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How Piracy Can Boost Business
 How Piracy Can Boost Business
analysis

How Piracy Can Boost Business

Companies should copy, buy out, and study intellectual thieves

(Newser) - Intellectual piracy is bad for business, yes, but also inevitable—and companies fare better when turning it to their advantage, the Economist reports. The large (and illegal) volume of music and video exchanged online, for example, can reveal who’s popular in which countries. And Microsoft, which officially battles piracy,...

Mixed Note Caps Big Week
 Mixed Note Caps Big Week 
MARKETS

Mixed Note Caps Big Week

Dow sees modest gains, Nasdaq loses; all indices post weekly gains

(Newser) - The markets were mixed today as poor results across the tech sector and from Merrill Lynch put the brakes on a two-day rally, MarketWatch reports. Good news from Citigroup kept the Dow buoyant, and it closed up 49.91, at 11,496.57. The tech-heavy Nasdaq took a 29.52-point...

Tech Firms Buoyed by Demand Abroad
Tech Firms Buoyed
by Demand Abroad

Tech Firms Buoyed by Demand Abroad

International demand keeps tech afloat even as economy sinks

(Newser) - The tech sector keeps rolling even as the overall economy continues to flail, the Wall Street Journal reports. Four of tech’s giants, Microsoft, Google, IBM and Nokia, posted quarterly results yesterday, riding high on developed nations’ need for cost-saving technologies and emerging economies’ demand for infrastructure upgrades as the...

Microsoft Meets With AOL to Explore Possible Deal

Software giant is seeking an alternative to Yahoo

(Newser) - Microsoft will sit down today with executives from Time Warner's AOL to explore a joint venture between the two companies, reports the Wall Street Journal. The software giant is looking for alternatives to its failed Yahoo buyout. Microsoft and Time Warner have been considering a deal for months, though no...

Sparks Fly as Yahoo, Microsoft Take to Hill

Yang admitted deal with Google would hurt competition: Microsoft

(Newser) - Congressional hearings on Yahoo's proposed ad deal with Google got a little heated yesterday, with a Microsoft lawyer testifying that Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang recently admitted, in a private meeting, that the pact would reduce competition, the Los Angeles Times reports. Yahoo’s general counsel said he recalled no such...

Microsoft Aims to Broaden Xbox Appeal

After locking in young male gamers, mainstream consumer is next target

(Newser) - Microsoft hopes to discard the image of its Xbox 360 as a distinctly young, overwhelmingly male form of entertainment and push more casual experiences toward a wider, mainstream audience, the New York Times reports. Microsoft debuted more accessible entertainment fare at the annual E3 convention yesterday, including features to share...

It's Google's Turn on the Hot Seat
It's Google's Turn on
the Hot Seat
Opinion

It's Google's Turn on the Hot Seat

Microsoft off the hook as Congress goes after its archrival

(Newser) - You have to forgive Microsoft if it indulges in some schadenfreude today, writes Brier Dudley of the Seattle Times. Archrival Google is facing a peril that’s all too familiar in Redmond. Steve Ballmer can sit back tomorrow as Google’s top execs go before the Senate subcommittee on antitrust,...

Yahoo Snubs Microsoft-Icahn Takeover Bid

Says new offer was better, but still not in shareholders' interest

(Newser) - Yahoo has rejected another takeover push, this time from Microsoft and investor Carl Icahn, the Wall Street Journal reports. The bidders gave the Internet giant less than 24 hours to decide on an offer that would sell its search component to Microsoft and the rest of the company to Icahn...

FTC Rejects Call for Internet Privacy Law

Google, others want ad guidelines; feds favor self-regulation

(Newser) - An federal official testifying at a Senate hearing today shot down calls for a federal law to regulate websites that track users' data for advertising purposes. The FTC doesn't think it's necessary to place a rule on the books—one that could quickly become obsolete—and instead encouraged "meaningful,...

Yang Slams 'Destabilizing' Microsoft Plan

CEO accuses Icahn-allied giant of pretending to want deal

(Newser) - Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang launched a fresh offensive in the Yahoo-Microsoft war of words yesterday, reports the Wall Street Journal. Microsoft has said it would be interested in reopening merger talks if Yahoo's current board was replaced—but the Yahoo co-founder accuses the company of tactics to destabilize Yahoo without...

Oil Drops, but Rally Fades
 Oil Drops, but Rally Fades 
MARKETS

Oil Drops, but Rally Fades

S&P 500 off 20% from October high

(Newser) - The markets saw modest losses today after a rally spurred by a drop in crude prices sputtered over capital concerns at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, MarketWatch reports. The Dow fell 56.58 to 11,231.96, the Nasdaq dropped 2.06 to 2,243.32, and the S&P...

Icahn: Microsoft Will Only Negotiate With Me

Board must be replaced, Ballmer says

(Newser) - Carl Icahn says Microsoft is still in the hunt to acquire Yahoo, but only if the board is replaced, the Wall Street Journal reports. Icahn says Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer “made it abundantly clear” to him that he wouldn’t talk with Yahoo’s current board, which he fears...

Yahoo Looks to Time Warner, News Corp.

With Microsoft again sniffing around, net giant explores options

(Newser) - Yahoo—back in the sights of Microsoft—is trying to keep its fate in its own hands, launching talks with potential partners, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Internet company reopened talks with Time Warner about a deal that would make AOL part of Yahoo and give Time Warner a...

Microsoft Will Sell Office By $70 Subscription

Annual fee aims to bring penny-pinchers, pirates into fold; includes software updates

(Newser) - Microsoft will start selling its Office software package on a subscription model in mid-July, the AP reports. Instead of paying around $200 for Office, consumers can pay $70 a year, with no additional cost for new versions. In addition to the Office programs, the subscription bundle—named “Equipt”—...

Feds Probing Google-Yahoo Deal

Formal investigation signals that Justice may have antitrust concerns

(Newser) - Google’s agreement to provide Yahoo with advertising for some of its searches in the US and Canada has prompted the Justice Department to launch a formal antitrust investigation into the deal, the Washington Post reports. "They don't do it without having identified significant issues," one lawyer said...

Microsoft Preps a New Run at Yahoo
Microsoft
Preps a New Run at Yahoo

Microsoft Preps a New Run at Yahoo

Has been recruiting partners for another effort to vivisect Yahoo

(Newser) - Microsoft is back in pursuit of Yahoo, the Wall Street Journal reports, with the company in talks with both News Corp. and Time Warner as potential partners for a restructured deal to buy the search giant. Yahoo has been in Microsoft’s sights for nearly six months, but initial efforts...

Coming Soon: Your Medical Info on the Net

Google, Microsoft work on competing online programs

(Newser) - Both Google and Microsoft are working on programs that allow patients to store their medical information online, reports the MIT Technology Review. Google Health was released in May, 7 months after Microsoft's HealthVault. Both programs will eventually gather test results and info from hospitals and share them with doctors and...

Yahoo's Defensive Stance: Microsoft 'Inconsistent' in Bid

Company gives take on negotiation as clock ticks on Icahn proxy fight

(Newser) - As it tries to fend off investor Carl Icahn's attempt to replace its board of directors, Yahoo today presented its version of buyout negotiations with Microsoft to shareholders, MarketWatch reports. Yahoo portrayed Microsoft as “unresponsive, inconsistent,” and loose on logistic details of the proposed merger. "The record...

Microsoft Should Throw a Rock Through Its Windows

Operating system needs a fresh start

(Newser) - The window on Microsoft’s operating system agility has closed, and to fix it, Randall Stross argues in the New York Times, the tech giant needs to start from scratch. Windows “has become an obese monolith built on an ancient frame,” Stross says, and it “seems to...

Angry Worker Blasts Yahoo in Email

Missive blames office politics, lousy execs for sinking company

(Newser) - A sarcastic Yahoo employee slammed the company in an email sent to Fortune today, taking aim at futile executives and lousy decision-making. In the wake of Yahoo's latest shakeup, "things could not be better," the email says: True, past "reorgs" were sparked by pointless executive shifts, but...

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