Several months after initial agreement and testing, Google all of a sudden decided it’s too much of a hassle to fight for the Yahoo-Google advertisement deal, and simply decided to walkaway. This coming after Google was directly trying to talk Yahoo! out of Microsoft acquisition at $33 a share seems like a fiance walking away after taking away the girl from her ex-boyfriend, and now Yahoo! are re-opening the door to Microsoft talks, however with their stock price down to $14.53!
Google are usually tough in those legal battles, like when they snapped DoubleClick against all odds, or like when they stood against handing over their customer query logs. So I wonder what made them change their mind at this time. Is it that they no longer fear Microsoft acquisition? Are they relaxed now that Yahoo! stock has fallen so hard there is no way they will sell right now? Is it the fall of Yahoo profits 64% as opposed to 31% increase in last quarter profits for Google. Perhaps this’s made it a bad looking match. Or is it really true Google have just now awakened and saw it too tough to take and no longer worth it.
At all rates, Google have stabbed Yahoo! in the back hard and at a time that just couldn’t be worse, making Yahoo! now turn back begging for past love. If such an acquisition happens, perhaps only then Google would regret.
When Bill Gates annouced his retirement from day-to-day work from Microsoft, I really felt the smartness he has. Going away from the company while still in shape, being able to monitor and direct from far is a pretty smart thing to do. Compare that to Apple, which is just another name for Steve Jobs and you will know what I mean. Many people underestimated the statement though saying he will still be in the board of directors. Either ways, keeping away from day-to-day work was a smart and bold move from him.
Few days ago I was wondering what’s he up to recently. This was around the time I heard rumors about Microsoft putting $10,000,000 on the table for Seinfield to do them promotional ads, as a counter attack to Mac Vs PC ads most likely. I was like, how desperate from them. That big money for an actor not so actively recently. Not to mention he has been previously seen using Macs before. That amount of money made even MacCast podcaster welling to promote Windows. At least I’m sure he thought of it.
Today, I read about the ads and boy was I shocked to see Bill performing in the ads. And what a lousy ad it was. Over 4 minutes of boredom, and pointless shooting. I personally was not able to bare the 4 minutes and has to seek forward to see what’s the point of it. Bill featuring in the ad didn’t do it any good either. He’s just not the character people look for like Jobs is. And when he decided to step down from Microsoft, I really don’t think this is the best way back in. TV Ads. Poor ones as well! I really felt sorry. Take a look and see what you think.
For the record, this is not the first time Microsoft has hired actors for promotional purposes. There was this Jennifer Anniston and Mathew Perry featuring Windows 95! Wasn’t WOW, but was better at least.
UPDATE: Turns out I was right. Sienfield and those type of ads are no more, as Microsoft says they are getting for part 2 of their $300 million campagin. Part 1 wasn’t really good enough for a sequel if you ask me.
BetaNews is reporting on a deal between Microsoft and Nikon that “covers digital cameras made by Nikon as well as a [range] of other consumer products each company manufactures and sells.” according to Microsoft spokesman.
No further details have been revealed yet about the deal between the two, but BetaNews is predicting it could be around the wireless technology. For me, this brings nothing to my mind but the long anticipated Microsoft Surface.
I still remember when I saw videos of this service when it was still in labs. Photosynth from Microsoft is a new technology that is now being open to the public. The technology takes a collection of photos and smartly creates a 3D environment out of them. What’s cool about it is now it’s open to the public, with 20 GB of storage per user, and you can start building your own environments with pictures from your digital camera or even mobile phone.
CNET which is covering the story in much high details is speaking highly of the speed and performance of the new service from Microsoft. There is also a video interview there for you to watch. I think the service is interesting to try, and I will probably try to create a synth or two. This coming from Microsoft, alongside the Microsoft Surface means Microsoft Labs are still not dead, and are capable of bringing new technologies to the market. What I hate about Photosynth however so far is this:
“Operating System: Only Windows XP (SP2 or SP3) and Windows Vista are supported at this time.” - So no Mac, no Linux. Luckily however, Microsoft for once is considering Firefox in their equation “Web Browser:Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 2, and Firefox 3″.
“All synths are public. Your photos will be visible to everyone on the Internet.” - First thing I want to try is my home, and perhaps my home is not something I want to share publicly. Their point of view ofcrouse might be, they are baring the cost of storage, bandwidth, and processing, so what they want in the end is to build more and more 3D environments of the realities.
Thinking of the ultimate goal if this thing is executed properly, if they could create 3D worlds of all the locations which already have a lot of available images on the net, you could search the map for your location, and see 3D views of it instantly.
For a tutorial on how to create a Synth, click here.
When Bill Gates annouced his retirement from day-to-day work from Microsoft, I really felt the smartness he has. Going away from the company while still in shape, being able to monitor and direct from far is a pretty smart thing to do. Compare that to Apple, which is just another name for Steve Jobs and you will know what I mean. Many people underestimated the statement though saying he will still be in the board of directors. Either ways, keeping away from day-to-day work was a smart and bold move from him.
BetaNews is reporting on a 
