Last May Microsoft bought aQuantive for $6 billion in cash. Now, they’re kicking off 2008 with the purchase (the most ever offered for a Internet company) of Yahoo for $44.6 billion. That’s $31 a share which is a 62% premium over Yahoo’s closing shares Jan. 31. To Businessweek’s point this would merge the World’s largest software maker with the most used Internet portal. Shockingly - at least to me - Microsoft has been trying to court Yahoo for the past 18 months. Microsoft expects the merger to cut costs by $1 billion a year going forward. In the wake of the merger, if it goes through - Google and a few others might cry monopoly - Yahoo’s workforce will be minimized. Yahoo currently has over 14,000 workers. Microsoft’s bid is further motivated by the rise of web software competitors, such as Salesforce.com. Purchasing Yahoo would increase their reach and enable a massive distribution platform of web based software.
I just caught this on NBC’s local news here in SoCal. Totally gimmicky, but it should draw some customers who are looking for their Web 2.0 meets pizza fix. The Domino Pizza Tracker is available at Dominos.com The Tracker breaks down the pizza ordering process into 5 steps: Order Placed, Prep, Bake, Box and Delivery. To track you just punch in the number associated with your order. Once the order is out for delivery it cannot be tracked. I’m waiting for GPS to be installed in all Domino’s delivery cars. Then we’ll know the pizza’s ETA. Dominos has been on a promotion tear (30 minutes guarantee commercials) since recent and strong competition has emerged, which includes select Subway and Dunkin Donut locations serving personal pizzas.
Like many headlines that you read on the Internet these days, this one, too, is misleading. I couldn’t help but pass on the initial dismay I had when clicking through to the Business Week article. So what is actually free? Well, not much actually. HBO will begin to offer, in two locations only (Green Bay, Wis., and Milwaukee) - starting January 21st (yesterday) - all HBO movies and shows on demand via HBO Broadband (not sure on the actual website but assuming via Time Warner). You’ll have to subscribe to Time Warner’s Broadband service and the HBO subscription. In the end of it all you’ll drop over $50/month, but if you’re already paying for it then it’s purely a ‘value add’. Netflix, if you recall, began to offer 6000 movies streaming if you already subscribed to their service (not applicable to all plans, though). A much more attractive proposition if you ask me considering you’re not limited to what HBO has licensed. Time Warner is the only cable operator signed on currently, but HBO says they have plans to roll it out to Comcast and Verizon in the near future. What seems to be missing from the service is the ability to access this “HBO Demand” via your set top box. Good news is that you can access it from multiple locations, but don’t think you can give out the password to all your friend and fam. They’ll allow you to ‘register’ 5 devices (like Napster) - I can only hope that is changeable per month.
This is one of the most intriguing Web 2.0 apps I’ve ever seen, hands down. What is it? Simple. It’s a 3d Avatar represented version of your email. It apparently works with any email system including web based email, such as GMAIL (aka POP mail). Comes in two versions: ‘free’, which is represented by Miami beach; and ‘paid’, which is represented by LAX (Los Angeles International Airport). The LAX one sounds abundantly cooler as international email is represented by the appropriate airline based on origin, and SPAM can be ’shot down’. The paid version gets you LAX and a few extras, such as same day tech support. Free on the other hand takes 1-3 days for tech to respond. I have images of a tech staring at an email requesting help simply because some fools wanna make a quick buck - definitely not the way to get people to upgrade or ‘word of mouth’ your product. Check out the below video for more details. Warning, you might need to use your in-flight barf bag - woooha!
So in Apple’s continous conquest to ‘own its customer’s iPhone’s’ and not allow any downloaded apps to the device, they launched their iPhone Web Apps website yesterday. It’s viewable on any computer, but to utilize the site you’ll need to navigate to www.apple.com/webapps on your iPhone. From there you can select from a number of web applications (insert hisses and bosses here) that are compatible with the iPhone. Some notable Webapps are Facebook, Bejeweled (fun), and an application called “Roami” that allows you to control your iTunes from the iPhone (note to self: gotta try that). I’m frustrated because this doesn’t address the limited bandwidth issue of the Edge network. You’d think Apple would be all over Widgets and build ones that can better utilize the network’s dial-up like speeds.
If you’re looking for the official explaination just go here.
Got some used gadgets and don’t wanna deal with Ebay or Craigslist? Then give SecondRotation a shot.
Its pretty simple, actually. Enter your item, its condition, and your accepted payment methods (check or PayPal - I suggest PayPal). After that you enter your shipping information and print a ‘your shipping kit’. It’s all pretty simple. If your actual item varies in quality (upon arrival) from what you indicated, you’ll of course get less. I can’t imagine them offering more if it were the other way round, though.
Last May Microsoft bought aQuantive for $6 billion in cash. Now, they’re kicking off 2008 with the purchase (the most ever offered for a Internet company) of Yahoo for $44.6 billion. That’s $31 a share which is a 62% premium over Yahoo’s closing shares Jan. 31. To Businessweek’s point this would merge the World’s largest software maker with the most used Internet portal. Shockingly - at least to me - Microsoft has been trying to court Yahoo for the past 18 months. Microsoft expects the merger to cut costs by $1 billion a year going forward. In the wake of the merger, if it goes through - Google and a few others might cry monopoly - Yahoo’s workforce will be minimized. Yahoo currently has over 14,000 workers. Microsoft’s bid is further motivated by the rise of web software competitors, such as Salesforce.com. Purchasing Yahoo would increase their reach and enable a massive distribution platform of web based software.
’s’ and not allow any downloaded apps to the device, they launched their iPhone Web Apps website yesterday. It’s viewable on any computer, but to utilize the site you’ll need to navigate to 
