Google Inc said it would shut down its three-dimensional virtual experience website by year end to focus more on its core search, advertisements and applications business.
The company said in its blog it supports experimentation but added: "We've also always accepted that when you take these kinds of risks not every bet is going to pay off."
Lively, which features real-time virtual world characters known as avatars and three-dimensional graphics to congregate in virtual rooms, was launched in July to match Linden Lab's popular Second Life.
"Between now and the end of the year we encourage you to capture all your hard work by taking videos and screenshots of your rooms," the blog said.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Google CEO Schmidt lays out US energy ideas
The United States should use part of any future economic stimulus package to connect wind turbines and solar energy to the nation's electricity grid, said Google Inc Chief Executive Eric Schmidt, an advisor to President-elect Barack Obama.
In a wide-ranging speech, Schmidt, who has been mentioned as a candidate to become Obama's chief technology officer, argued on Tuesday that the United States should begin investing heavily in bringing wind and solar power into the mainstream.
"There is no grid where the wind and the solar is. The people are in the cities. So the simplest thing that we have to do is we have to address the grid problem," said Schmidt, a member of president-elect Obama's economic advisory transition team, although not speaking in that role.
"You have a command and control (power) grid designed in the 1960s," Schmidt told a New America Foundation event.
Schmidt also said slowing the growth of energy consumption was important, and called for a plan to give matching funds to state utilities working to improve energy efficiency, and differential tax treatment for more efficient cars.
Senate Democrats have proposed a $100 billion economic stimulus package, although hopes are fading that it will passed during a short legislative session this week.
The bill, which Obama supports, would include $13.5 billion for road, bridge, mass transit and other construction projects and nearly $38 billion to help states pay Medicaid health-care costs for the poor.
Obama, who will be sworn in as president on Jan. 20, has said if Congress does not pass such a measure this year, it would be at the top of his agenda once he becomes president.
Through its philanthropic arm, Google.org, the company is backing start-ups designing wind, solar and geothermal technologies, which it hopes will eventually be cheaper than coal-based electricity. Google invested $45 million in such companies this year.
Schmidt pointed to the role that government grants to universities played in creating the Internet. "Why don't we do the same thing with the energy grid?" he asked.
"If you're going to spur economic growth you've got to focus on infrastructure research and development and energy," he said. "These are jobs programs."
And that grid should also power America's cars, he said. "Our dependence on imported oil is a huge drain. How many wars has oil created?" he said.
He said federal money for basic science has dwindled in recent years and that the private sector cannot do everything.
He called for a balanced approach to regulation, as opposed to the "extreme version of the free-market approach" of recent years.
In a wide-ranging speech, Schmidt, who has been mentioned as a candidate to become Obama's chief technology officer, argued on Tuesday that the United States should begin investing heavily in bringing wind and solar power into the mainstream.
"There is no grid where the wind and the solar is. The people are in the cities. So the simplest thing that we have to do is we have to address the grid problem," said Schmidt, a member of president-elect Obama's economic advisory transition team, although not speaking in that role.
"You have a command and control (power) grid designed in the 1960s," Schmidt told a New America Foundation event.
Schmidt also said slowing the growth of energy consumption was important, and called for a plan to give matching funds to state utilities working to improve energy efficiency, and differential tax treatment for more efficient cars.
Senate Democrats have proposed a $100 billion economic stimulus package, although hopes are fading that it will passed during a short legislative session this week.
The bill, which Obama supports, would include $13.5 billion for road, bridge, mass transit and other construction projects and nearly $38 billion to help states pay Medicaid health-care costs for the poor.
Obama, who will be sworn in as president on Jan. 20, has said if Congress does not pass such a measure this year, it would be at the top of his agenda once he becomes president.
Through its philanthropic arm, Google.org, the company is backing start-ups designing wind, solar and geothermal technologies, which it hopes will eventually be cheaper than coal-based electricity. Google invested $45 million in such companies this year.
Schmidt pointed to the role that government grants to universities played in creating the Internet. "Why don't we do the same thing with the energy grid?" he asked.
"If you're going to spur economic growth you've got to focus on infrastructure research and development and energy," he said. "These are jobs programs."
And that grid should also power America's cars, he said. "Our dependence on imported oil is a huge drain. How many wars has oil created?" he said.
He said federal money for basic science has dwindled in recent years and that the private sector cannot do everything.
He called for a balanced approach to regulation, as opposed to the "extreme version of the free-market approach" of recent years.
Microsoft to offer free security software
Microsoft Corp said Wednesday it will discontinue sales of its subscription PC security service and instead offer free software to help protect computers from viruses, spyware and other threats.
With the move, the software giant appears to be taking aim at McAfee Inc and Symantec Corp, its chief rivals in the PC security market.
Microsoft plans to halt sales of its Windows Live OneCare service on June 30. The service being discontinued costs $49.95 a year and covers up to three PCs.
The new security program, which the company has code-named "Morro," will be available as a free download in the second half of next year.
Morro is designed to work with smaller, less powerful computers, the company said, which should make it appeal to a wide group of consumers.
However, McAfee said the move is a sign of capitulation on the part of Microsoft. McAfee said OneCare managed to capture less than 2 percent of the market in the two years it has been out.
"Microsoft is giving up," a McAfee spokesman said. "They are now defaulting to a dressed-down free model that doesn't meet consumer security needs."
Microsoft has a history of butting heads with its competitors in the PC security space. In 2006 and 2007, Symantec and McAfee raised concerns that Microsoft had designed Windows Vista to deny them access to to the heart of the operating system, which they needed to protect it from certain kinds of malicious software.
After negotiations, and some prodding from antitrust regulators in Brussels, Microsoft said it would provide the information needed.
Shares of Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft closed up 43 cents, or 2.2 percent, at $19.62. Shares of Cupertino, Calif.-based Symantec finished at $12.40, up 24 cents, or 2 percent, while shares of Santa Clara, Calif.-based McAfee closed up 28 cents at $28.57.
With the move, the software giant appears to be taking aim at McAfee Inc and Symantec Corp, its chief rivals in the PC security market.
Microsoft plans to halt sales of its Windows Live OneCare service on June 30. The service being discontinued costs $49.95 a year and covers up to three PCs.
The new security program, which the company has code-named "Morro," will be available as a free download in the second half of next year.
Morro is designed to work with smaller, less powerful computers, the company said, which should make it appeal to a wide group of consumers.
However, McAfee said the move is a sign of capitulation on the part of Microsoft. McAfee said OneCare managed to capture less than 2 percent of the market in the two years it has been out.
"Microsoft is giving up," a McAfee spokesman said. "They are now defaulting to a dressed-down free model that doesn't meet consumer security needs."
Microsoft has a history of butting heads with its competitors in the PC security space. In 2006 and 2007, Symantec and McAfee raised concerns that Microsoft had designed Windows Vista to deny them access to to the heart of the operating system, which they needed to protect it from certain kinds of malicious software.
After negotiations, and some prodding from antitrust regulators in Brussels, Microsoft said it would provide the information needed.
Shares of Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft closed up 43 cents, or 2.2 percent, at $19.62. Shares of Cupertino, Calif.-based Symantec finished at $12.40, up 24 cents, or 2 percent, while shares of Santa Clara, Calif.-based McAfee closed up 28 cents at $28.57.
New Yahoo CEO must be willing to do Microsoft deal
To impress shareholders, Yahoo Inc's next chief executive needs just one qualification: the willingness to do a deal with Microsoft Corp.
That's because this remains Yahoo's best option, short of a dramatic turnaround plan, analysts said.
But if Microsoft does eventually buy Yahoo, shareholders should brace themselves for a price far lower than the $47.5 billion the software behemoth offered earlier this year.
Wall Street analysts estimate that Microsoft would not offer more than $17-$20 per share for Yahoo, whose stock has fallen below $12 from a high of $30.25 in February.
Online display advertising, a core Yahoo business, has also shrunk as corporate advertisers scale back on Web marketing promotions amid a global economic slump.
Under Chief Executive Jerry Yang, who on Monday agreed to step down from his role once the board finds a replacement, Yahoo searched for alternatives to being bought, exploring partnerships with Google Inc and Time Warner Inc's AOL unit.
But Google, which struck a search advertising deal with Yahoo in June only to abandon it as regulatory concerns grew, is unlikely to come back for more.
Meanwhile, Yahoo's months-long discussions with Time Warner about combining its AOL unit, have not led to a deal so far.
And Microsoft, for all its proclamations to the contrary, still needs Yahoo's assets to bolster its presence in online search and advertising, analysts said.
But the scales will be tipped in Microsoft's favor if and when the new Yahoo CEO does reach out to negotiate a new deal.
"It's not going to be Microsoft calling Yahoo saying, 'We're making a bid for $17 a share'," Needham & Co analyst Mark May said.
"Microsoft is done negotiating with Yahoo. If Yahoo wants to do a deal, its board needs to have full agreement" on the price they want to sell the company for, May added.
Microsoft offered to buy Yahoo for $44.6 billion on Jan. 31, which Yahoo rejected. It sweetened its cash-and-stock bid to $47.5 billion, but withdrew it after talks fell apart on price.
Microsoft later came back with a proposal to buy Yahoo's search assets, but Yahoo turned it down as well, choosing to team up with archrival Google instead.
Yahoo and Time Warner also began talking about a deal under which Yahoo would fold AOL's online content and advertising assets into its operations, with Time Warner taking a stake in the combined company, sources have told Reuters.
Despite advanced talks, a deal hasn't happened because of challenges to valuing the businesses given the weak advertising market and Yahoo's falling stock price, as well as concerns over integrating the platforms, the sources have said.
Analysts have been skeptical about such a deal because they don't believe it would dramatically improve Yahoo's earnings.
"Yahoo-AOL? What would that bring to the table? There's no point in having a marriage of convenience. It's not going to last," said Mukul Krishna, global digital media director at Frost & Sullivan, a research and consulting firm.
Krishna said Yahoo's shareholders are looking for something more tangible to offset the stock's losses.
Yahoo needs either a substantial turnaround plan, complete with cost-cutting and a "roadmap to profitability," or an acquisition by Microsoft to satisfy investors, Krishna said.
"Microsoft will be only too happy to restart the conversation, but it will be calling the shots," he said.
Activist investor Carl Icahn's presence on Yahoo's board may help bring Microsoft to the table, analysts said.
Icahn, a major Yahoo shareholder, has publicly reiterated hopes of a Yahoo-Microsoft deal several times. He did not return calls seeking comment.
Analysts said they expect Microsoft to eventually come back because it needs Yahoo nearly as much as Yahoo needs it.
"Microsoft wants Yahoo's search audience, the traffic, the clicks," Needham's May said. "They want to have as much as Google does. So it's important for Microsoft to have a big presence in search and display."
But Cowen & Co analyst Jim Friedland said Microsoft is unlikely to want to rush into talks with Yahoo even with a new CEO knocking on its door.
Both companies are seeing declines in their Web businesses due to the global economic downturn, and as Yahoo's "only potential buyer," Microsoft can take its time, he said.
That's because this remains Yahoo's best option, short of a dramatic turnaround plan, analysts said.
But if Microsoft does eventually buy Yahoo, shareholders should brace themselves for a price far lower than the $47.5 billion the software behemoth offered earlier this year.
Wall Street analysts estimate that Microsoft would not offer more than $17-$20 per share for Yahoo, whose stock has fallen below $12 from a high of $30.25 in February.
Online display advertising, a core Yahoo business, has also shrunk as corporate advertisers scale back on Web marketing promotions amid a global economic slump.
Under Chief Executive Jerry Yang, who on Monday agreed to step down from his role once the board finds a replacement, Yahoo searched for alternatives to being bought, exploring partnerships with Google Inc and Time Warner Inc's AOL unit.
But Google, which struck a search advertising deal with Yahoo in June only to abandon it as regulatory concerns grew, is unlikely to come back for more.
Meanwhile, Yahoo's months-long discussions with Time Warner about combining its AOL unit, have not led to a deal so far.
And Microsoft, for all its proclamations to the contrary, still needs Yahoo's assets to bolster its presence in online search and advertising, analysts said.
But the scales will be tipped in Microsoft's favor if and when the new Yahoo CEO does reach out to negotiate a new deal.
"It's not going to be Microsoft calling Yahoo saying, 'We're making a bid for $17 a share'," Needham & Co analyst Mark May said.
"Microsoft is done negotiating with Yahoo. If Yahoo wants to do a deal, its board needs to have full agreement" on the price they want to sell the company for, May added.
Microsoft offered to buy Yahoo for $44.6 billion on Jan. 31, which Yahoo rejected. It sweetened its cash-and-stock bid to $47.5 billion, but withdrew it after talks fell apart on price.
Microsoft later came back with a proposal to buy Yahoo's search assets, but Yahoo turned it down as well, choosing to team up with archrival Google instead.
Yahoo and Time Warner also began talking about a deal under which Yahoo would fold AOL's online content and advertising assets into its operations, with Time Warner taking a stake in the combined company, sources have told Reuters.
Despite advanced talks, a deal hasn't happened because of challenges to valuing the businesses given the weak advertising market and Yahoo's falling stock price, as well as concerns over integrating the platforms, the sources have said.
Analysts have been skeptical about such a deal because they don't believe it would dramatically improve Yahoo's earnings.
"Yahoo-AOL? What would that bring to the table? There's no point in having a marriage of convenience. It's not going to last," said Mukul Krishna, global digital media director at Frost & Sullivan, a research and consulting firm.
Krishna said Yahoo's shareholders are looking for something more tangible to offset the stock's losses.
Yahoo needs either a substantial turnaround plan, complete with cost-cutting and a "roadmap to profitability," or an acquisition by Microsoft to satisfy investors, Krishna said.
"Microsoft will be only too happy to restart the conversation, but it will be calling the shots," he said.
Activist investor Carl Icahn's presence on Yahoo's board may help bring Microsoft to the table, analysts said.
Icahn, a major Yahoo shareholder, has publicly reiterated hopes of a Yahoo-Microsoft deal several times. He did not return calls seeking comment.
Analysts said they expect Microsoft to eventually come back because it needs Yahoo nearly as much as Yahoo needs it.
"Microsoft wants Yahoo's search audience, the traffic, the clicks," Needham's May said. "They want to have as much as Google does. So it's important for Microsoft to have a big presence in search and display."
But Cowen & Co analyst Jim Friedland said Microsoft is unlikely to want to rush into talks with Yahoo even with a new CEO knocking on its door.
Both companies are seeing declines in their Web businesses due to the global economic downturn, and as Yahoo's "only potential buyer," Microsoft can take its time, he said.
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