Well, it took a little longer than expected, but it appears that Microsoft is finally stepping up to the plate with an offer that provides a 62 percent premium over the Thursday, $19.18 closing price of Yahoo.
While indicating that the two companies have had previous conversations, Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer wrote that “Microsoft’s consistent belief has been that the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo! clearly represents the best way to deliver maximum value to our respective shareholders, as well as create a more efficient and competitive company that would provide greater value and service to our customers”.

“In late 2006 and early 2007, we jointly explored a broad range of ways in which our two companies might work together. These discussions were based on a vision that the online businesses of Microsoft and Yahoo! should be aligned in some way to create a more effective competitor in the online marketplace. We discussed a number of alternatives ranging from commercial partnerships to a merger proposal, which you rejected.”

“While a commercial partnership may have made sense at one time, Microsoft believes that the only alternative now is the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo! that we are proposing.”

Yahoo, who, over the past few years, has had difficulties in maintaining its market share against search/advertising rival Google, while at the same time Microsoft, after spending considerable time and money on its own search engine Live without the success they had hoped for.

I said back in May of last year, that a Microsoft / Yahoo combination would be beneficial to both companies.

As an interesting side note - Terry Semel, former CEO and member of the Yahoo Board of Directors, tendered his resignation from the Board on Thursday. Jerry Yang, Yahoo co-founder replaced Mr Semel, who had been the Yahoo CEO

Stay tuned

Your Blackberry may be friendlier than you thought - Blackberry Buzz

With the press filled with news about the Google Phone, I decided to see who was behind the brain-team behind this new endeavor from Google.
That person is Andy Rubin, Google’s resident gadget guru. Instead of encapsulating what I found in a long post I found a very good write-up on the New York Times web site. It’s a good informative read.
Andy Rubin article in the NY Times.

Coming off economically stinging defeats in both court and out of court settlements, Vonage, the largest VoIP provider is now being sued in Wisconsin by AT&T for patent infringement.
Earlier this month, Vonage agreed to pay $80 million to Sprint/Nextel to settle patent infringement litigation. This, hot on heals of the Verizon judgement and a settlement with Klausner Technologies, another infringement case, which had been seeking $200 million, Vonage seems to have become the lightning rod for VoIP patent issues
Taken together, the patent litigation against Vonage covers a wide range of properties from voice mail to interconnect links and includes compression and packet technologies.
Vonage, the largest VoIP provider , is headquartered in Holmdel, New Jersey.

Jammie Thomas, the Minnesota woman found guilty of copyright infringement and fined $200,000 has elected to appeal the verdict according to her lawyer. The anticipated announcement came from Lawyer Ray Beckerman, an interview Monday on CNN.
Thomas was pleasantly surprised and said of Beckerman “He explained how we’re going to take the RIAA’s theory of making available and appeal it” wrote Thomas. “He also explained how if we win, this would stop the RIAA dead in their tracks!!! Every single suit they have brought has been based on this making available theory, and if we can win this appeal, they would actually have to prove a file was shared and by someone other than their own licensed agent”
Stay tuned this could get interesting.

File this under - “They have more money than you do”.
Not that this should be a big surprise but, a judge and jury in Minnesota, found against Jammie Thomas for making available 24 songs on the Internet through Kazaa and awarded damages against her in the amount of $222,000.
While many of the people who have been accused of file sharing opt for a few thousand dollar settlement, Ms. Thomas decided not to cave in to the record industry and take her chances with a jury of her peers.
Of interest to people using file sharing software, the judge ruled that the record companies did not have to show that any song had actually been downloaded from the Thomas computer to another, only that the files had been made available to others.
Thomas denied having an account with Kazza, and no evidence found on the Thomas hard drive that had been replaced after Thomas received a notice from the record label law firm
No matter which side of this issue you are on, this particular point should give you pause.

Maybe Radiohead is looking toward the future, maybe not, maybe they are not even looking.
In a novel approach Radiohead has decided to let its fans decide the value, or lack thereof, of their new upcoming release entitled In Rainbows, which will be available for download from the In Rainbows website.
The physical album ‘discbox’ - containing the regular CD, two 12in vinyl discs, an enhanced CD, artwork and lyrics booklets packaged in a hardback book and slipcase, plus a digital download - is available for pre-order at $81 +/- USD. Shipping is scheduled to commence in early December.
Now why are they taking this marketing route? Well, first off, if they released the album in the traditional methods it would not get anywhere near the free publicity they are enjoying now.
Secondly, this is probably a well deserved poke in the eye to the record labels, who are sitting on the sidelines hoping for a catastrophe.
One reason this promotion may work is that it is an album from Radiohead with a long track record and huge fan base. If you are an indie band starting at the bottom of the heap, this will not work for you. My recommendation - don’t spend all you time chasing those evil labels. Instead build/grow a fan base. When you develop a large solid fan base you will need a baseball bat to keep the labels away. Then you’ll be in position to take the best deal offered and let them boost you up the charts until you have the muscle to do a Radiohead release.
In the meantime, it should be interesting to see how successful Radiohead is on this release.

So the phone rings and the caller ID pops up a name and phone number - beware, it may not be who you think it is. You just may be being spoofed

Spoofem’s website starts off with:
6 Reason why you need Spoofem.com:
* If people are avoiding your telephone calls
* You just met someone and do not want to give them your real number
* You think your boyfriend or girlfriend is out on a date with someone else
* You want to make an untraceable telephone call anywhere in the world
* You’re a collection agency trying to collect a debt
* You’re law enforcement trying to contact a suspect

Gregory Evans, the inventor of spoofem.com, was surprised to find that, in addition to becoming the largest phone spoofing company in the world, nearly 72% of people using spoofem are suspicious lovers wondering if their soul mate is cheating.
Available only in North America, spoofem’s customers, after registering and prepaying for the service, enter the number they are calling from, the number they want to call and the number they want to appear on the caller ID screen. Spoofem.com then calls the user, calls the destination number and bridges the two calls together. The service can also spoof SMS messages and alter your voice to disguise your identity.
Although a little pricey at $9 for 60 minutes, if “ya just gotta know” it may be the small price to pay.

According to a study recently completed by Greythorn Group of Sydney,Australia, wages for IT professionals have increased by 11.54% within the past 12 months. Two drivers of this surge are the thawing of IT budget initiatives worldwide coupled with the beginning of the first wave of retiring “Baby Boomers”.
IT initiatives that were shelved starting in 2002/2003 are now being dusted off due either because the current technology is growing a little long in the tooth and/or competitive forces are requiring upgades in both infrastructure and applications.
Of greater concern to the industry is the loss of highly experienced professionals that are now begining to implement their retirement plans. Further compounding the issue is the falling technology major enrollments in colleges and universities worldwide.
Greythorn has made available a wealth of information on global IT wages broken down by practice area, including graphs on the competitive position from one country to another.

A few highlights include wages for:
Project managers in Melbourne can expect to earn around $126,000, compared to $121,000 in Hong Kong, $115,000 in Singapore, $87,000 in the US and $153,000 in the UK.
Business analyst in Canberra can earn $95,000 compared to $115,000 in Hong Kong, $99,000 in Singapore, $84,000 in the US and $92,000 in the UK.
.Net developers in Brisbane could expect to earn $91,000, compared to $119,000 in Singapore, $117,000 in the UK and just $64,000 in the US.
Additional data can be reviewed at the Greythorn salary survey website.

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