iPhone to Support Corporate E-Mail Soon

Apple is likely to introduce better support for corporate email solutions such as Lotus Notes and Exchange next week, an analyst said Thursday. American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu made the prediction in his latest note to clients Thursday, in which he once again marked Apple's a stock to buy with a US$175 price target.

"Even before the iPhone was launched, our concern was its mediocre corporate email support even though it had strong consumer email capability (Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, .Mac, AOL mail). Our concern stemmed partially from Exchange's lukewarm support of Macs (understandably so as Microsoft needs to defend its Windows franchise)," the analyst notes. The analyst cites his own industry and developer sources, who suggest that after "months of beta testing" this weakness will be addressed with improvements in iPhone's ability to work with Exchange server and IBM's Lotus Notes.

"What isn't as clear to us is how Apple will accomplish this, whether this is from internal development (most likely), third-parties including MSFT (next likely) with its ActiveSync technology, or RIM Blackberry Connect (possible but less likely), or a combination of two or more."

The analyst also predicts Apple will also deliver improved security, better support of Virtual Private Networks, and enterprise applications such as Customer Relationship Management systems. "We still have high conviction that Apple will ship ten million iPhones by the end of 2008. To a degree, what gives us confidence is the large number of hacked phones signaling strong intrinsic demand," Wu wrote.

The analyst concluded that Apple's remains a strong stock, noting: "While near-term trends look difficult with a looming recession and a slow-down in consumer spending, we continue to believe Apple is well-positioned to weather the storm better than most with its strong fundamentals."

Source [PCWorld]

Google readies Google Health

Google shed more light on the health care service it is developing, showing off a couple of screenshots of what it will look like. Google has been talking about its health initiative for some time now, slowly revealing more aspects of the project. Last week it announced a pilot of the service with the Cleveland Clinic, but was short on details.

On Thursday (28-Feb), Google said that Google Health aims to offer users a central place to store their medical records. They will be able to import and share records from multiple institutions, provided the organizations already allow customers to digitally access their records. A user's profile lists important information such as conditions, medications, test results, allergies and past operations. It also lists current doctors with their contact information. Through the Cleveland Clinic pilot, Google has already discovered that the service is particularly useful to people who may live part of the year in Ohio and part of the year in Florida, said Marissa Mayer, vice president of search and user products for Google, in a blog post that also contained screenshots. Those people have historically carried paper health records back and forth between the locations. Now they can import their data from each medical facility and share it electronically with the other facility.

Privacy and Security Issues

Mayer stressed the privacy and security that Google will offer around customers' health data. Unless users give explicit permission, Google won't share or sell their data, she said. It has developed its privacy policy in collaboration with the Google Health Advisory Council, a group of medical professionals that offers feedback to Google on its health care product ideas and development. Google is working on a directory of third-party services that will be accessible from Google Health. For now that simply allows users to import records into their profiles. In the future, Mayer wrote, it will let users schedule appointments and refill prescriptions online.

Despite Mayer's blog post and a speech on Thursday about Google Health by CEO Eric Schmidt at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society conference in Orlando, the service still isn't available beyond the Cleveland Clinic pilot. It should become publicly available in the "coming months," Mayer wrote. In September, the lead for the Google Health project, Adam Bosworth, left the company. At the time, Google said that Mayer would run the project until a permanent replacement was found. Bosworth was blogging about issues related to health care and how online tools might help as far back as 2006. The Cleveland Clinic pilot, which will be available to between 1,500 and 10,000 participants, is the first tangible offering of a Google Health service.

Google isn't alone among companies tackling the problem of organizing health care information. Archrival Microsoft last year launched an online health care service, HealthVault, to allow users to store and share health records online. Users can also feed data from devices like diabetes meters and heart rate monitors into their HealthVault accounts. Both services are limited to institutions that have customer-accessible electronic records and to people interested in using them. Between 1 percent and 3 percent of U.S. residents have used e-health records, according to Lynne Dunbrack, program director at Health Industry Insights, a market research firm.

Source [PCWorld]

Google Sites - It Took 16 Months to rebuild Wiki

Google acquired hosted wiki service Jotspot in October 2006. The service immediately stopped taking new users, although existing users were supported. Now, nearly sixteen months later, Jotspot has been relaunched under the Google Apps team, as Google Sites.

Google Sites looks absolutely nothing like Jotspot, other than the fact that both are hosted wikis. All of the structured data templates launched by Jotspot in July 2006 have been stripped out. Users now have a choice between just five basic templates - a standard wiki, a dashboard where google gadgets can be embedded, a blog-like template for announcements, a file cabinet for file uploads, and a page for lists of items. Instead of creating structured templates, users will now simply embed spreadsheets, presentations and word documents from Google Docs, as well as Google Calendars, YouTube Videos and Picasa Albums.

Like Google Docs, Google Sites wikis can be made private, shared with others, or made public. Users can select from a variety of templates, but cannot yet customize the look and feel of the site. Somewhere down the road, Google says, they’ll release an API for the new service as well. Editing is done with a rich text editor that allows for basic formatting.

Google Sites is a free product, with limitations on support and storage (10 GB). Users can upgrade their Google Apps account to a standard edition, also free, and map their own domains to the site. A premier edition is also available for $50/user/year that includes a service level agreement, support and more admin capabilities.

Project Kittyhawk

IBM has announced a new project called Kittyhawk, which entails constructing a global-scale shared supercomputer capable of hosting the entire Internet on one platform as an application. Currently the Internet is a collection of interconnected computer networks.

IBM has prepared a white paper detailing the project. The Kittyhawk will be based on the previously developed IBM supercomputer called Blue Gene. In theory the Kittyhawk will have up to 16,384 racks, providing a maximum of 67.1 million cores with 32 petabytes of memory.

According to the introduction of the white paper, "Project Kittyhawk’s goal is to explore the construction and implications of a global-scale shared computer capable of hosting the entire Internet as an application. This research effort is in an early stage, so this paper describes our conjectures and our ongoing work rather than a completed set of results."

The Kittyhawk project has created much discussion in the technology community. One of the main topics of discussion is the comparison of Kittyhawk to Skynet the fictional supercomputer, in the movie series Terminator, which attempts to destroy all human life and take over Earth.

Source [WikiNews]

Morph - Phone Concept with Nanotechnology

Nokia's new Morph concept phone would use nanotechnology to give it a flexible body with a transparent display that could be re-shaped depending on the user's needs, a far cry from today's solid and chunky devices. Even the electronics inside it would be transparent and flexible, so the whole phone may be twisted and stretched into bracelet shapes or tablet form, and nanotech cleverness means it would even clean itself. Developed in cooperation with Cambridge University, this glimpse of a distant future is now on display at the MoMA in New York. Jump for video and yadda-yadda press release.




New York, US and Espoo, Finland -- Morph, a joint nanotechnology concept, developed by Nokia Research Center (NRC) and the University of Cambridge (UK) - was launched yesterday (25/Feb/2008) alongside the "Design and the Elastic Mind" exhibition, on view from February 24 to May 12, 2008, at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. Morph features in both the exhibition catalog and on MoMA's official website.

Morph is a concept that demonstrates how future mobile devices might be stretchable and flexible, allowing the user to transform their mobile device into radically different shapes. It demonstrates the ultimate functionality that nanotechnology might be capable of delivering: flexible materials, transparent electronics and self-cleaning surfaces.

Dr. Tapani Ryhanen, Head of the NRC Cambridge UK laboratory, Nokia, commented: "We hope that this combination of art and science will showcase the potential of nanoscience to a wider audience. The techniques we are developing might one day mean new possibilities in terms of the design and function of mobile devices. The research we are carrying out is fundamental to this as we seek a safe and controlled way to develop and use new materials."

Professor Mark Welland, Head of the Department of Engineering's Nanoscience Group at the University of Cambridge and University Director of Nokia-Cambridge collaboration added "Developing the Morph concept with Nokia has provided us with a focus that is both artistically inspirational but, more importantly, sets the technology agenda for our joint nanoscience research that will stimulate our future work together."

The partnership between Nokia and the University of Cambridge was announced in March, 2007 - an agreement to work together on an extensive and long term programme of joint research projects. NRC has established a research facility at the University's West Cambridge site and collaborates with several departments - initially the Nanoscience Center and Electrical Division of the Engineering Department - on projects that, to begin with, are centered on nanotechnology.

Elements of Morph might be available to integrate into handheld devices within 7 years, though initially only at the high-end. However, nanotechnology may one day lead to low cost manufacturing solutions, and offers the possibility of integrating complex functionality at a low price.

IBM Launches z10 Mainframe

IBM Tuesday is set to launch the System z10, its next-generation mainframe, featuring quad-core processors and aimed at computing-intensive tasks. Compared to its predecessor, the z9, the new mainframe has a lot more horsepower. Every box can be fitted with up to 64 cores for running applications, improving processor performance by 50 percent, according to IBM. The support for Infiniband also increases internal bandwidth by a factor of two, from 2.7G bytes per second to 6G bytes per second.

"The System z10 is much better at handling CPU-intensive jobs," said Uno Bengtsson, senior IT specialist at IBM Sweden. IBM would like to see customers start to use the mainframe for modern applications. "You can run for example SAP on Linux together with DB2 on z/OS in one box," said Bengtsson. IBM also makes it a point that the mainframe goes hand-in-hand with both green IT and consolidation. A single System z10 is the equivalent of nearly 1,500 distributed servers, according to IBM, with up to an 85 percent smaller footprint, and 85 percent lower energy costs.

The mainframe is still a very important platform for IBM. It spent US$1.5 billion and five years on the development of the z10. IBM still has more revenue than any other server vendor. Hewlett-Packard sold 1.3 million servers more on a worldwide basis last year, but according to Gartner its revenue in that sector is still smaller than IBM's. Without the mainframe, that wouldn't be the case.

"It's still a relevant platform and IBM has done a pretty good job of keeping it that way," said Adrian O'Connell, principal analyst at Gartner. Last year sales of IBM's mainframe platform fell almost 10 percent, according to Gartner. "Sales are usually cyclical. We think it will pick up this year, but we don't see growth at the expense of other platforms," said O'Connell. The mainframe still has a lot of fans, and for them the continued development of the platform is a must. "For the mainframe to remain competitive it has to improve its price/performance by at least 20 percent every year, and this launch is one step in the right direction," said Fredrik Runnquist, head of IT at Swedish bank Swedbank. "Every year we compare the mainframe to other platforms, like Solaris and Windows, just to make sure it's still the right choice for us," said Runnquist.

When it comes to moving new applications to the mainframe he is more hesitant. "For us to move an application to the mainframe the performance gain has to be significant, because we have to factor in the moving cost," said Runnquist.

Wiperless windshields in your future? Thanks, nanotech

Italian car designer Leonardo Fioravanti (of Pininfarina fame) has developed a prototype car with a windshield that doesn’t need wipers. It can brush away water and dirt all by itself.

The car, dubbed Hidra, uses a special aerodynamic design along with four sophisticated surface treatments to the windshield to keep the driver’s view clear. The first treatment filters the sun and repels water. The second is made of nano-dust which is able to push dirt to the edges of the glass. This dust is activated by the third layer, which senses dirt and activates the second layer as necessary. Finally, it’s all topped off by the fourth layer which is a conductor of electricity to power the whole mechanism.

Fioravanti claims that this technology could go into mass production within 5 years, but it already works and has been installed on the Hidra concept car. Details are still scant, but we wonder how well this technology would work on today’s cars. Hopefully windshield wipers disappear soon.

Japan trying Satellite based high-speed internet

Granted, most of us would turn our noses up at receiving in-home broadband via satellite -- after all, cable and DSL seem to be treating most of us quite alright -- but Japan is hoping to provide access to more regions in Asia-Pacific with its recently launched Kizuna. The experimental satellite is not yet intended for commercial use, but if all goes well, it will enable data transmissions "of up to 1.2 gigabytes per second" at a low cost across Japan and 19 other locales in Southeast Asia. Unfortunately, we've no idea when it will escape the bondage of testing and actually be put to good use, but at least Japan's well on its way to actually establishing that wireless island, eh?

Exascale computing: The new scale in computing

Anybody remember when a gigaflop was a big deal? That seems very old now. Oh, how far we've come. Researchers are now talking about Exascale computing, which means systems that can handle a million trillion calculations per second. To put that in perspective, IBM's BlueGene/L (pictured), the fastest machine running, has a peak performance of 596 teraflops. A petaflop is 1000 times faster than a teraflop, and an exaflop is 1000 times faster than a petaflop. Yeah, that's a lot of flops. Right now researchers are sorting out the most preliminary of groundwork, such as how do you get data to tens of thousands of processors at a time for crunching, but we're sure before a few decades are up they'll finally have built a machine that is powerful enough to cure all human diseases -- or, you know, maybe even play Crysis at 60fps.

For more info Read Engadget posts about Petaflop.

Microsoft Embraces Open Source, Finally...

In a major turnaround for Microsoft, the company last week promised "greater transparency" in its development and business practices, outlining a new strategy to provide more access to APIs and previously proprietary protocols for some of its major software products, including Windows and Office.

The move, inspired by the ongoing antitrust case against Microsoft in the European Union, shows the company finally acknowledging the significant impact open source and open standards have had on the industry and the company's own business. It also should mean the end of Microsoft's patent threats against Linux and interoperability concerns surrounding Office 2007 file formats.

During a news conference with top executives, Microsoft said it is implementing four new interoperability principles and actions across its business products to ensure open connections, promote data portability, enhance support for industry standards, and foster more open engagement with customers and the industry, including open-source communities.

These steps are "important" and represent "significant change in how we share information about our products and technologies," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in a statement. "For the past 33 years, we have shared a lot of information with hundreds of thousands of partners around the world and helped build the industry, but today's announcement represents a significant expansion toward even greater transparency."

Under increased global pressure, Microsoft has limped toward a more open development policy for some time with strategies like the Open Specification Promise, which it published in September 2006 as a pledge that it would not take any patent-enforcement action against those who use certain technology APIs (application programming interfaces). The company launched an open-source Web site last year, a move that was notable for one of the first official uses of the term "open source" by the company. Microsoft previously would release APIs and code to developers and other companies through something it called the Shared Source Initiative rather than specifically calling its policy open source.

Microsoft also continued to promote proprietary file formats it designed as the default for Office 2007 -- Office Open XML (OOXML) -- in favor of another file format, ODF (Open Document Format for XML), which already has been approved as a global technology standard by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Microsoft submitted the OOXML specification to another standards body, Ecma International, in November 2005 in an effort to have it fast-tracked through the ISO. However, approval by the ISO has been stalled and the process riddled with complaints that Microsoft is not acting in the transparent way typical of an international standards process.

Microsoft plans to publish on its Web site documentation for APIs and communications protocols that are used by what it calls its "high-volume products." Microsoft includes Windows Vista (including the .NET Framework), Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, Office 2007, Exchange Server 2007 and Office SharePoint Server 2007 -- as well as their future versions -- under this umbrella. Microsoft will not require developers to license or pay royalties for this information, the company said.

To get this ball rolling, Microsoft will publish on its Microsoft Developer Network Web site more than 30,000 pages of documentation for Windows client and server protocols that were previously available only under a trade-secret license through the Microsoft Work Group Server Protocol Program and the Microsoft Communication Protocol Program. Microsoft will publish protocol documentation for the other high-volume products in upcoming months, the company said.

Microsoft also is providing a covenant not to sue open-source developers for development or non-commercial distribution of implementations of these protocols -- a huge move for any Linux or open-source developers that may have feared litigation from Microsoft. The company said that developers will be able to use the documentation for free to develop products. However, companies that want to commercially distribute implementations of the protocols still must obtain a patent license from Microsoft, it said.

On the OOXML front, Microsoft promised to design new APIs for its Word, Excel and PowerPoint applications so developers can plug in additional document formats and enable users to set these formats as their default for saving documents. While there are add-on technologies that can translate between OOXML -- the default file format in Office 2007 -- and other file formats, Microsoft has not included the ability to set other file formats as default in the product suite.

Microsoft said it will use a new Open Source Interoperability Initiative to provide resources, facilities and events to the community, including labs, technical content and opportunities for ongoing cooperative development. Microsoft also is seeking an ongoing dialogue with customers, developers and open-source communities through an online Interoperability Forum. And Microsoft will launch a Document Interoperability Initiative to address the issue of data exchange between widely deployed formats, the company said

Microsoft's Interoperability Executive Customer (IEC) Council will oversee the new principles and initiatives to help keep the company honest. The IEC is an advisory board established in 2006 and comprised mainly of chief information and technology officers from more than 40 companies and government institutions worldwide.

More information about the news can be found on Microsoft interoperability Web site.

GiFi, A Tiny Chip With Big Wireless Capabilities

Researchers in Australia have developed a tiny chip that can transmit data wirelessly at 5 Gbps over a distance of nearly 11 yards, a capability that could have a major impact on the way consumer electronics, such as digital TVs, mobile phones, and DVD players, communicate with each other.

The "GiFi" chip, which measures 0.2 of an inch on each side, was developed at Melbourne University-based labs of the National Information and Communications Technology research center, The Age reported. The high transmission rate of the chip would make it possible, for example, to transfer a high-definition movie from a video kiosk to a mobile device in a few seconds.

"I believe in the longer term every consumer device will have this technology," project leader Stan Skafidas told the newspaper. Skafidas and his team have been developing the chip for almost a decade. Skafidas and his team claim to be the first to demonstrate a working transceiver-on-a-chip that uses CMOS, or complementary metal oxide semiconductor. CMOS is a particular style of digital circuitry design used in microprocessors.

The chip uses an antenna 0.04 of an inch wide, less than two watts of power, and would cost about $9.20 U.S. The device transmits over the 60-GHz spectrum, which the researchers said is nearly unused. Wi-Fi technology, in contrast, shares its spectrum with other devices such as cordless phones, which can cause disruptions. In addition, GiFi is faster than the average Wi-Fi device. However, Wi-Fi can transmit over longer distances.

The chip is about a year away from being ready for market, Skafidas told the newspaper. As to its uses, the researcher said the processor could be used to transfer video and other data-intensive content between storage and display devices in the home. It also could be used to turn a mobile device into a "shopping cart" for digital movies and other content that could be bought elsewhere and played in the home.

The 27-member team developing the new chip worked with companies such as IBM in the research.

Source [Information Week]

BDV-865305-BDV

Spy Satellite Shot down

Watch as General Cartwright, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (and apparently Jack Bauer's older brother) shows how the Aegis missile launches and successfully destroys the rogue spy satellite. This is a huge success for the Pentagon and the anti-missiles system that was first conceived in the mid-80s as part of President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative. Specially after many critics were saying it wasn't going to work.



The mission was simple. At 10:26PM EST, a standard missile 3 carrying a kinetic warhead was launched northwest of Hawaii from the USS Lake Eire, a Ticonderoga Class missile defense cruiser. 24 minutes later, at 10:50, the Joint Space Operations Center at the Vandenberg Air Force base confirmed the breakup of the satellite at 153 nautical miles above the Earth from a direct hit.

The operation has been criticised by China and Russia. "We're very confident that we hit the satellite," Gen Cartwright said at a Pentagon briefing hours after the missile was fired. "We also have a high degree of confidence that we got the tank."

While they can't confirm completely the destruction of the tank, which was needed to release the toxic fuel that may have posed a danger to us Earthlings, the Pentagon has declared the mission a complete success and with good reason. Some experts criticized the plan as probable failure during the past days, with the argument that the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense, part of the Ballistic Missile Defense System being developed by the US Missile Defense Agency, wasn't designed to do this and, therefore, it wasn't going to be able to hit the target and destroy it effectively.

Their reasons were three: first, the kinetic warhead, launched in a long range standard missile 3, a isn't designed to destroy targets by explosion but by the sheer force of multiple impacts. While this is enough to destroy other incoming missiles, the critics said that this wasn't going to be enough to destroy the much larger satellite. Second was the speed of the target, which was traveling at double the speed of the missiles which are the usual target of the Aegis. And third, the tracking system, which wasn't originally designed to operate in high orbits.

The video, however, shows that the direct kinetic hit has completely obliterated its target. Now the world can rest at peace. Until A542B, that asteroid ten times bigger than Texas, finally arrives.

It would take another 24-48 hours for officials to confirm whether the operations had been completely successful, he said. Gen Cartwright said he could not rule out that hazardous material might fall to earth, but said there was no evidence of this happening so far. He added that officials would continue to track debris falling over the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans over the next two days.

The satellite, USA 193, was struck 153 nautical miles (283 km) above earth by an SM-3 missile fired from a warship in waters west of Hawaii. China called on the US on Thursday to provide more information about the mission.

Russia suspects the operation was a cover to test anti-satellite technology under the US missile defence programme. The US denies the operation was a response to an anti-satellite test carried out by China last year, which prompted fears of a space arms race.

If the tank were to have landed intact, it could have leaked toxic gas over a wide area - harming or killing humans if inhaled, officials had warned. "The intent here was to preserve human life... it was the hydrazine we were after," Gen Cartwright said on Thursday. The US has also denied that it shot down the satellite to prevent parts of it from falling into the hands of foreign powers.

Source [Wikipedia, Defense Tech Org and BBC]

Lunar Astronauts to have Mobile Phone Service

Did you know that NASA was building a base of operations in the south pole of the Moon? Did you know colonists would be living and working there? Did you know that plans are in motion to establish a satellite phone network which would allow said colonists to communicate with one another? Well, it's all true... and more!

After conquering the farthest corners of the globe, mobile phones are now destined for the final frontier - space. Even in the cosmos there will be no escaping the ringtone as Nasa and the British National Space Centre (BNSC) prepare to trial a mobile phone network for the moon. Astronauts and robots exploring the moon's surface will only be a text message away after the system goes live later this century.

The satellite system should ensure a full four-bar signal for lunar colonists living in the base Nasa wants to build at the south pole of the moon after 2020. The stellar vision of the mobile's future even tops the effort that managed to get a text message to the top of Mount Everest. Phone calls and other information would be bounced off satellites orbiting the moon for communication between colonists, the moon base and the earth.

The system, called MoonLite, will be comparable to the satellite phone networks of the 80's and 90's here on Earth, and will be used to facilitate communication between occupants on the base and robots and workers which are out and about. The satellites will handle data as well as voice communication, with 3kbps downstream and 2kbps up.

The joint Nasa/BNSC MoonLite mission, due to be launched after 2012, will test a prototype version of the satellite phone network - similar to the Inmarsat network on Earth. During the MoonLite mission a lunar orbiter would use the technology to transmit information about the structure of the moon back to earth from scientific instruments buried in the lunar soil.

[silicon.com]

Watch Phone

The new Epoq EGP-WP88 offers cutting edge features never before seen in the emerging watch-phone market. New and in demand features include 50M water resistance, large analog and digital energy saving OLED display that finally looks like a watch, not a box on a wrist strap, and with a further lean towards green eco-efficiency, it has a built in kinetic recharge system that converts the wearers motion to energy to recharge the two included interchangeable Li-ion batteries.

Main features

Telephone directories: 300 groups of contacts of carte de visit, support incoming call with big head sticker, grouping ring

Messages &Multimedia messaging: support SMS, MMS

Schedule power on/off: support auto start/close, can set user-defined photo of starting/closing

Alarm clock: 5 groups; can set from Monday to Sunday at random

Games: Intelligent Puzzle, QQ2007

More information: MP3, MP4, Handsfree, SMS group sending, Voice recorder, WAP, Handwritten input, Bluetooth, GPRS download, MMS, Memory extended, E-book, calendar, memo, alarm clock, world time, stopwatch, health management, photo book, sound recording, calculator, unit, rates exchange, I

Additional features

1.3MP camera

Language: English, Simplified Chinese, traditonal Chinese, some other languages according to the quantity

Ringtone: 64 chord;

Ringtone format: mp3, midi

Music: support to play music of MP3/WAV, and can use gifted Bluetooth stereo earphone to enjoy music; sound

Video: 3GP,MP4,support to play in full screen, speed and pause; support Bluetooth stereo output

Rom: 128MB, support to e, Document management

Data Transfer: USB data wire/U disc/ Bluetooth (file transmission, stereo, remote control)Standby

Photo: jpg, gif

Basic features

Operating Frequency: GSM

Network Frequency: 850/900/1800/1900 MHZ

Talk time: 120-150 minutes

Standby time: 70-100 hours

Time-to-market: 2008.01.03

Dimensions (width × high × thick): 52*41*13 mmWeight: 70 g

Source [ Gadget Craver ]

Everex to stun the world with 9-inch CloudBook

The device - apparently being referred to as the "Cloudbook" - is rumored to be launching soon, and will become available to the public in Q1 2008. Specs include a VIA C7 ULV 1.2GHz CPU, a 30GB hard drive, 512MB of RAM, WiFi, a card reader, two USB ports, and a DVI out. Nothing has been confirmed as of yet, but there seems to be ample information supporting the rumors.

If you're really sick of the native OS that came with your Eee -- or you're trying to feel out what a Cloudbook would be like if you could buy one -- you can now install Everex's Google-centric gOS (Google-themed Linux OS) onto your system with little-to-no effort, simply by following this ten point breakdown. You'll need an external optical drive, a wired internet connection, and probably an hour or so, but once all is said and done, you can break free of Xandros and roll deep with the Ubuntu-based gOS. How the software performs on the miniscule laptop we couldn't say, but at least now you can show your friends how truly unique you are. The inclusion of Google Gears is the most notable feature. The aforementioned bundle is an "online / offline synchronization technology from Google that enables offline use of web apps." More specifically, users can look forward to gBooth (a browser-based web cam), integration with Facebook, shortcuts to launch Google Reader, Talk, and Finance on the desktop, an online storage drive courtesy of Box.net and Virtual Desktops, which is hailed as "an intuitive feature to easily group and move applications across multiple desktop spaces." Additionally, Adobe Flash Player 9 for Linux will come preloaded, and if you're so inclined.

Readius is Ready for Action

We have reported in one of our old posts about the arrival of Readius. The rollable display, which might change the face of display divices. The long wait is over, it is ready for action-, the Polymer Vision Readius has finally made an appearance and from our quick -- and loving -- glance, it's the stuff. Featuring Bluetooth, dual-band HSDPA, tri-band GSM / EDGE, expandability via microSD, and it'll also SMS -- albeit, without a keyboard, it'll be tough -- and can make calls. The cellular calling and messaging features are likely an afterthought since connectivity to get at the content via the Readius portal was the goal. The site will push content to your device based on choices made there for feeds, newspapers, mags, audio books, and whatever else Polymer Vision sees fit to add. The device will support books in HTML, text files, and PDFs, though, we expect as they gain ground with partners the list may expand. Hit the gallery at Engadget Mobile for a pile of pics of it in action.

SMS and E-mail directly from a Pen

Belive it or not, this is happening. Sending SMS and E mail directly from your Pen.

D:Scribe is a digital fountain pen that allows users to send SMS and email messages from paper. Just write out the message and circle the person’s name to send. This does away with a keypad and allows you to focus on communicating in a more personal way from anywhere as long as you have a bluetooth enabled phone and a surface to write on. The pen also records everything you write which can be accessed on a computer. Of course for the creative peeps, if writing doesn’t suit your fancy, the D:Scribe also works with genius and not so genius drawings of brilliance.

The design is loosely based on a quill and inkwell where by the quill is the writing apparatus and the inkwell is an electromagnetic induction charger.

Once a message is sent, the status is displayed on the built-in OLED screen. The designers have also expanded its capabilities beyond that of messaging. Should your home electronics and appliances be bluetooth enabled, you could potentially program the pen to input commands by writing in the air. A little abstract but lets pretend this idea is more a patent for possibilities.

Nanochip technology makes 100GB flash memory alternative

It's like we can't make it through the week these days without word of some outlandish memory technology solving all worldly ills; but it's not that we're complaining. This week's featured tech comes from Nanochip, and promises gains in storage quantity and cost per chip over flash memory.

The first prototypes will store 100GB, and will be shipped to device makers next year for evaluation. Nanochip technology stores data on a thin-film material, and accesses it using microscopic cantilevers. Each bit will be 15 nanometers wide at first, with theoretical sizes as small as a couple nanometers. Speeds will be near that of flash, and the data could last longer. There are still some obstacles to accessing the data efficiently, but luckily Nanochip just scored $14 million in funding to complete its pursuit. IBM has been pursuing a similar tech since the late 90's.

Yahoo Rejects Microsoft's Bid [Confirmed]

Yahoo's board of directors unanimously rejected Microsoft's bid. "The board of directors has carefully reviewed Microsoft's unsolicited proposal with Yahoo's management team and financial and legal advisors," the company said in a statement. "The proposal is not in the best interest of Yahoo and our stockholders.

Yahoo added that Microsoft's bid "substantially undervalues Yahoo." A possible reason: Microsoft's bid of $31 a share for Yahoo represents a significant premium over the company's value at $19.18 on January 31, the day before Microsoft made its bid public. But that was the lowest Yahoo's stock value has been since 2004.

Now that the initial bid has been rejected, there are several paths both companies could take. Yahoo, for one, says it is exploring other options. "The board of directors is continually evaluating all of its strategic options in the context of the rapidly evolving industry environment," Yahoo's statement said. "We remain committed to pursuing initiatives that maximize value for all stockholders."

News reports last week suggested that Google has pursued partnership options with Yahoo. Meanwhile, the Times of London reports that Yahoo may renew a three-year-old bid for AOL, itself a victim of a tech merger gone bad through its integration with Time Warner. If Yahoo decides to stay independent, co-founder and new CEO Jerry Yang may come under increasing pressure to lay out a turnaround plan for the struggling company.

This initial back and forth is just the beginning of what could turn out to be a long process. If and when the two sides agree on a deal, anti-trust regulators may come into the picture. Some Congressional legislators already have begun to agitate for investigation into the deal's consequences, and the European Union has recently stepped up its aggression against what it perceives as monopolistic tactics by Microsoft. If the deal passes muster, Microsoft then faces a huge integration challenge in terms of corporate culture and technology overlap.

Read More In Sunday, February 10 techblog post.

Bluetooth to Piggyback on Wi-Fi

The popular wireless technology known as Bluetooth could get a lot faster next year by taking advantage of Wi-Fi technology already built into many gadgets. Linking Bluetooth and Wi-Fi may make it easier and faster to transfer large amounts of music between computers and cell phones, or send pictures from a camera phone to a printer, or video from a camcorder to a TV.

Michael Foley, director of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, said the first devices with the technology could be on the market in the middle of next year. The industry group behind Bluetooth, which has more than 10,000 member companies, plans to announce Monday that it is pursuing the technology and will make it available next year.

A fast transfer channel for Bluetooth using a different radio technology, ultra-wideband, was announced in 2006, but delays in getting it to work prompted the Bluetooth group to look at Wi-Fi too, Foley said.

Some products, like laptops, already combine Bluetooth and Wi-Fi functions, but they work off separate chips. Most likely, manufacturers will use single chips still under development that combine Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capabilities. "It does appear that the first products ... are going to be Bluetooth-Wi-Fi, and our members want to take advantage of that," Foley said, adding that all the major makers of Bluetooth chips are participating in the project.

The combination devices will use the regular low-power Bluetooth radios to recognize each other and establish connections. If they need to transfer a large file, they will be able to turn on their Wi-Fi radios, then turn them off to save power after finishing the transfer, Foley said.

The new technology doesn't have a name, and it isn't clear how consumers will be able to tell it apart from Bluetooth-UWB devices, which the industry group still supports. "This in no way ... changes our vision of using ultra-wideband technology for high speed when that technology is ready," Foley said.

While it started out as a specific radio technology, Bluetooth is turning into an umbrella standard for a variety of different radio technologies. Apart from the high-speed flavors, the SIG has incorporated an ultra-low-power wireless technology developed by Nokia Corp. and previously known as Wibree. Products like watches and pedometers that use that technology are also expected to hit the market next year.

Yahoo Board Will Decline Microsoft Bid, Report Says

Yahoo Inc's board believes Microsoft Corp's unsolicited bid of $44.6 billion to acquire Yahoo "massively undervalues" the company and directors are set to reject the offer, The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing an unnamed source.

After a series of meetings over the past week, Yahoo's board determined that the $31 per share offer "massively undervalues" Yahoo, the person said. It also doesn't account for the risks Yahoo would be taking by entering into an agreement that might be overturned by regulators. The board plans to send a letter to Microsoft Monday, spelling out its position.

Yahoo's board believes that Microsoft's is trying to take advantage of the recent weakness in the company's share price to "steal" the company. The decision to reject the offer signals that Yahoo's board is digging in its heels for what could be a long takeover battle. The company is unlikely to consider any offer below $40 per share, the person said.

It's unclear whether Microsoft would be willing to pay such a premium, which would increase the value of its original cash and stock bid by more than $12 billion. The rejection comes as Yahoo's board has been considering various other scenarios, including a search advertising partnership Google Inc. Yahoo's directors are still considering that and other options that would safeguard the company's independence, people close the company say.

Yahoo's board appears to be betting that Microsoft doesn't want to "go hostile" and try to acquire the company against the wishes of management and the board. Such a course could cause deep resentment among the rank-and-file engineers whose cooperation is crucial to the company's success. A hostile takeover could also make it more difficult to get the deal past regulators if Yahoo management tries to convince authorities that the deal is anticompetitive.

Given the size of Microsoft's bid, the likelihood of a higher offer from another bidder is minuscule and the list of potential suitors is very short. Still, Yahoo is rumored to be toying with the idea reorganizing the company and outsourcing its search-based advertising to Google in an effort to bolster revenue and remain a standalone company. Some industry watchers have also speculated that Yahoo could be trying to arrange an alternative deal with AOL.

Same time Microsoft lost nearly $40 billion in market cap in the eight trading days since they made their offer. That’s quite a penalty - and one Microsoft likely didn’t plan on dealing with. Microsoft closed at $32.60 per share on January 31, hours before the Yahoo bid was placed. On Friday, the stock closed at $28.56, a decline of about 13% and the lowest it has been since 2006. That erased just under $38 billion in Microsoft shareholder value.

Yahoo has taken "poison pill" provisions to prevent an unwanted takeover. Microsoft would likely have to oust the board in order to overturn them.

With Cognos In Its Fold, IBM Gets On With BI Integration

IBM last week laid out its plan to integrate the business intelligence products from recently acquired Cognos with its own information management software. To show that it means business, IBM introduced no fewer than 10 BI packages that do just that, for industries such as banking, retail, health care, and life sciences.

The strategy involves melding Cognos' business analytics and reporting tools with IBM's content management and database middleware. One offering, for example, adds Cognos' Store Operations and Planning blueprints to IBM's Retail Integration framework. Such combinations take "us deeper into business analysis and analytics," says IBM senior VP Steve Mills.

For banking, IBM introduced the Financial Risk Insight Solution, which couples the IBM Banking Data Warehouse with Cognos 8 Business Intelligence modules. It's meant to give financial services companies an enterprise-wide view of risk across products, divisions, and geographies.

Pharmaceutical companies will be able to tap the new Life Sciences Promotional Spend and Compliance Solution to stay atop evolving state regulations on drug promotional spending and determine where marketing dollars are best spent based on regional sales and clinical data. In addition, IBM's Global Services arm is rolling out services to get customers up and running on Cognos software quickly.

CULTURAL FIT
Still, there's not much entirely new here--except that businesses can now buy a fully integrated BI package directly from IBM, and IBM will be able to present a complete BI package to the business managers who frequently make the call on such technology. Those managers also will be less likely--IBM hopes--to build a Cognos package on middleware from rivals such as Oracle. Cognos' applications "fill a big void in IBM's stack," Gartner reports.

IBM, which completed the $5 billion acquisition on Jan. 31, will not discontinue any Cognos products and will keep the company's home base in Ottawa, says Mills. There will be no sales or product development layoffs, though back-office redundancies could result in the elimination of a few jobs.

Gartner expects the BI market to grow 8.6% annually through 2011. Businesses are overwhelmed with information--and are willing to spend big money on tools that help them make better decisions.

Cognos CEO Rob Ashe insists his company won't change. "Culturally, we're very similar to IBM," he says. IBM has promised to let Cognos operate more or less as an independent unit. "We get access to their people and technology," Ashe adds. "It's the best of both worlds."

IBM has bet $5 billion that customers will see it that way, too.

Google or Microsoft, Yahoo Board To Determine Fate Of Company Today

Sources have indicated to us that Yahoo has scheduled a special board of directors meeting on Friday to determine, effectively, the fate of the company. After a week of hectic negotiating, it’s clear that no one is going to step in with a competing acquisition offer to what Microsoft put on the table last Friday - $31 per share. Softbank, the last real chance for a competing bid, bowed out today and said they would not be challenging the Microsoft offer.

There are only two options left. Accept the offer in principal, and try to increase the price with no negotiating leverage at all, or do a deal with Google to outsource search advertising and, likely, search itself.

The board, is basically being told by outside advisors to take the Microsoft deal. But a contingent of senior executives at Yahoo, who are willing to do literally anything to thwart a Microsoft takeover, are pushing for the Google deal and will present their case at the meeting.

If Yahoo were to outsource search to Google, the immediate upside would be 25% or so to Yahoo’s cash flow in the form of increased revenues (revenue per search query would likely jump to 9 cents from 4 cents today), and cost savings from operations (servers) and headcount reduction. That may add $7 billion or so in immediate valuation, or around $5 per share, say some experts we’ve talked to (less than half the premium Microsoft is offering). It’s also likely that Yahoo would see a gradual decline in search volume if they were to outsource to Google (as has happened with AOL, which moved to Google search in 2002 and has dropped from 30% to less than 5% market share). Expect Yahoo to take the same hit over time.

There is also the strong likelihood that any deal reached between Yahoo and Google would be rejected by U.S. regulatory authorities. In the meantime, however, all the best Yahoo search employees will have left the company to take more stable jobs. In the event the deal was rejected, Yahoo would find itself in a nightmare, having lost scores or hundreds of its best employees and without the Google revenue. Sure they’d be independent, but their stock price could be a fraction of the $19 they saw the day before the Microsoft offer.

It’s fairly certain that Yahoo will continue to use the threat of a deal with Google to try to increase Microsoft’s offer a few dollars per share. But the threat isn’t (or at least, shouldn’t be) real, and both sides know it.

Scanning Your Money to the Bank

Here’s advance word of another bit of Rorschach technology: Some people will look at is a great innovation; others as a solution to a problem they don’t have.

Soon you will be able to deposit checks by scanning them at home and sending them electronically to your bank. No need to visit a branch or even an ATM. This is possible because of the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act, passed in 2003, which allows banks to exchange electronic images of checks. Already about half of all checks are scanned by businesses or the banks they are deposited into and not shipped in bags back to the banks on which they were drawn.

Fiserv, the big transaction services company, has announced new software that will enable banks to let home users deposit checks by scanning them. It already has a similar service for small and medium businesses. USAA, the financial services company that serves the military, has offered deposits through scanners for two years, but the idea has not yet caught on. The time is right for such a service, said Rodney Springhetti, a Fiserv vice president of business development. The technology has been debugged through several years of working with businesses, and meanwhile consumers increasingly have scanners at home, largely in the form of all-in-one printer units.

To use the service, consumers would sign onto their bank’s Web site, activate a piece of software, type in the amount, and then scan the front and back side of each check they want to deposit. The bank has the option of immediately sending the check image to be cleared or to have a human review it first. Mr. Springhetti said that some banks may charge an extra fee for this service, but others may give it free to customers. He expects it will be especially popular among brokerage firms and banks that deal with more affluent customers.

Fraud, of course, is an issue. Where there are scanners, of course, there may be Photoshop. And a scanner can’t detect all the anti-fraud features now built into paper checks, such as special stock and watermarks. Banking groups are developing new anti-fraud technologies that can be detected by scanners, but these have not been widely deployed. Unlike credit cards, which have strict federal anti-fraud rules, each bank sets its own policies for check fraud.

Still, Mr. Springhetti, said there are ways to combat fraud. Fiserv and others do have software meant to analyze images for signs of fakery. And there are other models that look for suspicious patterns of behavior that may indicate fraud.
Put me down in the category of people who would be glad to use this sort of thing, assuming it was free. Diverting myself to make a deposit in the bank adds nothing to my life. But it also shows that there is something seriously out of whack about the way the banking system has evolved.

In the electronic age, there really isn’t a need to use paper at all to get money from one bank’s computer to another bank’s computer. But the system of routing and account numbers used for direct deposit is simply too cumbersome to use for payments. It can’t be that hard to figure out a better way. But for now, we’re either going to the bank or trying to get our scanners to work right.

[ NY Bits Reports ]

A Memory Breakthrough (Phase-Change memory to replace flash Memory)

Over the past decade, flash memory has changed the electronics landscape, giving us robust storage in tiny devices such as iPods and cell phones. As chip sizes shrink, however, engineers know there will be limits to flash performance, and they have been eyeing a replacement technology called phase-change memory. Today, Intel announced a research advance that doubles the storage capacity of a single phase-change memory cell. This new approach is also implemented in the chip via algorithms so that it won't add cost to the existing phase-change memory fabrication process.

Phase-change memory differs from other solid-state memory technologies such as flash and random-access memory because it doesn't use electrons to store data. Instead, it relies on the material's own arrangement of atoms, known as its physical state. Previously, phase-change memory was designed to take advantage of only two states: one in which atoms are loosely organized (amorphous), and another where they are rigidly structured (crystalline).

But in a paper presented at the International Solid State Circuits Conference in San Francisco, researchers illustrated that there are two more distinct states that fall between amorphous and crystalline, and that these states can be used to store data.

Much more memory: A memory cell (shown above) in a phase-change memory chip stores data by maintaining a particular physical state, or orientation of atoms. A heater in the cell (the dark vertical line) heats the material so that can change states. Previously, only two states were used. Intel has now shown that there are two more distinct states that can be used to store data, effectively doubling the capacity of a memory cell. Credit: Intel

To make their memory cells, Intel and partner ST Microelectronics used a material called GST, a type of glass that has physical states responsive to heat. A tiny heater, controlled by algorithms in the chip, changes the state of the GST by heating a memory cell until it reaches one of four distinct states. (Older systems used the same approach but only worked with two states.) Intel's chief technology officer, Justin Rattner, says the researchers used novel programming algorithms to alter the amount of heat each cell receives, thus controlling its state: "We can do this successfully with a reasonably sized array, and do it at speeds that are commercially viable," he says. The cell is then read by measuring its electrical resistance between two electrodes. The resistance indicates the state of the cell because each state has distinct electrical properties.

By adding two bits per cell, Intel and ST Microelectronics have put phase-change memory on par with today's flash technology, says H.-S. Philip Wong, professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University. Intel has already mastered a similar trick with flash memory in which more than one bit can be stored per memory cell, he says, so this is a logical progression for phase-change memory. "It's rather important to develop this multi-bit storage technology," says Wong. "If you can't do it, then you're disadvantaged by a factor of two."

One of the features that makes phase-change so compelling as a flash alternative is that it has the same benefits as flash with faster speed, says Jim Handy, an analyst at Objective Analysis, a semiconductor market research firm. Like flash, phase-change memory is a non-volatile memory that can store bits even without a power supply. But unlike flash, data can be written to cells much faster, at rates comparable to the dynamic and static random-access memory (DRAM and SRAM) used in all computers and cell phones today. Currently, Handy explains, computer- and cell-phone engineers use DRAM or SRAM combined with flash. DRAM and SRAM are used to read and write data quickly; flash is used to store data when the power is off. "Handset manufacturers are excited about phase-change memory," Handy says, "because it looks like they could get rid of two of the chips [flash and DRAM] and replace them with one phase-change memory chip."

Phase-change memory has made a lot of progress in the past few years, Wong adds. "A few years ago it looked promising," he says. "But now it's going to happen. There's no doubt about it."

Microsoft Proposes Acquisition of Yahoo! for $44.6 billion

Microsoft Corp. today announced that it has made a proposal to the Yahoo! Inc. Board of Directors to acquire all the outstanding shares of Yahoo! common stock for per share consideration of $31 representing a total equity value of approximately $44.6 billion. Microsoft’s proposal would allow the Yahoo! shareholders to elect to receive cash or a fixed number of shares of Microsoft common stock, with the total consideration payable to Yahoo! shareholders consisting of one-half cash and one-half Microsoft common stock. The offer represents a 62 percent premium above the closing price of Yahoo! common stock on Jan. 31, 2008.

Below is the text of the letter that Microsoft sent to Yahoo!’s Board of Directors:

January 31, 2008

Board of Directors
Yahoo! Inc.
701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
Attention: Roy Bostock, Chairman
Attention: Jerry Yang, Chief Executive Officer

Dear Members of the Board:

I am writing on behalf of the Board of Directors of Microsoft to make a proposal for a business combination of Microsoft and Yahoo!. Under our proposal, Microsoft would acquire all of the outstanding shares of Yahoo! common stock for per share consideration of $31 based on Microsoft’s closing share price on January 31, 2008, payable in the form of $31 in cash or 0.9509 of a share of Microsoft common stock. Microsoft would provide each Yahoo! shareholder with the ability to choose whether to receive the consideration in cash or Microsoft common stock, subject to pro-ration so that in the aggregate one-half of the Yahoo! common shares will be exchanged for shares of Microsoft common stock and one-half of the Yahoo! common shares will be converted into the right to receive cash. Our proposal is not subject to any financing condition.

Our proposal represents a 62% premium above the closing price of Yahoo! common stock of $19.18 on January 31, 2008. The implied premium for the operating assets of the company clearly is considerably greater when adjusted for the minority, non-controlled assets and cash. By whatever financial measure you use - EBITDA, free cash flow, operating cash flow, net income, or analyst target prices - this proposal represents a compelling value realization event for your shareholders.

We believe that Microsoft common stock represents a very attractive investment opportunity for Yahoo!’s shareholders. Microsoft has generated revenue growth of 15%, earnings growth of 26%, and a return on equity of 35% on average for the last three years. Microsoft’s share price has generated shareholder returns of 8% during the last one year period and 28% during the last three year period, significantly outperforming the S&P 500. It is our view that Microsoft has significant potential upside given the continued solid growth in our core businesses, the recent launch of Windows Vista, and other strategic initiatives.

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.

In February 2007, I received a letter from your Chairman indicating the view of the Yahoo! Board that "now is not the right time from the perspective of our shareholders to enter into discussions regarding an acquisition transaction." According to that letter, the principal reason for this view was the Yahoo! Board’s confidence in the "potential upside" if management successfully executed on a reformulated strategy based on certain operational initiatives, such as Project Panama, and a significant organizational realignment. A year has gone by, and the competitive situation has not improved.

While online advertising growth continues, there are significant benefits of scale in advertising platform economics, in capital costs for search index build-out, and in research and development, making this a time of industry consolidation and convergence. Today, the market is increasingly dominated by one player who is consolidating its dominance through acquisition. Together, Microsoft and Yahoo! can offer a credible alternative for consumers, advertisers, and publishers. Synergies of this combination fall into four areas:

Scale economics: This combination enables synergies related to scale economics of the advertising platform where today there is only one competitor at scale. This includes synergies across both search and non-search related advertising that will strengthen the value proposition to both advertisers and publishers. Additionally, the combination allows us to consolidate capital spending.

Expanded R&D capacity: The combined talent of our engineering resources can be focused on R&D priorities such as a single search index and single advertising platform. Together we can unleash new levels of innovation, delivering enhanced user experiences, breakthroughs in search, and new advertising platform capabilities. Many of these breakthroughs are a function of an engineering scale that today neither of our companies has on its own.

Operational efficiencies: Eliminating redundant infrastructure and duplicative operating costs will improve the financial performance of the combined entity.

Emerging user experiences: Our combined ability to focus engineering resources that drive innovation in emerging scenarios such as video, mobile services, online commerce, social media, and social platforms is greatly enhanced.

We would value the opportunity to further discuss with you how to optimize the integration of our respective businesses to create a leading global technology company with exceptional display and search advertising capabilities. You should also be aware that we intend to offer significant retention packages to your engineers, key leaders and employees across all disciplines.

We have dedicated considerable time and resources to an analysis of a potential transaction and are confident that the combination will receive all necessary regulatory approvals. We look forward to discussing this with you, and both our internal legal team and outside counsel are available to meet with your counsel at their earliest convenience.

Our proposal is subject to the negotiation of a definitive merger agreement and our having the opportunity to conduct certain limited and confirmatory due diligence. In addition, because a portion of the aggregate merger consideration would consist of Microsoft common stock, we would provide Yahoo! the opportunity to conduct appropriate limited due diligence with respect to Microsoft. We are prepared to deliver a draft merger agreement to you and begin discussions immediately.

In light of the significance of this proposal to your shareholders and ours, as well as the potential for selective disclosures, our intention is to publicly release the text of this letter tomorrow morning.

Due to the importance of these discussions and the value represented by our proposal, we expect the Yahoo! Board to engage in a full review of our proposal. My leadership team and I would be happy to make ourselves available to meet with you and your Board at your earliest convenience. Depending on the nature of your response, Microsoft reserves the right to pursue all necessary steps to ensure that Yahoo!’s shareholders are provided with the opportunity to realize the value inherent in our proposal.

We believe this proposal represents a unique opportunity to create significant value for Yahoo!’s shareholders and employees, and the combined company will be better positioned to provide an enhanced value proposition to users and advertisers. We hope that you and your Board share our enthusiasm, and we look forward to a prompt and favorable reply.

Sincerely yours,

Steven A. Ballmer
Chief Executive Officer
Microsoft Corporation