Microsoft to delay business software

Three days after saying it will delay the consumer version of its new Windows Vista operating system, Microsoft said Friday that the update to its Office business software package would not appear in stores until January.

The Associated Press reports in The New York Times (25 March) that the new version of Office, the popular package that includes a word processor, Excel spreadsheet and Outlook e-mail software, had been expected to be widely released by the end of this year.

In a statement, Microsoft said Office 2007 would be completed in October as planned and would be available at that time to large customers that buy software licenses in bulk. But it will not hit retail shelves until January, to coincide with Windows Vista's retail debut.

{mospagebreaktitle=Talks for Lucent may signal end for 90's symbol}Talks for Lucent may signal end for 90's symbol

Lucent Technologies, the phone equipment maker that became a symbol of last decade's boom-and-bust cycle in telecommunications, is in negotiations to be acquired by Alcatel of France for about US$12.6 billion, people close to the discussions has said.

The New York Times reports (24 March) that the two companies confirmed the talks in a statement, saying they were "engaged in discussions about a potential merger of equals."

After several years of mergers on a huge scale among telephone companies '” local, long-distance and wireless '” a deal for Lucent would be the first big step toward a shakeout among the companies that make the equipment for the phone service providers, reports the newspaper.

The report says that the prospect of a big trans-Atlantic deal comes at a time when foreign takeovers have been political flashpoints in both Washington and Paris. A Dubai company's acquisition of some United States port terminals created an uproar in Congress, while the French government has sought to thwart cross-border takeovers in energy and pharmaceuticals.

But, according to the NYT., people involved in the talks said the negotiations had advanced in the last week, but cautioned that they could still fall apart. These people said the disclosure of the talks could delay or derail any such deal.

The newspaper says that the talks come nearly five years after the two companies called off what would have been a US$22.8 billion merger. That aborted deal had been constructed as a merger of equals but fell apart after the companies could not agree on how much control Alcatel would have.

{mospagebreaktitle=Google Finance: reaction}Google Finance: reaction

The New York Times, in a 25 March report, says reaction has been mixed, but mostly positive, to Google Finance, which went live last week.

Despite a few bugs, most Google watchers seem to like the service's features, which include news items keyed to stock charts; recent company-specific blog posts; and pop-up information on corporate officers, the newwspaper reports.

But, according to the NYT., what has US commentators talking the most, though, is what it means for Google, which has prided itself on a minimalist approach and an emphasis on directing users to content rather than providing it.

The Good Morning Silicon Valley blog wonders, "Now that Google's doing chat and financial advice, can horoscopes be far behind?"

On his Searchblog (battellemedia.com), John Battelle writes that "this marks a rolling shift at Google."

"The company is getting into publishing, whether or not it wants to admit it," says Battelle, reports the newspaper.

A Forrester Research analyst, Charlene Li, concludes that "Google has done a very, very nice job pulling together a financial portal," the NYT reports.

{mospagebreaktitle=Sony boosts marketing spending to push HDTV}Sony boosts marketing spending to push HDTV

Sony's US unit plans to push marketing spending to record levels this year to fuel sales of high-definition electronics such as televisions, camcorders and DVD players, a senior executive told Reuters.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (24 March) that cheaper TVs, more broadcast channels, and the launch of next-generation Blu-ray DVD players that will allow consumers to make their own high-definition viewing choices are all expected to spur demand for HD components.

Sony Electronics, one of the world's biggest consumer electronics makers, had an estimated US$100 million advertising account annually, though it nearly doubled that spending toward the end of 2005 to push flat panel televisions, digital music players and other devices, according to trade reports, reports Reuters.

According to Reuters, now Sony plans to spend hundreds of million of dollars more on marketing in the coming year. A Sony spokesman said the planned budget represents ``a significant bump'' from last year.''

{mospagebreaktitle=US telecom execs battle net neutrality demands}US telecom execs battle net neutrality demands

In the US., telecommunications providers like AT&T intensified their efforts last week to persuade US policymakers to avoid imposing regulations on the Internet for services like streaming movies and unfettered Web access.

Reuters reports in The New York Times that the ``network neutrality'' battle in Washington pits high-speed internet operators against content and application providers. Network owners want to sell tiers of service to reflect bandwidth usage, while the content companies fear they will be shunted to the slow lane of the internet or shut out unless they pay more for dedicated network service.

According to Reuters, the issue dominated the annual convention of big and small carriers held by the US Telecom Association (USTA), as they stepped up efforts to influence lawmakers and regulators who are mulling whether new rules or laws are necessary.

AT&T, BellSouth and Verizon Communications executives spent the week criticising demands for network neutrality laws at almost every opportunity.

Reuters says that AT&T, BellSouth and Verizon say they do not intend to block internet content and prefer to make commercial bandwidth deals with content companies such as internet retailer Amazon.com or web search engine Google.USTA Chief Executive Walter McCormick pressed the matter with Federal Communications Commission officials who attended.

{mospagebreaktitle=Nintendo urges game makers to innovate}Nintendo urges game makers to innovate

Video game players are tiring of sequels and the industry needs to move to new games to broaden the market, Nintendo's President Satoru Iwata said on Thursday.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (24 March) that he pointed to Nintendo's upcoming Revolution console, which he said could open doors for cash-strapped development teams that may have the next ``Tetris,'' the iconic puzzle game that came out of Russia in the mid-1980s and remains wildly popular today.

Revolution will compete with Microsoft's XBox 360 and Sony's upcoming PlayStation 3.

Reuters says that video game development costs are on the rise amid intense pressure to turn out sure-fire hits, and Iwata said the industry's reliance on sequels as a way to limit those risks has begun to wear thin with game players.

{mospagebreaktitle=Apple Computer set to mark 30th birthday}Apple Computer set to mark 30th birthday

Apple Computer celebrates its 30th birthday in a week.

The Associated Press reports that Apple's brand name and products -- from the Mac to the iPod -- resonate as both hip and innovative. For all of its recent successes, however, Apple also has its share of challenges ahead as it matures into a digital media provider.

The AP report in The New York Times (25 March) says that Apple's journey began in 1976 when two college dropouts -- Jobs, a marketing whiz, and his friend Steve Wozniak, an engineering genius -- filed partnership papers on April Fools' Day, their eyes set on building and selling personal computers. Another friend, Ron Wayne, opted out of the risky venture within two weeks.

The report says that their first product was a build-it-yourself computer kit. A year later, in 1977, the Apple II microcomputer was born. It was not the first personal computer but it was the most successful -- a hit not just among engineers, but home users, too. Many credit the Apple II as the genesis of the personal computer revolution, says AP.

According to AP., Apple's cultural and technological influences only grew from there. Some of the California-based company's creations have been duds that failed to make it any money, but became a source of inspiration and income for others.

The report says that the Apple Lisa, introduced in 1983, used an innovative icon- and mouse-based graphical user interface that laid the foundation of today's computers and replaced the previous arcane text-based systems. But the Lisa was a commercial flop, says AP, adding that its high price-- US$9,995 -- sent business users to PCs from rival IBM.

But, says AP.,the hugely successful -- and more affordable -- Apple Macintosh followed in 1984, giving birth to desktop publishing by allowing users to create their own newsletters or printed material.

The report adds that Microsoft eventually copied the user-friendly graphical interface and licensed its Windows software to manufacturers who copied the IBM PC. The clones proliferated while Macintosh sales were hobbled by Apple's decision not to license its software to other hardware makers.

{mospagebreaktitle=Extra costs a worry for next-gen DVD adoption}Extra costs a worry for next-gen DVD adoption

Consumers about to face a confusing and expensive choice between two conflicting standards for high-definition DVDs will face further costs to upgrade their entertainment systems if they want to enjoy all the benefits of the new movie players, according to a Reuters report in The New York Times (24 March).

Reuters says that Hollywood and electronics makers have aligned themselves behind two warring formats called Blu-ray, led by Sony, and HD DVD, championed by Toshiba, which on Thursday said it may delay its launch from late March to mid-April.

``I don't think all the challenges and costs of next-generation DVDs have been realised by consumers yet,'' analyst Paul-Jon McNealy of American Technology Research told Reuters.

Reuters says that the two format groups hope to breath new life into the US$24 billion home video market. But their failure to use a unified format has paved the way for a costly battle similar to the VHS/Betamax video war 25 years ago that caused widespread customer confusion, according to Reuters.

{mospagebreaktitle=Toshiba wins flash memory patent suit vs Hynix}Toshiba wins flash memory patent suit vs Hynix

A Tokyo court on Friday said it had ordered the Japanese unit of Hynix Semiconductor to halt its NAND flash memory sales in Japan after Toshiba filed a patent lawsuit against its South Korean rival.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (24 March) that the ruling may give a boost to Toshiba in the fast-growing memory product market.

But Hynix said it planned to appeal against the ruling, which would nevertheless only affect sales of some of its NAND flash memory products in Japan. Following the court decision, Hynix's shares briefly fell as much as 3.7 percent.

Reuters says that a spokesman for the Tokyo District Court also said it had ordered the Hynix unit to pay 7.84 million yen (US$66,550) in damages to Toshiba, the world's second-largest maker of NAND-type flash memory chips behind Samsung Electronics.

According to the report, Toshiba filed the suit against Hynix at the district court in 2004 for what it said was the infringement of patents on NAND flash memory chips, which are seeing explosive growth as they are widely used in digital cameras and portable music players such as Apple Computer Inc's iPod nano.

{mospagebreaktitle=Micro electronics in a single molecule}Micro electronics in a single molecule

The New York Times reports (24 March) that, in an advance suggesting that a new kind of ultrasmall computing circuit may one day be produced using conventional chip-making equipment, IBM researchers have succeeded in fashioning an electronic circuit around a single carbon nanotube molecule, the company reported Thursday in the journal Science.

The researchers wrote that their approach could be used to simplify the manufacturing of molecular electronic circuits.

According to the newspaper, Molecular electronics is an effort to build a Lilliputian world of logic and memory circuits that are less than one-tenth the size of today's most advanced microelectronic components.

Researchers pursuing the new technology say they think it will make it possible to continue to scale down component size after the middle of the next decade, when today's technologies are expected to reach fundamental limits, the report says.

The NYT says that the IBM researchers said they were pursuing a hybrid approach that might one day blend some aspects of today's microelectronics, which has been optimised by printing circuits on silicon wafers, with new materials that make far smaller transistors possible.

{mospagebreaktitle=New rules would regulate paid politacal web ads}New rules would regulate paid politacal web ads

In the US., the Federal Election Commission proposed new rules Friday that would leave almost all internet political activity unregulated. The proposal would, however, require paid advertisements for federal candidates on the internet to be paid for with money regulated by federal campaign law.

The Associated Press reports in The New York Times (25 March) that there has been an explosion of political activity on the internet and political bloggers who offer diverse views say they should be free of government regulation.

In a summary of the proposal, the FEC said the rules ''are intended to ensure that political committees properly finance and disclose their internet communications, without impeding individual citizens from using the internet to speak freely regarding candidates and elections.''