HP To Build Wall Between Plano And Round Rock?

What does the HP takeover of EDS mean for the EDS and Dell alliance

liveblog of Marc Benioff: Salesforce.com/Boston

A liveblog of the salesfoce.clom success on demand roadshow in Boston, April 22

April 14: Blockbuster,Google,Salesforce and Taxes

Blockbuster wants to acquire Circuit City. Delta wants Northwest. Salesforce and Google get closer. AMD needs a new tech chief and you need to pay your taxes. A news roundup for the week of April 14.

Is Shyftr Shifting Or Shafting The Blogosphere?

When Robert Scoble declares The Era Of blogger's control is over, you should pay attention. In a series of conversations that sound eerily reminiscent of newspapers complaining about the era of free content and the music industry complaining about ripped off content, the blogosphere is abuzz about what happens when your blog content gets hijacked, collected and you lose the ability to get an ad served against your scribbles?

Microsoft's Hardball with Yahoo Violates Rule Number One

One of the unwritten rules of technology takeovers is that hostile takeovers are fraught with peril. When a company's value is its intellectual capital and that capital walks out the door at the end of each workday, taking a heavy-handed approach to acquisition seems wrong.

In any case, Microsoft's Steve Ballmer has now put Yahoo on a three-week deadline. Yahoo seems to be responding by saying they will talk--but they'd like to see a bigger bag of money on the table.

Ballmer Drops Olive Branch, Picks Up Baseball Bat for Yahoo

Microsoft's proposed $40 billion Yahoo takeover always had the potential to turn into an ugly street fight. Steve Ballmer's open letter to Yahoo posted on April 5 sets a date for the street fight to start.

As Ballmer states in the letter, "If we have not concluded an agreement within the next three weeks, we will be compelled to take our case directly to your shareholders, including the initiation of a proxy contest to elect an alternative slate of directors for the Yahoo! board. The substantial premium reflected in our initial proposal anticipated a friendly transaction with you. If we are forced to take an offer directly to your shareholders, that action will have an undesirable impact on the value of your company from our perspective which will be reflected in the terms of our proposal."

Branson and Google Founders Plan One-Way Mars Trip

update: CNBC had an interview with Branson where he says it was no hoax. update: Google posts blog saying it all was fake Virgin founder Richard Branson and Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are funding Project Virgle, designed to offer a Noah's Ark type one way trip to Mars. When Branson called for volunteers at the CTIA show in Las Vegas, more than 100 audience goers rushed the stage ready to depart.

Although he was speaking on April 1, Branson was straight-faced as he outlined the plan and called for audience volunteers to become the first Mars colonizers. Branson did not treat the topic in a prank manner; the audience took it seriously and I think he was serious.

Google has set up a page that outlines the Mars project.

Sign up now before all the seats are gone.

Five Questions for Microsoft and Yahoo

Privacy issues should concern consumers in the proposed Microsoft acquisition of Yahoo

Oracle Buys BEA, This Time For Real

Oracle Buys BEA, This Time For Real

Three Companies to Watch

Here are three companies to watch. Companies that may change the way you compute and interact with the digital world. Two are in the Boston area and one is a bit further away. Two. This company is also headed by a woman and doesn't yet have a name but is worth watching. Mary Lou Jepsen, the Chief Technology Officer of the MIT spawned One Laptop Per Child program and the developer of the laptop's innovative screen display technology has left the organization to take her screen savvy to the commercial marketplace. Low power, high visibility and low cost are the hallmarks of the OLPC computer. Stay tuned. Three. Russia. Okay, Russia is not a company. But in one of the more overlooked stories, Russia has now nearly completed orbiting a GPS satellite system which compares, competes and offers a non-U.S. alternative to the current GPS networks. With lots of oil...