Tech and Amusing Stuff

“Microsoft Corp. today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Danger Inc., the company responsible for the software and services powering many popular consumer handsets. The acquisition will align Danger’s nearly 10 years of expertise in the mobile consumer space with Microsoft’s vision to provide innovative and compelling mobile experiences to a growing base of customers.

“Microsoft is a global leader with our Windows Mobile software and expanding mobile services,” said Robbie Bach, president of the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. “The addition of Danger serves as a perfect complement to our existing software and services, and also strengthens our dedication to improving mobile experiences centered around individuals and what they like.”

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company provides services that allow people to keep in touch, stay organized and keep informed while on the go through real-time mobile messaging, social networking services and other applications ― all blended together on a single phone that is intuitive and customizable.

“Danger continues to provide an effortless and fun mobile experience for consumers,” said Henry R. Nothhaft, chairman and CEO of Danger Inc. “Now by combining our uncompromised application software and powerful back-end service with Microsoft, we can expand our innovative service offerings even further and take mobility to a new level.”

UPDATE: Enagdget is reporting that Microsoft presumably dropped 500 mill to snatch Danger, not confirmed by Microsoft yet though.

Original source

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Looks like the Microsoft purchase of Yahoo! is going to shake the industry no matter what happens. Now Yahoo! “is considering revisiting talks it held with Google several months ago on an alliance as an alternative to Microsoft’s bid.” Apparently Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt called Jerry Yang to “to offer his company’s help in any effort to thwart” Microsoft’s effort.

Via Reuters

Microsoft proposed to Yahoo’s board of directors a $31 per share (a 62% premium over yesterday’s closing price) or about $44.6 Billion for a merger. Steve Ballmer, CEO sent out a letter to Yahoo with the proposal yesterday, he says: “We have great respect for Yahoo!, and together we can offer an increasingly exciting set of solutions for consumers, publishers and advertisers while becoming better positioned to compete in the online services market.” The two companies have been dicsussing this matter since late 2006.

It also seems to be a response to Google’s threatening growth according to this part of the press release:

“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.”

Official press release

These are all great games, here’s a list if you would like to purchase any of them (through amazon.com)

Bioshock (Xbox 360, PC)

The Orange Box (Playstaion 3, Xbox 360, PC)

Rock band (Playstaion 2, Playstaion 3, Xbox 360)

God of War II (Playstaion 2)

Crysis (PC)

World in Conflict (PC, Xbox 360)

Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360, Playstaion 3, PC)

Forza Motorsport 2 (Xbox 360)

Halo 3 (Xbox 360)

“Microsoft Corp. said today that it would post the release candidate of Windows XP Service Pack 3 to its download site last tonight.

The final version of Windows XP SP3 remains slated for delivery sometime in the first half of 2008, the spokeswoman said. She also warned off casual users from trying the preview. “As this is a release candidate, we strongly encourage only those who are comfortable installing prerelease code to download Windows XP SP3,” she said.”

Story continues….

PC World has boldly declared Vista #1 in their Biggest Tech Disappointments of 2007.

“It’s just that Vista isn’t all that good. Many of the innovations the operating system was supposed to bring–like more efficient file and communications systems–got tossed overboard as Microsoft struggled to get the OS out the door, some three years after it was first promised. Despite its hefty hardware requirements, Vista is slower than XP.”

More info

“In its first full quarter of sales, the iPhone has already climbed past Microsoft’s entire lineup of Windows Mobile smartphones in North America, according to figures compiled by Canalys and published by Symbian. That puts the iPhone ahead of smartphones running Symbian, Linux, and the Palm OS, but behind the first place RIM BlackBerry. The figures mesh with retail sales data already reported by NPD, which similarly described the size of the US market with a 27% chunk bit out by Apple’s iPhone.”

Story continues…