Confirming what Yahoo have already said!

Comments made by Bill Gates in a TV interview would suggest that the deal is dead in the eyes of both Yahoo and Microsoft.

The acquisition question was put to Bill Gates by Tom Brokaw of the NBC network on Friday to mark his last day of full-time work at the software company.

Brokaw asked Gates: “Do you think in a year from now, when you’re down at the [Bill & Melinda Gates] Foundation offices, you’ll look up at Microsoft and see Yahoo as a permanent wing of Microsoft? Do you think the deal will get done? ”

Gates responded: “No, I don’t think so. But there are plenty of decisions ahead that Steve [Ballmer] will get to make about what he invests in, R&D, and what kind of deals he does.

“I don’t think that one’s likely but there are plenty of others that will get done and I’ll look on with great respect.”

Microsoft recently abandoned a $47.5 billion takeover deal after lengthy discussions with Yahoo who were pushing for a higher price per share. More recently, Microsoft had considered buying a 16 per cent stake in Yahoo. This would allow MS to effectively buy the Yahoo search business thereby giving Microsoft a much greater share of the search market and advertising revenues.

Bill Gates depature from Microsoft will allow him to devote most of his time to his philanthropic ventures.

Popularity: 8% [?]

More work required.

RadioFrame Networks has launched market research into how small medium businesses (SMB) use mobile communications for day to day work. The research, carried out by Quocirca, gathered data from 240 SMB’s in the UK, Germany, Sweden and France. Here’s a general overview:

• More than a third of SMBs have problems using their mobilephones at work, and even more so when working from home. However, for many the mobile phone is their first choice when making a call, even when provided with a fixed phone ( SHOCK, HORROR - some small organizations don’t even provide workers with a fixed phone).

• 3G is on its way, but not quite here - over half of allrespondents have no plans to implement 3G phones, but 17% plan to introduce 3G laptops in the coming year, adding to the third that havealready done so.

Research suggests that even though there are many reliable data products on the market there is still a huge demand for high quality voice services. Stands to reason really. Personally, I prefer to talk to another person rather than using email and other messaging services.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Work completed for as little as £5 per project!

I’m not endorsing this. The subtitle is a statement of fact. But many of you know that already and has been comfirmed by Birmingham City University who have detected 1,000 cheating students since 2004.

Students have contracting out coursework for to bidders from countries such as India and Pakistan via sites such as scri… - I’ll let you work it out.

The practice, which is difficult to detect, seems to be growing in popularity with sites springing up on a regular basis in places like Romania and India.

Lecturers have called for academics to pose questions on the content of coursework handed in by students as a means to combat cheating - something that will require a lot of time and effort.

Don’t you just love capitalism? No wonder the UK tech industry is in such a poor state.

Popularity: 7% [?]

…Victorian attitudes.

Did you get that? Based on a recent survey it would appear that flexible working is still frowned upon in the IT industry. 61.1% of technology workers currently work from home or on the move but many feel the industry is slow to adapt. More disturbing is the view of about 1/5th of respondents who feel that flexible working can harm career prospects. It would appear that many employers see this class of workers as less reliable than employees sat in an office!

Home working is an important factor to IT professionals but more than a third of those interviewed stated that their employers don’t offer the option.

Current regulations allow only parents of children under six or disabled to apply for flexible working. Plans are in the pipeline to extend this to parents of children under 16. This should go a long way to encouraging women to enter into, and stay in, an industry that is currently experiencing a skills shortfall.

On a personal note, I’ve worked for a number of companies that didn’t allow flexible working. The unspoken view was that  home workers don’t do any work! Here’s something for those dinosaur companies to consider; I actually get more work done when I’m not sat in an office being distracted by stupid questions every five minutes. You’ll need to change your ways or high calibre candidates will look elsewhere!

Popularity: 5% [?]

Government not to blame…

…this time! I’m sorry, does the title seem a little bland? My mistake. When I said ‘customer’ I meant ‘customers’ . In fact, about 3,000 customers.

Virgin has come clean and owned up to losing the bank details last month when a CD was used to transfer the data between offices. No problem, that’s what encryption is there to protect against. Well, it would be if the data had been encrypted! I wonder how many so called security experts have just lost their jobs over this fiasco!

“This is an isolated incident which has affected a small number of our customers,” Virgin Media said in a prepared statement.

So far, there is no evidence that the CD has fallen into the hands of criminals and the incident is being investigated by the ICO.

Don’t you feel so much safer now!

Popularity: 5% [?]

According to UK students.

Well, that’s according to non-technology students. Admittedly, these students have acknowledged that propects are good due to shortfall of technology workers but they just don’t want a career in IT.

“Greater exposure of young people to the merits of a job in the IT sector is vital. We need to show them the variety of roles in IT and the importance that IT carries today. IT is at the heart of business these days and there are real opportunities now to have a career in IT which will ultimately lead to a position on the board,” said Mike Rodd, learned society director at BCS.

On top of this rather dismal report comes figures that show the number of female IT graduates is also falling. But, the number of female ICT A level students has risen by 40%. Hmm, I wonder what’s putting them off?

I know IT isn’t everyones cup of tea but I certainly wouldn’t call it boring. It certainly beats being a graduate with no job, no money and no prospects!

Popularity: 4% [?]

By 80%.

So, if you travel Europe with your T-mobile data card you’re quids in.

T-mobile currently charge £7.50 per Mb of data used but this will drop to £1.50 as of 1st  July.  This means that T-mobile will become the cheapest operator in when it comes to surfing using your data card in Europe. That accolade currently resides with 3 and Orange, charging £3 per Mb.

In addition to this announcement, T-mobile has stated that they will also be dropping the cost of texting from abroad; down from 40p to 25p per text.

The move comes in time for a 1st July deadline set by the European Commission. In February, Information society and media commissioner Viviane Reding told operators to make their data-roaming rates more reasonable by the start of July - or else the Commission would consider proposing strict new regulations on these charges.

Popularity: 7% [?]

…up 1.6% from April

Let’s face it, if you want to find bargains you browse the internet. True, we still like to see products up close and personal. But why go through the hassle of lugging your goods home or arranging delivery in a store when you can simply drop your address into the order field of an online shopping trolley.

This means that retailers have to become more innovative in the multi-channels sales sector - snooze and they loose!

This doesn’t mean we’ve gone online shopping mad. The current economic conditions have made consumers far more aware of the pounds in their pockets with sales growth being confined to the clothing, footwear and accessories sectors.

Other sectors haven’t performed so well with online sales of electrical goods and alcohol falling by 10% and 11% respectively.

Another factor to consider here is the growth of online discount codes. Companies are giving away discount incentives in order to drive traffic to their sites and convert visits into sales.

I’m off to buy a new UMPC - online, of course.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Heavy price for altering his grades!

No, it’s not a joke. 18 year-old Omar Khan really is facing 38 years in prison for breaking into his high schools computer system. Amongst the charges he faces are 34 charges of altering a public record, six counts of burglary, seven counts of computer access and fraud and one felony count of conspiracy. Adds up a bit when you look at it.

Khan is also accused of altering, copying and selling Advanced Placement tests to other students. Oh, and installing spyware on the school database.

When you look at the potential sentence it really does our justice system look soft!

Popularity: 4% [?]

£1.25 million overspend per year.

It looks like rising power prices are putting serious pressure on businesses. A report from
RichardsoNEyres show’s that the UK’s top retailers are making power prices and the cost wastage a no.1 priority in 2008/2009.

Figures show that power requirements consist of up to 50% of data centre running costs - virtualistion, ahoy?

To be fair, a significant portion of these costs comes from aging equipment. Many companies are still running hardware that was designed WITHOUT energy saving features in mind.

Looks like a boom time for low energy hardware manufacturers is coming our way.

Popularity: 4% [?]