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Top Stories: July 29, 2009MicroYahoo!; Cities Green Extortion; Greenpeace vs. HPby Staff on Jul 29, 2009Microsoft and Yahoo! Take on Google The speculation about how it would end is now over. Microsoft has finally signed a ten-year deal with Yahoo!, gaining access to that search engine’s audience. The deal will get even more exposure for Microsoft’s new search engine, Bing, in a market dominated by Google. According to the joint press release, there is a clear division of labor: “Microsoft will now power Yahoo! search while Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers.” Search and sales: Google already proved that it’s a winning combo. Of course, not all is golden for the two fhigh tech supergiants. Yahoo! has had a hard time competing with the ubiquitous Google web presence, and despite all the efforts by CEO Carol Bartz, its finances are still in the dumps. In fact, some observers have wondered whether the company will be able to survive for ten years, or if it will be swallowed up or disappear by then. Under the new deal Yahoo! will keep 88 percent of its marketing revenues, enough to raise its operating profit by a hefty $500 million. And while Microsoft was once the darling of the PC world, that was a long, long, time ago. Google has since taken center stage, even offering a proposed new operating system to compete with Microsoft. Google products such as AdSense and Google Maps are just about everywhere now, and YouTube, which it recently acquired, may not be making money, but it is still one of the most popular sites on the web. Of course, some Google projects haven’t taken off, like Orkut and Knol, but as the Mercury News points out, “What Google can’t invent it can buy.” Then there is the traffic. Google controls 65 percent of U.S. search traffic, while Yahoo! and Bing together account for only 28 percent. Globally, its dominance is even more pronounced, with Google accounting for 67 percent, compared to and Bing and Yahoo! at 11. In short, they’d have to double their traffic in a world where “googling” appears in the dictionary. Can the $100 million dollar Bing marketing campaign really turn the tide? Finally, there is anti-trust legislation. In the past that prevented Google from acquiring Yahoo! for itself. Now Microsoft will have to face the same squadrons of anti-trust regulators. Last year Microsoft was ready to buy Yahoo! for $47.5 billion. With the company’s now valued at $22 billion, the new deal may be too little too late. Or the new deal with Microsoft may yet give the two companies the momentum they need to steal back their seat at the top of the information super-highway. What is certain is that plenty of people will be Twittering about it. Read More at the Daily Journal. Read More at ValleyWag. Read More at the Mercury News. Green Bay? Not San Francisco Bay It was—and is—a major talking point of the Obama presidency. Change your light bulbs, recycle and reuse, cut back on air conditioning and heating. After all, “no issue deserves more immediate attention than global warming,” as the President said this past Earth Day. And in his first address to both sessions of Congress, he said that “We have known for decades that our survival depends on finding new sources of energy.” So what happened in the Bay Area? The Sierra Club’s Kurt Newick has found that there are vast differences in the costs that cities are charging to go green, with a non-residential solar electric permit costing as much as $24,000 in Walnut Creek. That’s eight times the average fee of $3,000. Things aren’t much better on this side of the Bay. In Mountain View, a Mecca for high tech firms, that same non-residential solar electric permit costs $17,000, almost six times the average. Can Google, Intuit, or Microsoft afford it? Probably. But it still runs counter to the very idea that “going green” can save the planet and stimulate the economy all at the same time. Mountain View building official David Basinger explains the discrepancy between his town and other towns throughout the state: “Typically the applications when they come in are asked, ‘What is the valuation of construction for your project.’ And if the numbers higher, the fees are higher.” Now, however, Basinger admits that the city is looking into revising its price structure, based on the Sierra Club’s recent findings. Perhaps when the city, and other cities in the Bay stop “gouging he way they're charging their fees,” going green in the Bay Area will become a reasonable alternative and an example for cities and corporations elsewhere. Read More at KCBS. HP Targeted by Greenpeace, William Shatner Environmental activists from Greenpeace painted “Hazardous Products” on the roof of HP’s Palo Alto headquarters yesterday. The company had failed to comply with Greenpeace’s demand that it eliminate a series of hazardous chemicals, including flame retardant BFRs, from its products. The vandalism was the most recent in a series of attacks, which included robocalls to every employee by actor William Shatner. In a statement released yesterday evening, HP responded that it “has been a leader in environmental responsibility and has adopted practices in product development, operations and supply chain that are transparent and help to reduce its environmental impact.” This was echoed by Tim Bajarin, a high tech analyst and consultant, who says that while the company may not be moving fast enough for Greenpeace, it is “on board” when it comes to eliminating toxic chemicals from its products. BFRs will be completely phased out from HP products by 2011. Meanwhile, HP says that “The unconstructive antics at HP's headquarters today did nothing to advance the goals that all who care about the environment share.” HP is a leader in e-waste recycling, with plans to recycle 1 billion pounds of e-waste from 2008 to 2011. Read More at ABC7. Zero1 Finds Funding in Florida While nonprofits throughout San Jose are struggling to survive, at least one cultural event received a much needed boost, when the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation of Miami, Florida, announced that it would be granting $975,000 to the biennial festival, which features multidisciplinary performing arts. The festival, which has attracted more than 65,000 visitors, has highlighted the works of more than 350 artists from over 40 countries. The next event is scheduled for mid-September. Read More at the Business Journal. Man Gets Nine Years for Kidnapping San-Jose Market Owner After pleading no contest to felony kidnapping, San Mateo County prosecutors sentenced Saul Davila, 23, to seven years in prison. Davila and two accomplices kidnapped Sergio Ramos Guzman, owner of a chain of markets in San Jose, San Bruno, and Menlo Park, in April. According to police, the kidnappers demanded $23,000 in ransom money. He was released by police, who traced the kidnappers after they picked up the money. One accomplice, Arnulfo Barajas Loza, 43, was sentenced to 16 year in April. The third accomplice apparently escaped. Read More at the Mercury News. Three Men Arrested for Assault of Minor The SJPD arrested three men for allegedly assaulting a fourteen-year-old girl at a party early Sunday morning. The girl, who was reportedly drunk when the attack occurred, was taken to Kaiser Santa Teresa Hospital, and the police were informed. The alleged assailants have been booked in the Santa Clara County jail. Read More at KLIV. New Water Supply Project for Palo Alto Palo Alto City Council voted unanimously to invest $37.5 million in a $2.5 million reservoir beneath El Camino Park. City officials estimate that the new reservoir will take three years to build. Today, Palo Alto is dependent on the Hetch Hetchy water system for most of its water. Local reservoirs are very limited compared to other communities, and a major earthquake could drain the city’s water supply in days. City officials now say that the new reservoir, which was approved by voters in 2007, will ensure that Palo Alto has an adequate supply of water well into the future. Read More at KCBS. Man Dies after Restaurant Shooting Police report that a man who was shot at the Bun Rieu Number One Restaurant last night has died of his wounds. As of yet, no suspects have been arrested in the incident, which is the eighteenth homicide in San Jose this year. Read More at The Mercury News. by Staff on Jul 29, 2009 |
 Microsoft will now have a bigger presence in Silicon Valley—inside the headquarters of Yahoo! |
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