Microsoft Voices Concerns about Google-Yahoo Deal’s Implications For Competition, Internet Innovation, Consumer Choice and Privacy
Brad Smith, Microsoft Corp. senior vice president and general counsel, testified on the Google-Yahoo! deal and the future of Internet advertising today before the Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Antitrust and the House Judiciary Committee Antitrust Task Force. In his testimony before both committees, Smith questioned the legality of the deal, outlining the damage it could do to competition in online advertising and innovation on the internet.
“If search is the gateway to the Internet, and most believe that it is, this deal will put Google in a position to own that gateway and the information that flows through it,” said Smith. “Never before in the history of advertising has one company been in the position to control prices on up to 90 percent of advertising in a single medium. Not in television, not in radio, not in publishing. It should not happen on the Internet.
“When Yahoo! talks about this deal generating up to $800 million in additional revenue, that’s money out of the pockets of American businesses, big and small, who will pay higher prices for the very same ads they buy from Yahoo! today,” Smith continued.
Source- Microsoft Press Release
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Yahoo rejects joint Microsoft, Icahn proposal
Yahoo said on Saturday it has rejected a joint proposal from Microsoft and activist investor Carl Icahn that would have involved Yahoo selling its search business to Microsoft.
Yahoo said in a statement that it received the proposal on Friday evening and was given less than 24 hours to accept.
The Internet company said the terms proposed by Microsoft and Icahn were inferior to Yahoo’s existing search advertising agreement with Google Inc, and would have precluded a potential sale of all of Yahoo for a full and fair price.
Source- reuters
Google launches Beta of “Lively” 3D virtual world
Google Lively is a free, browser-based virtual environment with tight integration to social networks like MySpace, Facebook and OpenSocial, as well as Google gadgets like Picasa and YouTube. Unlike some previous integration’s of virtual worlds and social networks, Lively helps users’ friends lists, feeds, and logins to tie directly to the social network. Google’s platform will run in a browser, differentiating it from client-centric worlds like Second Life and can be embedded in a Web site.
There isn’t any currency used in Lively, so users will be able to add objects from Lively’s catalog to their rooms free of charge. With all these features and more rolling out later, Lively is likely to give Second Life and other popular virtual worlds a run for their money. Like most Google products, Lively is free.
While some have compared Lively to Second Life, the better comparison is with IMVU. The core of Lively content are avatars, rooms and catalog. This is true for IMVU as well, though IMVU offers home pages, groups, forums and more. In particular, Lively chose the IMVU-like metaphor of the virtual “room” instead of a sprawling virtual world or land like Second Life. However, Lively is currently a free offering, while IMVU charges for each accessory used and Second Life charges a flat fee, with the basic version provided free.
The minimum hardware requirement for running Lively is, Pentium III 800 MHz System with 512 MB RAM, a 32 MB 3D graphics card such as GeForce 2 or above and a broadband connection. Currently, Lively only runs in IE and Firefox on Windows XP and Vista machines, though the company has said that a Mac OS X client is a priority for the future.
Source- RTTNews
http://www.lively.com
Microsoft Takes Over The Green Button
Today is a big day for the Media Center community, and as speculated upon way too much The Green Button has become an official Microsoft web property!
So what does this mean? A few things, starting with increased Microsoft interaction that nearly everyone told us was so important. When Jessica Zahn left to join the Zune team, she collectively broke the hearts of all TGB members who lost the opportunity to get direct Microsoft feedback, but fear not increased Microsoft presence will come with the acquisition of The Green Button.
Next up on the list, ads are gone! Google AdWords and all pop-up text ads are gone (Plug: advertisers looking to target the Media Center community should consider advertising here), so everyone can enjoy the perks of a community built on members and not non-Media Center related pop-ups.
Other changes will be coming, but as the official announcement states Microsoft is not looking to shut down or limit your freedom of speech on The Green Button. I will still be a moderator as will Mike and the rest of the gang, so nothing will change in your ability to criticize Microsoft for poor decisions and have your voice heard (and as always, attacks directed at members or Microsoft employees will not be allowed).
Please let me know what you think of the change, but I think the increased funding and potential for direct communication will benefit all!
Source- Chris Lanier’s Blog
Major Update for Google’s Blogger
It’s raining with features in the experimental version of Blogger, available at http://draft.blogger.com. To try these new features, it’s a good idea to visit Draft Blogger and temporarily enable "Make Blogger in Draft my default dashboard" at the top of the page.
Probably the most important new feature is the inline commenting system, that lets you post comments without opening a new page. This year, I tried using a pop-up window for the comment form, but it’s still inconvenient to post comments. The new option, which can be added in the Draft Blogger by going to Settings > Comments > Comment Form Placement, uses an iframe to display a textarea and a list of authentication options.
Blogger has a new post editor that borrows a lot of new tricks from Google Page Creator. You can move the images inside a post and dynamically choose between different sizes of the image. The new editor is smart enough to no longer replace newlines with <br> tags when you add tables, lists, styles, scripts and objects. There’s also an improved preview option that uses your template to style your content. Unfortunately, the new editor lacks many features currently available: auto-save, spell checking, video upload and the toolbar for editing HTML.
Blogs that use the new layouts can add star ratings to get feedback from readers, but I’m not sure if this is a useful feature. There’s also an option that integrates Blogger with Google Webmaster Central: you can automatically add all your Blogger blogs with a single click.
This is one of the biggest updates to Blogger and many of the new features are long overdue. If everything goes well, all these features will soon be available in the standard Blogger interface.
Source: GoogleSystem Blog
Google Code Jam 2008: Programmers Worldwide Invited to Participate in Google’s Global Coding Competition
Google Inc. announced today that registration is now open for Google Code Jam 2008. Programmers ready to use their coding skills, creativity, and ingenuity to solve a series of challenges can register at http://code.google.com/codejam. The top 500 contestants will win an all expenses paid trip to the semifinals at regional Google offices, with the top 100 advancing to the grand final at Google’s Mountain View headquarters.
"Google Code Jam is an incredible opportunity for the most talented computer scientists in the world to come together and compete on an international stage," said Vic Gundotra, Vice President, Engineering. "Google is proud to support these coders as they take on some of the world’s most challenging programming problems, and we’re pleased to have the chance to introduce them to our research and offices around the world."
This year marks the first year with regional semifinal playoffs in over ten countries. "It’s an incredible opportunity to introduce the best of the programming world to our offices across the globe and demonstrate the incredible diversity of experiences that Google offers engineers worldwide," said Nelson Mattos, Vice President, Engineering, EMEA.
This year’s Google Code Jam will be powered by tools created by a 20%-time team that includes previous Code Jam winners, and will allow contestants to program in any language.
In addition to the trip to local engineering offices and Mountain View, finalists will also divide over $80,000 in prize money:
- Grand Prize:$10,000
- 2nd place:$5,000
- 3rd place:$2,500
- 4th-10th place:$1,500 each
- 11th-30th place:$1,000 each
- 31st-50th place:$750 each
- 51st-75th place:$500 each
- 76th-100th place:$250 each
Participants can register throughout the qualification round, which ends July 17.
Source- Google Press Release
Microsoft Expands TV Signal Support in Japan
Microsoft made plans public on Friday in Japan (late Thursday in US) for the release of a product called “Windows Media Center TV Pack” as a part of their increased TV signal support in the country.
(Image via Masaru Kamikura’s tumblr)
What is the Windows Media Center TV Pack? Well, that’s up to the translated press release to tell us (Original press release).
- Google Translation: TV Pack….“Provide PC manufacturers, PC manufacturers from terrestrial digital broadcasting is PC compatible with Windows Vista(1)”
(1) Note: and provide the package, Windows Update, and by extension will not only provide.
- Yahoo Babelfish Translation: TV Pack…“PC manufacturer, from the PC manufacturer Windows Vista loading PC which corresponds to terrestrial digital broadcast, it is the schedule which in the future is shipped(1)”
(1) Note: offer in package edition and offer etc only of the extended function with Windows Update there is no.
Source- Chris Lanier’s Blog
Microsoft Offered $1B for Yahoo Search
Microsoft offered Yahoo Inc $1 billion in cash to buy its search business in a deal that would have delivered $1 billion in additional annual operating income to Yahoo, a source familiar with Microsoft’s thinking said on Friday. In an alternative to a full acquisition, Microsoft would have taken control of Yahoo’s search business, delivering the company better rates for advertisements tied to its search results than Yahoo’s current Panama advertising system, the source said.
Microsoft would have also paid $8 billion to take a 16 percent stake in Yahoo, which would have valued the company’s stock at $35 a share, the source said. Talks between the two companies broke down after Yahoo entered into an advertising agreement with Google Inc. Microsoft is still open to discussing its proposal despite Yahoo’s agreement with Google, the source said. Yahoo had no immediate comment.
Source: Reuters
