Yahoo Ends Talks With Microsoft, Possibly Nears Google Deal

Yahoo has ended its talks with Microsoft about a deal narrower in scope than a full acquisition, Yahoo revealed on Thursday.
Instead, the company is nearing an agreement with Google involving its search advertising business, The Wall Street Journal reported. Yahoo made no mention of such a deal in a statement it issued late Thursday afternoon. Such deals are typically announced either before U.S. financial markets open in the morning or after they close at 4 p.m. Eastern time.
Yahoo said it has concluded talks with Microsoft because Microsoft was only interested in purchasing Yahoo's search business, not all of the company.
With respect to this, Yahoo's board decided "that such a transaction would not be consistent with the company's view of the converging search and display marketplaces, would leave the company without an independent search business that it views as critical to its strategic future and would not be in the best interests of Yahoo stockholders," the company said in a statement.
Microsoft on Thursday confirmed that it was not interested in rebidding for all of Yahoo, but had been seeking an "alternative transaction" that it believed would bring Yahoo shareholders more than US$33 per share, according to a statement. $33 per share had been Microsoft's previous final bid for all of Yahoo.
Microsoft said this alternative transaction remains on the table, and did not confirm that talks between it and Yahoo have concluded.
After Microsoft ended its acquisition bid for Yahoo on May 3, the companies acknowledged that they were in talks for an unspecified deal that most observers assumed involved Yahoo's search-advertising business.
Yahoo and Google had also been in talks about a search-advertising deal for several months, a deal that Microsoft cited as one of its primary reasons for ending its acquisition bid.
In April, Yahoo announced that it would test running Google ads along with its search results. Afterward, the companies said the test had gone well, but declined to provide more details on whether they would seek a longer-term, more formal, search ad deal.
Microsoft and Yahoo failed to come to terms on either a full or partial acquisition after months of on-again, off-again negotiations. Yahoo now faces the possibility of its board members being voted out by shareholders in a proxy battle spurred by billionaire investor Carl Icahn.
Icahn and Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock have been trading barbs in public letters back and forth for the past week and a half as Icahn increased public criticism of how Yahoo has mishandled its dealings with Microsoft. On Friday he told Yahoo's board to offer itself up for sale to the software giant for $49.5 billion and be done with it. Icahn also said he would seek to replace Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang if his proxy bid is successful.
In response, Yahoo's board has defended its actions of the past several months. Through this public disagreement between Icahn and Yahoo, Microsoft has remained noticeably silent, so it was never clear if the company was still interested in purchasing Yahoo for that price or any other.
Thursday's news likely will inspire more ire from Icahn, though it's not clear what he would do with Yahoo if he is successful in ousting its board but cannot find another company to purchase Yahoo.
On May 15, Icahn sent a letter to Yahoo's board announcing he is nominating 10 candidates to replace all incumbent directors at the company's shareholders meeting in July. A few days later Microsoft and Yahoo said publicly that they were both open to negotiating another deal, although not one for Microsoft to totally purchase Yahoo but instead to buy only pieces of the company.
Icahn's move and the possible shake up of Yahoo's board may have led one director, Edward Kozel, to resign on May 22. His resignation prompted Yahoo to push its shareholder meeting back to August and to operate with only nine directors until then.
Icahn's actions came after Microsoft and Yahoo failed to come to an agreement after two months of haggling on a price.
On Feb. 11, Yahoo rejected Microsoft's Feb. 1 official bid for the company of about $44.6 billion, claiming it was too low. This set about several weeks of negotiations between the companies.
During that time, Yahoo did everything it could to avoid an acquisition by Microsoft, seeking other suitors and striking the deal with Google to test Google's AdSense for Search service as one of the Web publishers that carry pay-per-click text ads from Google.
Yahoo also attempted to buy time when Microsoft threatened to mount a proxy battle for the company, which it implied it would do first in a letter to the company on Feb. 12 and later in harsher terms in a letter to Yahoo's board on April 5.
For example, on March 5, Yahoo lifted the following week's deadline for nominating directors to its board, an attempt to discourage Microsoft from trying to replace the current board with members willing to approve its Yahoo acquisition bid.
Yahoo also unveiled a flurry of product and strategy announcements in the months following Microsoft's bid, pointing out that each initiative proved it could continue go it alone as an independent company.
Microsoft eventually pushed the price it was willing to pay for Yahoo up about $5 billion, or to $33 per share, but Yahoo still wasn't happy with the price. Yahoo executives later claimed it was Microsoft that ultimately walked away from the deal the first time.
In the days that followed before Icahn mounted his proxy battle, Microsoft distanced itself from Yahoo and executives said the company was moving on. Yahoo executives, meanwhile, seemed to backpedal when it became clear board members and investors weren't happy with the deal falling through, and said they would be open to being acquired for the right price if Microsoft or another suitor came calling.

Why Li-ion Batteries explode into flames

Lithium-ion batteries are rechargeable battery type, which work by exploiting the movement of lithium ions between the anode and cathode. Because of their low weight to power ratio, the lack of effect of memory and slow absorption of tax loss, they are currently the most popular type of rechargeable batteries available on the market. They are most often used to power portable electronics, but their applications may reach as far as the automotive and aerospace industries.Li-ion batteries also have a bad habit of satiated in flames or explosion even if mishandled, which is not very fun when the equipment drive costs several thousand dollars. For two years, large companies such as Apple or Toshiba I felt the full impact of such anomalous behavior when they were forced to recall and replace the huge number of Li-ion batteries because of fire hazards.But what defines Li-ion batteries to heat up to dangerous levels? To understand why, one must first know some basic concepts regarding the batteries. Typical batteries have two main terminals, the anode (positively charged) and cathode (negative charge). Electricity is stored inside them ELECTROCHEMICAL compounds that mix, to release free electrons, which are then collected in cathode and provide powered device in the form of electric current.The flow of electrons is through an electronic device and then anode, thus forming a loop. Batteries are classified according to type of ELECTROCHEMICAL used to produce it, in the case of Li-ion battery that is fluid containing lithium compound, which is also extremely flammable. In addition, during the manufacturing process some metal fragments have also been created within ELECTROCHEMICAL liquid and although they may not be completely eliminated, their size and number may be limited during the proceedings.In the anode and electronic battery regions are isolated from each other with a separator, which can be easily punctured by metal fragments, if the battery experiences increase in temperature. When this happens brief compound has been found between the anode and cathode, leading to further increases in temperature.Batteries are at risk of replete of melting or flames. Furthermore, since the container holding the ELECTROCHEMICAL is completely sealed from the average, the excessive rise in temperature may cause it to give way under pressure and explode.

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Microsoft Updates Windows Live Hotmail

Microsoft is rolling latest update introduced with Windows Live Hotmail. According to Ellie forces, the Program Director of Windows Live Hotmail, users must begin noticing new features, bug fixes and efficiency of optimizations in weeks came because the update will be gradual.If we take a look at the email service from beta in 2007, the Redmond Company works in all corners with heavy emphasis on speed and stability. Powers stressed that development of Windows Hotmail Live; it must become noticeably-faster and more stable, and not only rich in opportunities. "The classic version is receiving serious sneezed up - we hear your voice and clear that wants quick implementation of the classical version, but loves how the full version lets you move between messages without loading a web page. We are one big step in this message to your favorite running full capacity in the classic version. Here in service Hotmail, we are big fans of the classic version, because everything just worked quickly without waiting, "explained forces. After the integration of renewal of the classical version of Windows Live Hotmail will come a few steps closer to a modern version. Users will enjoy an enhanced experience when it comes to determining access, reading, deleting and checking for new messages or in a box or in different folders. What Microsoft has done is to functionality far from the full version and implements it in the classical building, allowing users to update content without loading the entire web page. "If you are user-pays, we are making it easy to add a non-Hotmail account! All of the The paid users will got notified, there would be a link in their inbox that says" Add e-mail account. If you click on this link, we do make it easier to display messages from its other accounts outside of Hotmail. You can add POP3 account in this way. This feature is in MSN Hotmail and Windows Hotmail live for years but now we are able to automatically create POP3 many accounts, even if they do not know your settings for POP server, "Powers concluded.

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The TouchSmart IQ504 is just a PC while the IQ506 comes with also integrated TV tuner. HP is going to launch the 2 desktop next month in 17 countries, such as UK, US and Japan.

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Yahoo: Our poison pill isn’t ‘nuts’; Icahn guessing at plan costs

Yahoo in an SEC filing fired its latest volley at billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn and defended its employee compensation plan.
The company, embroiled in a proxy war with Icahn, outlined an FAQ that it sent employees. The key excerpts:
Mr. Icahn says this Plan costs $2.4 billion. Is that what it actually costs?
No. An estimate of the amount, if any, payable under the Plan requires making assumptions about unknown facts and variables including: (1) the number of employees who terminate employment without Cause or for Good Reason within the two years following any Change in Control, (2) each such employee’s job level and base salary, (3) the number of equity awards held by each such employee on their respective severance date, the portion of those awards that are not otherwise vested on that date, and the applicable exercise price of any option awards, (4) the market price of the Company’s common stock at the time such awards are ultimately exercised or paid, and (5) the length and level of reimbursement for health care benefits and outplacement services utilized by each such employee.
Mr. Icahn quotes the $2.4 billion estimate, taken out of context, from a complaint filed in litigation against the company. This number is necessarily based on a number of assumptions, including the assumption that all of Yahoo!’s employees are terminated without Cause or leave for Good Reason following a Change in Control. No one believes that such an assumption is reasonable. For the record, the same preliminary analysis referenced in the lawsuit and relied on by Mr. Icahn and using the same assumptions (including a $35 per share stock price) as those underlying the $2.4 billion figure showed that the total payout would be $845 million or $514 million, assuming that 30% or 15% of the employees, respectively, are terminated without Cause or leave for Good Reason following a Change in Control.
Did Yahoo!’s compensation consultant say that the Plan is “nuts”?
No. As indicated above, estimating the cost of the Plan requires making a number of assumptions. Timothy J. Sparks, the president of Compensia, Yahoo!’s compensation consultant firm, explained in a sworn deposition that he used the word “nuts” to describe his opinion of using the assumption that 100 percent of Yahoo!’s employees would actually receive the severance benefits under the Plan to determine cost estimates. Mr. Sparks made clear in his deposition that his remark did not relate to the design or cost of the Plan.
Yes folks, this battle has devolved into the definition and context of the word “nuts” and the rest is the regular Yahoo said, Icahn said.