Micro-Hoo Dead Again as Yahoo Settles with Icahn
by Alex Woodie

The Micro-Hoo saga continued its unpredictable course this week, as Yahoo came to an agreement with corporate raider (and Microsoft ally just last week) Carl Icahn to avoid a damaging proxy battle at next week's Yahoo shareholder meeting. Meanwhile, Microsoft is reportedly in talks once again with America Online to buy the aging Internet property should it be unable to buy Yahoo's coveted search business. READ MORE >

Microsoft Financial Results Disappoint Wall Street
by Alex Woodie

Microsoft published its fourth-quarter and year-end financial results for fiscal 2008 last week, and the numbers did not please Wall Street. While revenues were up nearly 20 percent from a year ago and pre-tax profit up 40 percent, Microsoft did not hit the earning per share (EPS) number that financial analysts had set earlier in the year, and as a result, its stock price declined, taking billions of dollars in value with it. READ MORE >

Intel Has a Great Q2, and AMD Has a Poor One and Taps a New CEO
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

If chip maker Intel were an economic barometer for the various economies of the world--and particularly the skittish economy of the United States--no one would be talking about a recession, but rather a slight slowdown that had occurred in the past and a situation that is clearly on the mend. Unfortunately for those of us in the developed economies of the world, Intel is not much of a barometer of the economies at large, even if it is a big player in many economies. And hopefully, rival Advanced Micro Devices, which is struggling to right itself, isn't either. READ MORE >

Mad Dog 21/21: Mission Possible
by Hesh Wiener

Commercial trends in every productive society sometimes run to excess. Information technology may be reaching such an apogee, getting just a little too complicated for its own good, and for the good of everyone it touches. It's starting to look like computing needs to get back to basics and, if possible, to do so in good taste. There's plenty of precedent: When Victorian Britain became overwhelmed by industrialization, it spawned the Arts and Crafts design movement. Reformist ideas subsequently crossed the Atlantic to inspire Frank Lloyd Wright and foster Mission-style furniture. It's a notion that bears repeating. READ MORE >