship between Sybase and its clients. "The only difference is in the structure of the company," Mr. Hallare said in a statement yesterday. "It is a matter of the company reallocating its resources to achieve greater efficiencies in our business."

Sybase bridges heterogeneous technologies with Enterprise Portal (EP), mobile and wireless solutions, essential integration products and high performance database management systems.

Sybase's biggest market for its data warehousing solutions is the currently telecommunications sector, and has an active contract with Globe Telecom, Inc. concerning customer profile analysis, churn analysis and customer profile analysis.

The company is similarly involved in Philippine government projects valued at about $100 million, including the $4-million quality assessment and systems integration testing of the Land Transportation Office.

The company's other clients include the Public Works and Highways department for its World Bank project, the Budget and Management department, the Health department and about 28 local government units. Similarly, Sybase is currently negotiating with the Department for Foreign Affairs for the computerization of agency's passporting systems.

[balanuS]

Drivers license spam scam busted (http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/01/17/spam.scam.reut/index.html)


WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Several unscrupulous "spammers" have been shut down after bombarding Internet users with e-mail offers for allegedly bogus international drivers' licenses, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said Thursday.

The move should put the brakes on a common scam that has evolved into one of the most prevalent forms of unwanted junk e-mail over the past several years.

The FTC charged six online marketers with selling international drivers' licenses that actually are not recognized by any government, targeting immigrants and those who have had their real licenses revoked.
No such privileges

The alleged scam artists -- who operated under a variety of names -- charged up to $375 for a license that could supposedly win back suspended driving privileges and make holders immune to speeding tickets or other traffic violations, the watchdog agency said.

Legitimate international licenses confer no such privileges, but only translate an existing state-issued license into a number of different languages, said Howard Beales, head of the FTC's consumer-protection division.

"These scam artists act as if they have a license to deceive customers," Beales said.

[CaRaMBa]

Global mobile messaging revenues to double to $70 billion
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/8910.shtml


Mobile messaging services will continue to grow strongly in Western Europe and the rest of the world, according to a new report published this week by Analysys. This will be driven by further growth of SMS text messaging in new market segments and new applications, as well as the take-up of advanced messaging services, such as MMS and mobile instant messaging.
The report forecasts revenues growing from US$31 billion in 2002 (US$13 billion in Western Europe) to US$69 billion by 2007 (US$25 billion in Western Europe), provided that operators take immediate action to drive service growth and control cannibalisation of existing revenues. Total messaging volumes, comprising SMS, MMS and mobile instant messaging/email, are forecast to quadruple from 670 billion in 2002 (131 billion in Western Europe) to 2600 billion in 2007 (607 billion in Western Europe).

The report shows that messaging services are particularly attractive to network operators, as they can achieve substantially higher revenue per Mbyte and profitability per user than voice telephony, and consume very little network resource. "At typical prices, one minute of voice telephony generates less than US$1 per Mbyte of network resource consumed," says Mark Heath, co-author of the report. "This compares with over US$1000 per Mbyte for an SMS message." The report advocates that operators should be exploiting every opportunity to drive growth in messaging services rather than adopting cut-throat pricing of voice telephony, which would increasingly dilute profitability and stretch the limited capacity of existing networks.

The report shows that there are ample opportunities to increase usage and revenue from simple text messaging, such as SMS, by targeting new users and providing compelling content services. It also identifies critical actions needed to stimulate growth of new messaging services, such as MMS, and to avoid cannibalisation of existing revenues by new services such as mobile instant messaging and email. "By taking these actions, GSM operators can achieve a 'hat-trick' of revenue growth with SMS, MMS and alternative mobile messaging, such as mobile instant messaging and/or email", says Heath.

"Simple text messaging must not be overlooked," says co-author Alastair Brydon. "There is a big opportunity to grow usage by older people, along with a host of developing applications, such as mobile marketing and integration with TV and radio content." The report uses numerous case studies to illustrate twelve areas with major growth potential.

"MMS is still in its infancy in most markets," says Brydon. "Excessive price premiums, lack of interworking and the lack of a critical mass of users will limit its growth in the short term. Network operators must follow Japan's lead by setting affordable prices and packaging MMS with a range of other services, as attempted with Vodafone live!"

"Buddy lists, presence information and integration with fixed network services make mobile instant messaging a potentially attractive service for many. Some mobile instant messaging and email services are being priced at a substantially lower level than SMS. There is a real risk of these services cannibalising existing revenues, and an even greater threat from third-party competitive services."

[Sumi_Das]

Palm scoops up Handspring
By Albert Leonardo
IT World Canada

In a move to strengthen its position in the handheld market, Palm Inc. announced on Wednesday it has acquired Handspring Inc.

Currently, Milpitas. Calif.-based Palm is comprised of two business units — PalmSource Inc., a subsidiary responsible for developing the Palm operating system, and Palm Solutions Group, a business unit responsible for designing and marketing the company’s handheld devices. According to reports, Palm will spin off PalmSource Inc. Following the completion of the spin-off, Handspring will be merged with Palm’s Solutions Group and the merged company will be named later in the year.

Mountain View, Calif.-based Handspring is known for its Treo line of smartphones and software for handheld devices and mobile phones. Its shareholders will receive 0.09 Palm shares for each of Handspring’s common stocks.

The merged company will be led by Tom Bradley, Palm Solutions Group president and chief executive officer. The new business will then be divided into two units: handheld computing solutions and smartphone solutions.

The company has high aspirations for what the deal could mean to the handheld industry.

"We view today’s announcement as having a profound and transforming affect on the structure of the handheld industry, enabling new growth opportunities," said Eric Benhamou, chairman and chief executive officer of Palm during a conference call.

Strategically, Palm decided to acquire Handspring to focus on its software platform licensing business and to strengthen its handheld products and services, he said. As for the buy itself, "We’re creating one company that combines the best capabilities for strong operational management and innovation…especially when competition has intensified," Benhamou said.

In 1992 Palm was founded by Jeff Hawkins and Donna Dubinsky, both of whom left the company because of management conflicts and went on to form Handspring. If there remains any ill feelings, Dubinsky, Handspring’s chief executive officer, isn’t letting on, saying the two companies "share a vision" for the potential handheld and smartphone "landscape of personal computing." Still, one industry analyst mused whether the new combination of managers will work in harmony together.

"The challenge will be melding the new guard at Palm with the old guard that left because of the different vision and personality conflicts…For Palm, it’s really about bringing engineers and talented personal back in and regrouping," said Phil Redman, vice-president, mobile and wireless research at Gartner Inc. in Boston.

Redman added that increasing competition from paging and messaging devices coupled with the slowing growth of the PDA market, will "inevitably" lead to continued consolidation across the handheld market.

Roberta Fox, president and senior partner at Fox Group Consulting in Markham, Ont., agreed that consolidation will continue, not only between device manufacturers but also between types of devices. For example, a Tablet PC company could buy a PDA outfit, she offered.

As for Palm’s acquisition, she called it "buying market share and buying your competitor." In Canada, she said Handspring only enjoyed success in the low-end consumer market, adding it didn’t have a presence in the enterprise space. She noted that if Palm did make any gains today in Canada, it is limited to shares in the consumer market and she therefore didn’t rate the deal very highly for Palm. "I have a hard time questioning the value of the investment [in Handspring]," she said.

According to the companies, approximately 125 people will lose their jobs as a direct result of the merger but they did not specify where the cuts would take place. The cuts are expected to save Palm about US$25 million in cost savings annually.

http://www.itworldcanada.com/index.cfm/ci_id/44142.htm

[Krakista]

AFP sues Google for $17.5M (http://www.itmatters.com.ph/news/news_03212005e.html)

SAN FRANCISCO -- Agence France Presse has sued Google, Inc., alleging the Web search leader includes AFP's photos, news headlines and stories on its news site without permission.

The French news service is seeking damages of at least $17.5 million and an order barring Google News from displaying AFP photographs, news headlines or story leads, according to the suit filed on Thursday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

"We allow publishers to opt out of Google News but most publishers want to be included because they believe it is a benefit to them and to their readers," Google spokesman Steve Langdon said of the AFP lawsuit. The attorney for AFP was not immediately available for comment.

AFP sells subscriptions to its content and does not provide it free. Google News gathers photos and news stories from around the Web and posts them on its news site, which is free to users.

"Without AFP's authorization, defendant is continuously and willfully reproducing and publicly displaying AFP's photographs, headlines and story leads on its Google News web pages," AFP charged in its lawsuit.

-Reuters

[Krakista]

Ed Whitacre Jr., CEO of SBC told a Senate Judiciary Committee why SBC bought AT&T (http://judiciary.senate.gov/testimony.cfm?id=1418&wit_id=4076): first for the AT&T network, second for their VoIP expertise.

Until relatively recently, SBC was losing 60,000 access lines each week.

The reasons for combining these two companies are clear.

First, while SBC has a strong presence in many local markets, we do not have a national or global network of our own. We lease one.

AT&T has those assets, and they are very good.

Second, the "next big thing" in communications technology is voice over Internet Protocol...or VoIP.

[Krakista]

Internet Advertising's 10 Big Spenders (http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/pr/pr_050318.pdf):

1. LowerMyBills.com
2. Netflix, Inc.
3. Vonage Holdings Corp.
4. Dell Computer Corp.
5. Ameritrade Holding Corp.
6. United Online, Inc.
7. Monster Worldwide, Inc.
8. InteractiveCorp
9. Scottrade, Inc.
10. The News Corporation Limited

[Krakista]

Siemens Sells Mobile Phones Division

FRANKFURT -- Germany's Siemens is to sell its loss-making mobile-phones unit to Taiwanese technology group BenQ, it confirmed in a statement on Tuesday. The German engineering conglomerate said the transaction, as part of which it would acquire €50 million ($61 million) worth of new BenQ shares, would hurt its pre-tax result by around €350 million. BenQ will have rights to use the Siemens brand and name for five years, Siemens said. It added that the business would be headquartered in Munich, Germany.

[SILENTMAX]

future direction of cpu's?

http://www.forbes.com/technology/free_forbes/2005/0620/041.html

6 internet trendsetters
http://www.forbes.com/technology/2004/08/18/04egangland.html

[SILENTMAX]

tshirt tv
i saw this last year sa singapore galing hehehehhe marketing at a whole new level

http://www.forbes.com/video/?video_url=http://www.forbes.com/video/fvn/tech/ah_lcdtshirts&id=ah_lcdshirts&title=Video%3A+T-Shirt+TV+Wears+It+Well

[Krakista]

Skype goes Retail thru Brightpoint (http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20050609005802&newsLang=en)
PLAINFIELD, Ind.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 9, 2005--Brightpoint, Inc. (NASDAQ:CELL) announced today that it has entered into a non-binding cooperation agreement with Skype Technologies S.A. ("Skype"), which is subject to the execution of a definitive binding agreement under which Brightpoint will act as an authorized distributor. Brightpoint will initially focus on promoting Skype products and premium services to its independent agent/dealer channels, mass and specialty retailers (including university bookstores, hot spots, copy/shipping retailers, mall kiosks) and wireless network operator customers in the United States, Australia, the Philippines, India and New Zealand.

[Krakista]

Yahoo Buys Dialpad (http://www.dialpad.com/yhdp.html)
Dialpad is thrilled to announce that we have been acquired by Yahoo!. We are excited to join forces with Yahoo! to successfully combine the strengths of both companies to bring you even more exciting new services. Yahoo! will leverage Dialpad's IP based services to further build upon its voice services and scale enhanced PSTN calling services to millions of users.

[Krakista]

Open Source Smack-Down (http://www.forbes.com/home/intelligentinfrastructure/2005/06/15/jboss-ibm-linux_cz_dl_0615jboss.html)
Fleury has, however. He claims IBM is trying to put his privately held company out of business. He is furious, but also stunned: He says Gluecode could hurt sales of IBM's WebSphere as much as it hurts JBoss, yet IBM doesn't seem to care.

"Where does this all end? When the whole deck of cards, the whole software industry, falls apart? I find it arrogant on their part that they think they can control what they've unleashed," says Fleury, JBoss' chairman and chief executive.

Poor guy. Did he not get the memo? This is what open source software is all about: creating knockoffs and giving them away, destroying the value of whatever the other guy is selling.

What's new is that now open-source companies are turning on each other.

It's not just JBoss getting attacked by Gluecode. Red Hat (nasdaq: RHAT), the leading Linux distributor, is besieged by knockoffs of its "enterprise" Linux: the one customers are supposed to pay for. It's starting to look like one of those Quentin Tarantino movies where a bunch of guys end up all pointing guns at each other.

[KuyaDanny]

Google to debut e-payment service to rival PayPal, report says (http://www.freep.com/news/latestnews/pm4660_20050618.htm)

Saturday, June 18, 2005

ASSOCIATED PRESS

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Online search-engine leader Google Inc. is preparing to introduce an electronic payment system later this year in a move that would pose a financial threat to one of its biggest advertisers, Internet auctioneer eBay Inc.

The Wall Street Journal reported Google's plans on its Web site late Friday, citing sources familiar with the Mountain View-based company's plans. The Journal did not provide any details about Google's strategy.

A Google spokesman declined to comment.

[Krakista]

Plantronics to Buy Altec Lansing for $166M (http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/050711/plantronics_altec_lansing.html?.v=3)

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) -- Telephone headset manufacturer Plantronics Inc. agreed Monday to acquire Altec Lansing Technologies Inc., a maker of portable and powered audio systems, for about $166 million in cash.

The deal will help Plantronics further grow beyond its core business of supplying handsets that plug into cell phones. Altec Lansing offers a variety of audio products for use with PCs, home entertainment systems and digital music players, including Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod.

"The combination of our expertise in voice communication and Altec Lansing's in music entertainment enables us to meet the full audio needs of the consumer, in their personal and professional lives," said Ken Kannappan, president and chief executive of Santa Cruz-based Plantronics.

Altec Lansing, which posted more than $100 million in revenue in calendar 2004, will remain in Milford, Pa., functioning as a division of Plantronics.

http://www.headsets.com.ph

[SILENTMAX]

Plantronics to Buy Altec Lansing for $166M (http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/050711/plantronics_altec_lansing.html?.v=3)



http://www.headsets.com.ph

hmmmm they dont offer those foot pedals for transcriptionist.

there is some demand for those devices right now especialy in the tipidpc.com forums.

[Krakista]

Oracle acquires Siebel Systems for $5.85b ("")
NEW YORK, Sept. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- US business software giant Oracle Corp., the world's second-largest software maker, announced Monday to buy Siebel Systems for 5.85 billion dollars.

Siebel investors will receive 10.66 dollars a share in cash or stock, That's 17 percent more than Siebel's closing price last Friday.

"In a single step, Oracle becomes the number one CRM applications company in the world," said Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison.

"Siebel's 4,000 applications customers and 3,400,000 CRM users strengthen our number one position in applications in North America and move us closer to the number one position in applications globally."

After the deal, Oracle, the world's second largest software group after Microsoft but behind SAP in business, get a strong base in the field of customer-relationship management (CRM) software, which covers accounting, inventory management and customer management. management applications. Siebel lost the top spot in the CRM market to Germany's SAP in 2004.

Globally, CRM software sales are estimated at around eight billion dollars annually and are expected to grow to 10 million dollars by 2009, Oracle said citing researcher International Data Corp.

[Krakista]

EBay Buys Skype for $2.6B (http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=80389&WT.svl=news2_2)SEPTEMBER 12, 2005

eBay Inc. has agreed to buy Luxembourg-based VOIP service provider Skype Technologies SA in a deal worth an initial $2.6 billion, but potentially worth $4.1 billion.

The online retailer will pay an initial $1.3 billion in cash plus 32.4 million shares, currently worth $1.25 billion -- plus a further payment of up to $1.5 billion in 2008 or 2009 if financial targets are met. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2005.

eBay's share price closed Friday at $38.62. Today's news sent it down 76 cents, nearly 2 percent, to $37.86 in pre-market trading.

The acquisition represents a mammoth return on investment for Skype's backers. Since the company was formed in 2003 by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, it has received an undisclosed initial round in December 2003 -- from Bessemer Venture Partners, Draper Investment Co., Mangrove Capital Partners, and Tim Draper as an individual investor -- and a further $18.8 million in March 2004 from a number of investors, including Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Index Ventures (see VCs Pump $18.8M Into Skype ).

Zennstrom, Skype's CEO, and Friis, the firm's VP of strategy, are to retain their roles, with Zennstrom joining eBay's senior executive team.

So what is eBay getting for its money? For a company with quarterly revenues of more than $1 billion, and net income in its latest quarter (ended June 30) of more than $290 million, Skype, which employs about 200 staff, won't be adding a great deal to the bottom line. The VOIP firm, best known for its free voice services between its users, generated just $7 million in sales in 2004 from its pre-paid SkypeOut and SkypeIn services, and is set to record revenues this year of about $60 million. This, though, is set to rise to $200 million in 2006, according to Skype's estimates.

Probably more importantly to eBay, Skype has 54 million registered users that the online retailer can add to its marketing arsenal. The initial payment of $2.6 billion values those registered users at just more than $48 each.

[Krakista]

Sybase to acquire Extended Systems (http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=4935)Sybase has agreed to acquire Extended Systems Inc, provider of mobile software solutions. The proposed acquisition is a cash merger with a total price of approximately US$71.3 million, or US$4.460847 per share.

The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, Extended Systems’ stockholder approval and other specified closing conditions, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2005. Following the closing of the transaction, Sybase intends to integrate Extended Systems into Sybase’s iAnywhere Solutions subsidiary.

Founded in 1984, Extended Systems brings to Sybase patented technology, approximately 2,500 enterprise customers worldwide, and a strong presence in Europe. Extended Systems is headquartered in Boise, Idaho, with 180 employees in North America and Europe.

“The acquisition of Extended Systems is expected to enhance our portfolio of mobile middleware solutions and strengthen our geographic presence, particularly in Europe,” said Sybase’s Chairman, President, and CEO John Chen. “This acquisition will position Sybase with a powerful end-to-end information mobility offering that, when combined with our industry leading mobile database and mobile device management products, will enable Sybase to be in a great position to deliver on the benefits of the Unwired Enterprise.”

[Krakista]

Information age is over, says Sun CEO McNealy (http://news.inq7.net/infotech/index.php?index=1&story_id=50305)SINGAPORE -- Sun Microsystems Inc. chairman and CEO Scott McNealy says the Information Age is over, and that people online today should already be living in “the age of participation.” The outspoken CEO also believes his company, which made $11.2 billion in revenues last year, would make more money by giving away its software technology for free.

McNealy defines the Participation Age as the time when sharing has become important to the economic and social returns of the industry as a whole. Today, he says, people are not just online; they are participating in communities. There are bloggers, podcasters, people who send text and instant messages, people who study or shop online and people who use distance applications like telemedicine. These online communities are creating an ecosystem that bridges the digital divide and unleashes untapped market potentials.

Yet this is not an entirely altruistic endeavor for Sun. How can you make money by giving away technology for which you’ve spent billions of dollars and years of development? McNealy says Sun will benefit from this by building the infrastructure that facilitates the Participation Age.

“Participation drives economies and social progress,” McNealy tells reporters during an Asian conference here. “Sharing creates communities and communities create markets.”

Sun’s strategy is to give away its software technologies for free. It started 10 years ago with Java, a software platform where developers can write an application once and it would run on any Java-enabled device. Ten years later, there are now 4.5 million Java developers, 2.5 billion Java devices, 700 million Java-powered personal computers, 708 million Java-powered mobile phones, and more than 1 billion Java cards have been deployed.

McNealy estimates that the total Java economy is worth more than $100 billion in annual sales. This, he says, is driving an additional $110 billion in related Java spending.

Sun also offered as freeware its StarOffice and OpenOffice software, with 50 million cumulative downloads so far.

And then, in a surprise move, Sun gave away the source code of its crown jewels -- the Solaris operating system -- to the community for open sourcing. Since the start of this year, Sun has registered 2.5 million downloads for Open Solaris.

“So by sharing and increasing participation, you open up opportunities from these growing markets,” he says. “After using Java, you might want to get our Java Enterprise System Stack, and then our web services stack or even Solaris. As these people create content using our software, they share in the Participation Age.”

This is how Sun will monetize its own definition of sharing and collaboration. As people get Java Enterprise System or the commercial, more secure version of Solaris, the support contracts will come in, and so will hardware sales.

“These communities are going to need support for their OS (operating system), and then they’ll need hardware and support for Solaris,” he says. “Then they’ll need storage and use our web services stack, then they might want to use our (N1) utility or grid services.”

McNealy cites as an example the Java Enterprise Systems stack service contract, where Sun could charge $150 a year per employee in companies which use it.

“This is recurring revenue with good gross margins,” he says. “So if we get 10 percent of the global workforce using Java at $150 per year, well, you can just do the math.”

McNealy calls this his “iPod moment.”

“This is a potential iPod moment for Sun,” he says. “Where was Apple going before the iPod? Now Apple is an iPod company. Sun’s strategy is to share, and we will get benefits when people share and participate.”

The company is so serious about sharing that it has even made changes to its decades-old logo and color, plus an entire slew of branding campaigns anchored on the word “share.”

However, while betting on the Participation Age by giving away software for free may sound like a good model for Sun which also has hardware to sell, the same may not be a good idea for other companies like Sun’s bitter rival, Microsoft Corp.

Asked if he would collaborate and share his software if he were the chief software architect of Microsoft, McNealy says:

“No because it wouldn’t work for them (Microsoft). Their current model works for them; they made their software closed and now they’re making money out of that. If you were in their position, you wouldn’t share. You would monopolize and dominate.”

McNealy adds that Sun has been open sourcing its software technologies since the 1980s while other companies were making their software proprietary.

“I would argue that it’s all over but the shouting,” he says. “There are now only two operating systems fighting it out in the planet -- Windows and Solaris. But our strategy is to get communities going by sharing technology and not by locking them in like the other guy does.”

[Krakista]

Cellular Subscribers Will Top 2B in 2005 (http://www.c-i-a.com/pr0905.htm)September 26, 2005 - The worldwide number of cellular subscribers will surpass 2 billion in 2005—up from 11M in 1990 and 750M in 2000. China is the clear leader in cellular subscribers and will reach nearly 400M at year-end 2005—nearly twice as many as the USA. Russia has seen tremendous growth in the last few years and is projected to be in third place by year-end 2005. Rapid expansion in India will see a future climb in the rankings to a possible #2 in 2010. Worldwide cellular subscribers are forecasted to reach 3.2B by the end of 2010.Top 15 Countries in Cellular Subscribers (# of subscribers, % share)
1. China (398M, 19.3)
2. USA (202M, 9.9)
3. Russia (115M, 5.6)
4. Japan (95M, 4.6)
5. Brazil (86M, 4.1)
6. India (79M, 3.8)
7. Germany (73M, 3.5)
8. Italy (59M, 2.9)
9. UK (58M, 2.8)
10. France (47M, 2.3)
11. Mexico (46M, 2.2)
12. Turkey (40M, 1.9)
13. Spain (39M, 1.9)
14. South Korea (38M, 1.8)
15. Indonesia (38M, 1.8)

[Krakista]

Seven Technologies That Change Everything (http://www.business2.com/b2/web/articles/0,17863,1107751,00.html)

1. AJAX
2. BIOGENERICS
3. DEEP WEB SEARCH
4. HIGH-DEFINITION RADIO
5. HYBRID CELL PHONES
6. MICRO FUEL CELLS
7. WI-MAX

[Krakista]

Oracle Acquires InnoDB (http://www.oracle.com/corporate/press/2005_oct/inno.html)REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., 07-OCT-2005 Oracle Corporation today announced the acquisition of Finland-based Innobase OY. Innobase is the developer of discrete transactional database technology, InnoDB, that is distributed under an open source license.

InnoDB is not a standalone database product: it is distributed as a part of the MySQL database. InnoDB's contractual relationship with MySQL comes up for renewal next year. Oracle fully expects to negotiate an extension of that relationship.

[Krakista]

Mitel No.1 with Growing Businesses (http://www.mitel.com/DocController?documentId=18551)OTTAWA, Ontario, March 15, 2006 – Mitel® has emerged as the early IP Telephony (IPT) market leader in the small and medium business (SMB) segment, according to a new research report by InfoTech, a firm that specializes in global information and professional services for the telecommunications and data networking industries. The report, InfoTrack for Converged Communications: SMB Market Analysis and Forecast found that Mitel surpassed Avaya to claim top spot in the fast growing segment.

“Each year that we conduct a new ICC research study in the SMB market, we see a significantly higher demand for IP Telephony,” said Terry White, vice president and senior program director, InfoTech. “The small and medium business decision-makers that participated in the study are expecting a major increase in the percent of their sites that would be implementing IPT and converged applications in 2006.”

In 2005, the revenue from IPT systems and converged applications for SMBs was $1.4 billion. By 2010, that market is projected to increase to $3.3 billion, which represents an average annual growth rate of 19 percent. Last year converged applications accounted for only 20 percent of that total. By 2010, the applications share is expected to jump to 46 percent of the total revenue. “Almost 60 percent of SMBs strongly agreed that IP Telephony will enable new converged applications that can change the way that SMB companies do business,” White added.

“We have long focussed on innovation and delivering clear business value to our customers and that is being reflected by our increased marketshare,” said Doug Michaelides, Mitel global vice president of marketing. “Mitel delivers the full value of IP communications through networked business solutions that help customers achieve success through business process integration, enhanced employee productivity, increased customer loyalty and helping to generate new revenue streams.”

Mitel has announced the general availability of Live Business Gateway to complement Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005 and Office Communicator client applications. Based on the SIP, XML and CSTA standards, Live Business Gateway allows Microsoft's applications to access Mitel's IP-based call control, devices and applications, empowering businesses to leverage their existing investment in both Microsoft and Mitel communications solutions.

The combination of Microsoft Office Live Communications Server and Mitel Live Business Gateway enhances information worker productivity and brings business process efficiencies by combining collaboration tools with telephony. The Mitel gateway also interfaces to a customer’s existing Private Branch Exchange (PBX) equipment and to the Public Switched Telephony Network (PSTN), enabling a cost-effective, smooth migration to the benefits of a combined telephony and collaboration offering.

[SILENTMAX]

pards have you seen the movement of youtube? hmm may stock symbol na kaya to.

right now its either google video or youtube. man i think you tube is going to be bought out somewhere down the line. i wish i could buy stocks of this.

[Krakista]

Microsoft Acquires Winternals Software (http://www.winternals.com/Company/PressRelease92.aspx)
Microsoft Corp. today announced the acquisition of Winternals Software LP, a privately held company based in Austin, Texas, that provides Windows®-based enterprises with systems recovery and data protection solutions in addition to offering a freeware tools Web site called Sysinternals. The addition of Winternals is a significant advance in Microsoft's promise to lower customers' total cost of ownership of the Microsoft® Windows platform. Customers will be able to continue building on Sysinternals' advanced utilities, technical information and source code for utilities related to Windows. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Winternals was established in 1996 by Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell, who are recognized industry leaders in the areas of operating system design and architecture. Russinovich will join the Microsoft Platforms & Services Division as a technical fellow, working with numerous technology teams across Microsoft, and Cogswell will join the Windows Component Platform Team in the role of software architect.

"I've had my eye on Mark for some time," said Jim Allchin, co-president of the Platforms & Services Division at Microsoft. "The work he and Bryce have completed in system recovery and data protection illustrates the depth of thinking and skill they will bring to future versions of Windows. The addition of their deep kernel-level expertise to our existing strong talent will help provide us with the edge we need to continue to raise the quality and functionality bar for Windows on both the client and the server."

"I witness regularly the profound impact that even a few lines of code can have in a world of globally connected systems," said Russinovich. "The technologies that sustain and enhance business, health, commerce and entertainment are emerging from platforms that Microsoft creates. I look forward to bringing my experience in designing operating system technologies to Microsoft. I'm excited to broaden the reach and impact on Windows and Microsoft customers."

Winternals products support IT professionals in numerous ways, providing intelligent enterprise recovery solutions, network defragmentation solutions and powerful system tools, all focused on reducing the total cost of ownership for Microsoft-based businesses. Sysinternals enjoys a strong and active community of systems administrators and support personnel, averaging about a million visitors per month.

Microsoft is evaluating how the Winternals products and technologies can be integrated within Microsoft offerings to maximize customer value.

Microsoft Completes Acquisition of Softricity ("")Microsoft Corp. today announced it has completed the acquisition of Softricity Inc., a
leading provider of application virtualization and dynamic streaming technologies. Virtualization is a key technology for reducing the cost and complexity of IT management, and the addition of Softricity is another step in Microsoft’s ongoing strategy to make virtualization more broadly accessible and affordable for customers. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Originally announced on May 22, the acquisition of Softricity helps Microsoft customers reduce costly application management processes, accelerate application and operating system deployments, and create a foundation for a software services infrastructure. Softricity’s application virtualization technology can help significantly reduce the amount of application compatibility testing typically needed when deploying new applications, upgrades and patches. Applications are served centrally and delivered directly to the user’s desktop in an isolated, virtualized image, minimizing application-related alterations to the operating system and compatibility challenges with other applications.

Combined with Softricity’s software streaming functionality, virtualized applications can be dynamically sent over the network, effectively whenever and wherever a user needs them. The approach creates the option of a centrally managed software service in which applications are available when and where needed and are easily updated.

“With application virtualization and software streaming, Microsoft can now deliver virtualization at the application layer. This is an important part of Microsoft’s virtualization strategy across the platform, operating system, applications and management layers to help customers achieve self-managing dynamic systems,” said Bob Muglia, senior vice president of the Server and Tools Business at Microsoft. “Customers will now have access to new Microsoft® solutions to address application compatibility challenges, ease migration to Windows Vista™ and Windows Server®, code-named ‘Longhorn,’ and dynamically deliver application functionality.”