Microsoft Bids For Yahoo
Last week, Microsoft offered a bid worth over $44 billion for Internet search giant Yahoo. Currently Google has approximately 60 percent of the market for Internet searches. This bid is Microsoft’s biggest bid ever. If successful, Microsoft will have over 30 percent of the search market. Even though this will be barely half of Google’s market, it has already caused a small ruckus by Google. On Sunday Google called upon antitrust regulators to prevent this deal. Nevertheless many experts predict that the deal will go through although, as of Sunday, Yahoo said it needs time to examine the deal.
Online Court
Australia has recently unveiled “JusticeLink,” where over the course of this year some court cases will be held online in an effort to reduce costs. Prosecutors and defense attorneys can argue their cases online, and judges will view their arguments in real time. This new system is expected to save Australia millions of dollars.
Blackberry Blackout
Recently the Canadian government has sent out a notice to its employees to cut back on using their blackberrys overnight and on weekends. In an effort to improve the life/work balance of their employees from 7 p.m-7 a.m., they are asking their employees to focus on their personal lives and leave their work behind.
“Kosher” Phones
In an effort to accommodate the haredi world, Bezeq is now offering “kosher” phone service. This service will ban all calls to inappropriate numbers. Bezeq invested over $500,000 into this service and is offering it free of charge. This follows the successful launch of “kosher” cell phones from cell phone providers in Israel. The new service is endorsed by many rabbanim, and is expected to attract many customers.