Ballmer coy about Yahoo acquisition prospects

HIGHLIGHTS

News: Ballmer coy about Yahoo acquisition prospects
News: Wall Street Beat: Apple up in down market
News: Red Hat and Intel make managed Linux PCs
News: FSF cozies up to Apache
News: IBM spends $1 billion on 'green' data centers
News: Sun’s JavaFX helps bridge digital divide, McNealy says
Go Figure: Execs go green when they can see green
ITWhirled: Bad idea of the week: Faxing to freedom


NEWS UPDATES

Ballmer coy about Yahoo acquisition prospects
Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer didn't rule out a possible acquisition of Yahoo Inc. but said Wednesday that Microsoft usually doesn't make acquisitions as large as the rumored US$50 billion deal for the Internet company.


Wall Street Beat: Apple up in down market
Concerns about retail sales and the U.S. trade deficit Thursday put a halt to the recent increase in market indexes, including the technology-oriented Nasdaq, but news from bellwether IT vendors such as Apple Inc., Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. show that underlying computer sector issues are still uppermost in the minds of IT investors.


Red Hat and Intel make managed Linux PCs
Red Hat has announced a joint program with Intel to deliver Red Hat-branded software that supports fully-managed desktop PCs using Intel's vPro technology.


FSF cozies up to Apache
The Free Software Foundation says it is on track to build Apache License compatibility into the upcoming GPL version 3, despite "11th-hour" problems that scuppered the feature in the latest GPL 3 draft.


IBM spends $1 billion on 'green' data centers
IBM is investing a billion dollars a year in an initiative to double energy efficiency, first in its own data centers, then in those of its customers.


Sun’s JavaFX helps bridge digital divide, McNealy says
Sun Microsystems Inc. expects that technologies like its JavaFX Script scripting language, and JavaFX Mobile software for mobile devices will help bridge the digital divide.


GO FIGURE

25%
The share of IT execs who have formalized "green" criteria in their IT procurement process, according to a new Forreseter Research report. In large part, going green is more about getting lean; one respondent said, "We would do green because it makes business sense, not because it's green. It would have to show cost savings." SOURCE: IDG News Service


ITWHIRLED

Bad idea of the week: Faxing to freedom
While everyone is worried about social engineering scams like phishing and password thievery, let us not forget yesterday's high tech wonder, the humble fax machine. Timothy Rouse, being held in Kentucky awaiting trial for assault and robbery, was set free when the police received a fax state supreme court ordering his release. As it turns out, the fax was actually sent from a local grocery store -- something the cops shoud have picked up on, since it wasn't on court letterhead and was riddled with spelling errors.