Web Development Live

Microsoft announcedon Fridaythat it was making a further attemptto acquireYahoo after approaching the company’s board in February 2007. If the deal goes through ?and many think it will ?it could go some way to closing the gapMicrosoft and Yahoo have endured between themselvesand web-adleader Google.

“Microsoft needs to beef up its content capabilities,” said analyst Andy Buss of Canalys. “Google is becoming a behemoth and Microsoft has been feeling left out.” As well as chipping away at Google’s 75 percent share of the online-advertising market, Microsoft also wants to use Yahoo’s online users to drive a move to subscription services, he said.

“Yahoo used to be a leader, but it has been struggling under the onslaught of Google’s development of internet-based services,” said Buss. Combining forces removes one competitor and could build an online presence that might finally reverse Google’s rise, he added.

Microsoft is making no secret of the fact that it wants Yahoo not so much for its technology but its members. The online-advertising business relies on scale, pointed out Chris Liddell, chief financial officer for Microsoft, on a conference call on Friday to discuss the proposed deal.

“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,” wrote Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer in his letter to the Yahoo board.

The two companies combined can get better economies of scale, said Ballmer, to compete with Google, and “offer a credible alternative for consumers, advertisers and publishers”. Microsoft is expected to use Yahoo’s research and development arms to augment its own software-as-a service offerings, and combine the two user bases of Yahoo and MSN/Windows Live into one.

Previously, Google’s mobile search offered a search box and several radio buttons for different types of results ?images, news, the web and so on. Under the new system, Google has mingled all types of results together, and organised it based on what mobile users are most likely to be looking for.

Another tweak is the way the service handles local information ?another main interest of mobile users. Previously, to get local search results, a user would have to enter a postcode along with the search terms and then scroll down to the local business listings button. Now, a user has only to enter the postcode once, and all subsequent searches will remember that location. For instance, a search for a term such a restaurant, coffee shop or weather will take users straight to relevant local information.

Gnome is, along with KDE, one of the two major desktop environments used with Linux-based operating systems. Aside from managing the graphical windowing portion of the OS, it includes a number of applications, such as a web browser, email client, configuration manager and other components.

Gnome is the favoured desktop environment for Ubuntu, the most popular desktop-oriented Linux distribution. According to Ubuntu, it ispreferred by around two-thirds of Ubuntu users, and is also used in embedded devices such as Nokia’s N810 tablet.

One of the more drastic changes in the latest Gnome release is a change to the back-end engine of the built-in Epiphany web browser.From using the same Gecko engine found in Firefox and related browsers, Epiphany will switch to WebKit, the KHTML-based rendering engine found in Apple’s Safari and Mac OS X, KDE’s Konqueror and other applications.

WebKit is integrated with the upcoming Qt v4.4 application development framework. Qt could soon become more widespread in embedded devices followingNokia’s acquisition of Trolltech, Qt’s developer.

That’s the warning from Ian Fogg, research director at JupiterResearch Europe, who was speaking during a Westminster eForum debate on the future of broadband in Britain.

Without investment to improve broadband infrastructure ?such as fibre to the home (FTTH) and fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) ?Fogg said the danger is “the next big thing on the internet may not work in the UK”.

But, even so, Fogg admitted that the business case for fibre is “incredibly hard” as the market has seen a slide in the average price for broadband over the last few years and consumers don’t see why they should pay more for fat-pipe access.

All-IP next-generation networks (NGNs) are being rolled out in the UK ?such as BT’s 21CN ?but NGNs do not solve the problem of legacy copper wiring at street level, from exchanges to cabinets and homes ?an issue known as “next-generation access” (NGA). NGA is the fly in the ointment of faster broadband in the UK.

Antony Walker, chief executive of the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG), told delegates the prospects for early investment in NGA are not good. But he said this is an issue that is likely to trouble small businesses before it annoys consumers, as SMEs might feel they are losing a competitive edge for accessing and competing in global markets where fibre deployments have ?or may ?outstrip the UK.

Consumer demand for upgrading the UK’s broadband infrastructure is less clear cut, Walker said. This point was echoed by Ofcom executive Peter Phillips, partner for strategy and markets development, who said there is still “a lot of uncertainty” about how long current broadband networks will deliver what consumers need.

The speakers at the eForum touched on various applications ?from videoconferencing to greater opportunities for home working to the rise of social networking and even the BBC’s iPlayer ?that might benefit from improved broadband infrastructure. But the general consensus was no “killer app” for NGNs has yet emerged.

JupiterResearch’s Fogg said: “No-one has yet identified that unique application that can only be delivered over next-generation broadband.”

Ofcom’s Phillips added that there may even be some advantage to the UK holding back on broadband development ?to see how things pan out in other countries and learn from their experience. The regulator is currently consulting on NGA.

The stance of the network operators was summed up by Andrew Lazarus, head of regulatory policy and strategy at BT, who said the company “does believe we can get a lot more out of copper”.

Lazarus cited ADSL+ ?coming next year, with top speeds of up to 24Mbps ?and said speeds would still “satisfy a lot of apps”. Issues such as broadband “not spots” ?areas not currently served by fat pipes ?and headline speeds are “not necessarily part of the fibre debate”, according to Lazarus.

Playing in the same space as both Microsoft Office and Google Docs, Sabeer Bhatia’s Live Documents was launched on Wednesday.

Live Documents is a suite of online office applications offering functionality that InstaColl, the company behind the suite, claims is equivalent to Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Built using rich internet applications technologies including Flash and Flex, Live Documents allows users to view and edit documents online within a web browser.

BOSTON A combination of Microsoft and Yahoo could reshape the Internet landscape for millions of Web users: Would the two companies join their online portals? Could they rethink the desktop computer to integrate Web content more directly?The changes are potentially huge, but probably not in the short term.Microsoft executives did not indicate Friday exactly what they would do with Yahoo’s brand if their bid, now valued at $42 billion, is accepted. But analysts expect the combined companies to preserve many of their separate free services, like instant-messaging and e-mail programs.A more likely medium-term change is that some of Microsoft’s Web content could fade away or get added to Yahoo, which has a vast collection of news and features aggregated from other providers.Microsoft’s Web properties, including its Yahoo-like MSN portal, aren’t exactly slouches: They rank third, trailing only Yahoo and Google, in total visitors. But while Yahoo still is profitable, Microsoft’s online services are a consistent money loser. The MSN search engine is a laggard, even with recent efforts to soup it up under Microsoft’s online umbrella it calls “Live.”Having Yahoo in its tent could give Microsoft a rationalization for abandoning its unprofitable online elements.”I think MSN folds into Yahoo,” said Ian Campbell, CEO of Nucleus Research. “It would be foolish to keep that separate.”Perhaps the biggest change Microsoft and Yahoo could achieve together would be creating a better way to combine the Web and desktop computing - not to mention cell phones, TVs, cars and any other gadgets that might someday plug into the Internet.Consumers who access the Web on cell phones and handheld computers might be the first to find something new as a result of a Microsoft-Yahoo combination. Devices that run Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system could be better integrated with Yahoo content and possibly yield new services, like social networking functions.New ideas will be key to compete with Google’s Web presence. After all, people don’t “Microsoft” or “Yahoo” anything. Microsoft in particular tends to be tolerated more than loved. Google is also leading development of an alternative cell-phone operating system it calls Android.Eventually, a teamed-up Yahoo and Microsoft might be able to rethink the PC desktop - where Windows still runs 90 percent of the world’s PCs - so that Internet data such as stock prices, sports scores and weather are automatically baked in.”We all have our home page because we have a concept of a home page,” Campbell said. Before long, “we may not have a home page - it might just be the background of my desktop. There’s no reason why Microsoft can’t push this another level.”Microsoft might also use Yahoo’s online strengths to galvanize Web-based versions of some of its powerful desktop software applications, like Word and Excel.Open-source rivals and Google are threatening to bite into Microsoft’s lucrative Office software franchise with free versions of those kinds of “productivity” software. Microsoft is developing Web-based versions of its own, but slowly.Now Yahoo could be the face through which Microsoft offers those online applications. Perhaps one day a Microsoft-fueled package of “Yahoo Apps” will go up against “Google Apps.”Even with these possibilities, analyst David Mitchell Smith, a vice president at Gartner Inc., believes the biggest change from a Microsoft-Yahoo deal probably will be the one most Web surfers don’t notice. That will come as the companies try to broaden their ability to deliver ads all over the Internet, wherever it reaches.It’s necessary because being the most popular online destination - as Yahoo already is - is no longer enough. The explosion of blogs, video sites and other user-generated content has made our Internet travels more wide-ranging. As a result, the biggest Internet companies now need their ad networks to reach far beyond their home portals. Google has mastered that. Microsoft and Yahoo have not.”I think that’s really what it’s all about,” Smith said. “It’s about advertising. It’s about search.”(This version CORRECTS value of bid to billion sted million; CLARIFIES that deal is now worth 42, not 45, billion.)

SEOUL, South Korea Egyptian wireless company Orascom plans to invest up to $400 million in a new mobile phone network in North Korea, one of the world’s poorest and most tightly controlled societies.Hatim E. El Gammal, an investor relations official with Orascom Telecom Holding S.A.E., said Thursday that the network would be the first based on 3G in North Korea.El Gammal didn’t elaborate on the deal but said construction would begin “in the near future.”Orascom said in a statement on its Web site Wednesday that a joint venture subsidiary, CHEO Technology, would offer services throughout North Korea for 25 years under the terms of the deal and exclusively for the first four years.Orascom, the largest mobile communications company in the Middle East with 65 million subscribers, said it controls 75 percent of CHEO and the rest is held by the state-run Korea Post and Telecommunications Corp.North Korea, a highly militaristic dictatorship in which dissent is severely punished, has lagged far behind its neighbors economically, with development stymied by years of mismanagement and isolation.Still, the country has a working mobile phone network that covers the capital, Pyongyang, and some outlying areas. The network is based on the GSM, or global system for mobile communications, standard.Mobile phone use, though not widespread, was once increasingly visible among North Koreans. Visitors to the country say it has markedly declined since 2004.Orascom’s investment will cover network infrastructure and license fees for the first three years “to rapidly deploy a high quality network and offer voice, data and value added services at accessible prices to the Korean people,” the statement said.The deal “is in line with our strategy to penetrate countries with high population and low penetration by providing the first mobile telephony services,” said Naguib Sawiris, Orascom Telecom’s chairman and CEO.It operates networks in Algeria, Egypt, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Tunisia and Zimbabwe and previously had a business in Iraq.North Korea, which carried out an underground nuclear test in 2006, has been negotiating with the United States and other countries to receive aid and political concessions in exchange for abandoning its nuclear programs.The country has also taken some steps to liberalize its dilapidated economy in recent years, and it courts foreign investment.Alex Kuznetsov, an analyst at Bear Stearns in London, estimates that North Korea will achieve 20 percent wireless penetration in 2012 and Orascom will begin turning a profit on the venture two years before that.Though Kuznetsov acknowledged that political risk is “quite a serious factor” in North Korea, Orascom’s background in other emerging markets suggests it can succeed.Orascom Construction Industries, also of Egypt, said in July last year that it signed a deal with a state-owned North Korean trading firm to acquire a 50 percent stake in a local cement company near Pyongyang.Lafarge SA of France announced in December it was acquiring Orascom’s cement businesses. Lafarge shareholders approved the deal this month.

The top business news from The Associated Press for the morning of Thursday, Jan. 31, 2008:Investors Want More Interest Rate CutsWASHINGTON (AP) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, criticized last year for being too tentative in cutting interest rates, has shown he can act boldly. But the Fed’s two aggressive rate cuts in the past eight days have left investors demanding still more. That may be a sign of how much trouble the economy is facing, with many analysts contending that the country is flirting with a recession and may, in fact, already be in one.—House, Senate at Odds on StimulusWASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate is set to begin voting on dueling economic aid proposals, as senators rush to add jobless benefits and tax rebates for high earners, the elderly, and disabled veterans to a House-passed package. Senate Democrats and some Republicans are teaming up to tack $32 billion onto the House measure with a bill that would send rebates of $500-$1,000 to all but the richest taxpayers. Families also would get $300 for each child. Senators could begin voting as early as Thursday in hopes of completing the package by week’s end.—Starbucks Axes Sandwiches As Part of FixSEATTLE (AP) - The scent of ham, eggs, cheese and bacon will soon stop competing with the aroma of coffee in Starbucks stores as hot breakfast sandwiches become the first casualty of the company’s battle to win back customers. The sandwiches, which will disappear by this fall, boost a typical store’s annual revenue by $35,000, so pulling them off the menu will cost at first. Chairman and Chief Executive Howard Schultz said that proves the company isn’t letting the soft economy distract it from committing to big changes that will pay off over the long haul.—Amazon Expects Sales to Rise in 2008SEATTLE (AP) - This year isn’t looking quite as sweet for Amazon.com shareholders as 2007. Despite a possible recession in the U.S. economy, the Web retailer said it expects sales to rise briskly again in 2008. But the gains won’t translate as readily to bottom-line growth. “A lot of old Amazon bears are going to be growling,” said Tim Boyd, an analyst at American Technology Research.—Sony Quarterly Profit Rises 25 PercentTOKYO (AP) - Sony reported a 25.2 percent jump in profit for the October-December quarter Thursday as its PlayStation video game business stopped losing money after six straight quarters of losses. Profit at the Japanese electronics and entertainment company climbed to 200.2 billion yen ($1.88 billion) for the fiscal third quarter from 159.9 billion yen the same period the previous year.—Super Bowl’s Big Day for TV, Pizza SalesNEW YORK (AP) - Super Bowl Sunday may be the biggest day of the year for football fans, but it’s also a big day for people who sell big screen TVs, recliners and pizza. Yes, some sports fans are willing to pay thousands of dollars for a TV just to watch the game. Jim Ferrero, of Yardley, Pa., has done so twice.—Cost Cuts Push Lenovo Profit Up 198 Pct.BEIJING (AP) - Lenovo Group, the world’s No. 4 personal computer maker, said Thursday that profit in its third fiscal quarter rose 198 percent and forecast strong sales this year despite a possible U.S. economic slowdown. Driven by strong sales and aggressive cost-cutting, profit for the three months that ended Dec. 31 was $172 million, or $1.93 per share, on revenue of $4.6 billion, Beijing-based Lenovo said. That was below the average $253.5 million expected by analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires.—Market Turmoil Felt in Central EuropeWARSAW, Poland (AP) - It took years for Andrzej Solyga to muster the courage to invest in mutual funds. But in June 2007, at the urging of a friend, the Polish sculptor invested 200,000 zlotys ($82,000) in a fund that had been earning rich returns of 50 percent a year, joining a growing number of small investors in Europe’s post-communist countries who finally succumbed to the lure of booming stock markets.—$50M Grant Will Finance Plant ResearchPHOENIX (AP) - A collaboration of botanists and computer scientists is being awarded a $50 million federal grant to conduct research into plant biology with an eye toward resolving global problems related to agriculture, environment and energy production. The five-year National Science Foundation grant announced Wednesday will pay for research on topics such as climate change, development of biomass energy, and agricultural land use, said foundation Director Arden L. Bement. The University of Arizona is leading the project.—Mardi Gras Means Money in New OrleansNEW ORLEANS (AP) - That happy, singsong sound heard on Bourbon Street is trickle-down economics at its best as hundreds of thousands of Carnival season visitors spend themselves silly before Fat Tuesday. The city’s tourism industry, getting back on its feet after Hurricane Katrina, is counting on a big weekend crowd to fill restaurants and hotels leading up to Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras, on Feb. 5.—Gold PricesLONDON (AP) - Gold opened in London Thursday at a bid price of $923.10 per troy ounce, up from $920.85 on Wednesday.—Japan MarketsTOKYO (AP) - Japanese stocks rose Thursday as reports that a troubled U.S. bond insurer had closed an investment deal helped to ease concerns about the subprime loan crisis. The Nikkei stock index rose 247.44 points, or 1.85 percent, to close at 13,592.47 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The index shed 0.99 percent the day before.—Dollar-YenTOKYO (AP) - The dollar fell against the yen in Asia Thursday amid anxieties about U.S. bond insurers and continuing fallout from the subprime mortgage crisis. The U.S. dollar was trading at 106.46 yen at 2:50 p.m. Thursday, down from 106.95 yen late Wednesday in New York. The euro fell to $1.4879 from $1.4898.

MEXICO CITY Mexico indicated Wednesday it expects the downturn in the U.S. will mean much slower growth this year for its own economy, which depends on its northern neighbor for the bulk of its trade and investment.The Treasury Department said it was lowering its forecast for Mexico’s 2008 economic growth to 2.8 percent from 3.7 percent - a 24 percent drop.”It is expected that the prevalent international economic scenario in 2008 will be less favorable for Mexico than what was anticipated,” the department said in a report posted on its Web site.Mexico’s gross domestic product is expected to have grown about 3.2 percent last year, the department said.More than any other country in Latin America, Mexico’s economic fate is tied to the U.S., its partner in the North American Free Trade Agreement. Mexico sends more than 80 percent of its exports to the U.S., which is also Mexico’s largest source of direct foreign investment and remittances.Mexico’s central bank on Wednesday also lowered its growth estimate by half a percentage point - to between 2.75 percent and 3.25 percent, compared to its previous estimate of 3.25 percent to 3.75 percent - also citing the U.S. downturn.Banco de Mexico said it expects there will be 620,000 jobs created in the formal economy this year, down from 756,000 in 2007.The bank also said remittances from Mexicans living abroad - the country’s second-largest source of foreign income after oil - had increased by a modest 1 percent last year compared with 2006, to $23.9 billion.It said it expected similar remittance growth in 2008.The lowered Mexican growth projections came on the same day the U.S. Commerce Department announced a growth rate of just 0.6 percent for the fourth quarter of 2007, the worst rate since 2002. Some fear a recession as U.S. growth - just 2.2 percent for all of 2007 - has stalled due to the ailing housing market and credit tightening.The Treasury Department said, however, there are “diverse factors that will mitigate the effects” of the slowing U.S. and global economy. It cited strong Mexican economic policies, increased spending on infrastructure, housing and other sectors, and anticipated high oil revenues.If it were not for those factors offsetting the U.S. slowdown, “the effect would have been much worse,” said Mauricio Gonzalez, president of the Mexico-based analysis firm Grupo Economistas Asociados.Latin America - especially Mexico - has always been hit hard by U.S. economic downturns. The region as a whole directs 50 percent of its exports to the United States, said Keiji Inoue, an economist at the United Nations.But Latin America is less vulnerable than in past crises, when a case of the sniffles in the U.S. economy prompted full-blown pneumonia across the region, economists say.One of Mexico’s strongest weapons is a huge public-private infrastructure plan proposed by President Felipe Calderon, who promised the government would spend $39 billion annually over his six-year term on roads, bridges, seaports, dams, and oil installations.Calderon noted the coming difficult times for the U.S. and global economy.”What we do not want is that this puts the brakes on the Mexican economy,” he said.In addition to Mexico’s infrastructure plan, the country is “revving the motors of our economy” with housing-construction projects, credit-lending programs, tourism development and diversification of its export markets, Calderon said earlier this month at a ceremony marking the start of construction on an $800 million dam.Such factors will indeed help to lessen the impact of the United States’ economic woes on Mexico, said Gonzalez, who noted that when former President Vicente Fox’s term began in 2000, Mexico’s growth rate dropped from about 6 percent to zero growth due to a U.S. drop from 3 percent to 1 percent.”That was not even a recession,” he said. “This time it’s not going to be that way.”If the U.S. does slip into a recession, the United Nations predicts Latin America as a whole would grow by only 2.6 percent, while Mexico’s growth would slow to about 1 percent, said chief U.N. economist Robert Vos.”That the U.S. downturn will affect us - there can be no doubt,” Gonzalez said.(This version CORRECTS year to 2007 from 2008 in 7th graf. )

WASHINGTON The Energy Department on Wednesday canceled a futuristic, virtually emissions-free coal plant scheduled to be built in Illinois, saying it preferred to spend the money on a handful of projects around the country that would demonstrate the capture and burial of carbon dioxide from commercial power plants.”This restructuring … is an all-around better deal for Americans,” said Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman in making the announcement to scuttle the FutureGen program.Bodman said the Energy Department would solicit industry applications for participation in the new carbon capture projects. The idea is for the government to pay for building the carbon capture and storage facilities and industry to build the modern coal-burning power plant. Each project would be designed to capture 1 million metric tons of CO2, the leading greenhouse gas linked to global warming, officials said.The shift has stunned officials in Illinois, where an industry group announced in December it would build the $1.8 billion FutureGen plant, three-fourths of which was being paid for by the federal government - funds now no longer available.The FutureGen program was envisioned as a unique research project that would trigger development of a virtually pollution-free coal plant where carbon dioxide emissions would be captured and buried deep beneath the earth. It would produce both electricity and hydrogen.First proposed nearly a decade ago with an estimated cost of just under $1 billion, its cost has soared to nearly double that. The project for years had trouble getting adequate funds and some critics long ago dubbed it “Never Gen.” But in 2003, President Bush hailed it as a potential breakthrough in clean coal technology and a key to eventually achieve wider use of hydrogen as a fuel.The FutureGen Alliance issued a statement saying it “remains committed to keeping FutureGen on track” but it was unclear how that would be possible without the federal funding.Michael Mudd, the alliance’s chief executive officer, called the project “America’s best hope for near-zero emission coal technology” as quickly as possible. “It will take four to five years for DOE to evaluate new proposals, place contracts, and conduct environmental reviews for new projects,” said Mudd in a statement on the Alliance’s Web site.The Energy Department on Wednesday cited its concern about the FutureGen cost escalation. Officials said it was preferable to pursue separate clean coal technologies instead of what one official called “a living laboratory” concept. It will begin a process leading to a solicitation of industry bids for projects by the end of the year.”There was a consensus view that the price of this project will only increase,” said Deputy Energy Secretary Clay Sell of the FutureGen program.Sell said FutureGen was viewed has having little prospect of commercial viability. If industry pulled out of the program at some point in the future “it would put taxpayers at risk,” said Sell.The announcement to cancel the program came 43 days after the FutureGen Alliance, the private coalition developing the program, announced it would build the plant in Mattoon, Ill., winning a competition with two other sites in Texas.Illinois’ congressional delegation waged a last ditch, and unsuccessful, appeal to the White House to keep the project intact.Illinois Reps. John Shimkus and Timothy Johnson, both Republicans, contacted President Bush aboard Air Force I.”President Bush did take the time to listen to our concerns,” said Shimkus.Some Illinois officials, noting Bush’s connections to Texas, said they believe the plant was scuttled because the industry group had selected Mattoon, Ill., over a proposed side in Odessa, Tex.Sell called such a charge “outrageous” and said the department had tried to keep the FutureGen Alliance from making a site selection on Dec. 18, so as not to give false hope to the people of Mattoon, where the project would have brought thousands of construction jobs.Sell said he and Bodman learned only last March that FutureGen’s cost had escalated from an original $950 million to $1.8 billion. “I knew (then) that we were in to something that would not end well,” Sell told reporters in a conference call Wednesday.The department will propose as part of its fiscal 2009 budget to be unveiled next Monday $241 million for demonstration programs involving carbon capture and storage from coal-burning power plants, including $156 million related to the FutureGen “restructuring.”