MARKET REPORT: Google in with a shout for Yell

By Geoff FosterLast updated at 10:32 PM on 2nd September 2010

Yellow pages publisher Yell screamed 13 per cent, or 2.2p, higher to 17.84p on gossip that corporate activity is just around the corner.
Almost 56million shares changed hands as dealers heard that Google could be lining up a £708million, or 30p a share cash offer.
The shares reacted from the high 19.92p after analysts said they would be flabbergasted if any bidder made a move for an accident prone group that is sitting on a mammoth debt mountain of £3billion.

Market report

Yell said in late-July when reporting lower quarterly profits of £16.6million, down from £18.5million, that it was feeling the effects of a ‘challenging’ trading environment and the anticipated economic recovery was ‘proving slower than expected’.
Analysts at Prime Markets then advised clients to sell, saying that the recent history of Yell was a series of trading statements punctuated with the odd bright spot, but with an overall impression of a company in terminal decline.
 

Read more

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen sues Google, Apple, Facebook, eight others over patents

AOL, Netflix, Office Depot, OfficeMax, and Staples are the other companies accused of violating four patents said cover fundamental web technologies first developed at Interval Research in the 1990s.

It owns the patents of Interval Reserach, a defunct computer science and communications research company founded by Mr Allen and David Liddle in 1992.
According to the complaint, Interval Research employed more than 110 of the world’s leading scientists, physicists, and engineers and was at the forefront in designing next-generation science and technology.
It also claims to have helped fund outside projects, including work done by Google founders Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page.
David Postman, a spokesman for Mr Allen, said: “This lawsuit is necessary to protect our investment in innovation.”
Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes told Reuters: “We believe this suit is completely without merit and we will fight it vigorously.”
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.phpFive Filters featured article: “Peace Envoy” Blair Gets an Easy Ride in the Independent.

Google and Verizon insist ‘net neutrality’ not affected by internet superhighway plans

By Daily Mail ReporterLast updated at 2:31 PM on 10th August 2010

Technology giants Google and Verizon have today paved the way for a future ‘two-tier’ internet in which companies can pay extra to make sure their services get through.
In a joint statement the two firms called for a new, premium connection which would let internet service providers, such as Virgin, charge more for certain services over faster, higher-quality lines.
But critics have accused Google and Verizon of plotting to carve up the internet to suit big, established firms like themselves.

Google and Verizon have announced a proposal for the policing of the internet

Google and Verizon both insisted that their plans would still ensure that all web service on the internet would be treated equally - so called net neutrality.
The new high bandwidth internet would remain separate from the normal public internet and would probably include services such as healthcare and 3D video and gaming, according to Verizon’s chief executive, Ivan Seidenberg.
 

Read more

Google and Verizon close on agreement to end ‘net neutrality’

By Mail Online ReporterLast updated at 11:37 AM on 6th August 2010

Search engine giant Google and U.S. telecoms company Verizon are finalising a deal that could spell the end for ‘net neutrality’.
Under the current system of internet neutrality any one packet of data commands the same right to bandwidth as any other.
That means a Skype video conference has as much chance of a speedy connection as a Google search, regular email traffic or a BBC iPlayer broadcast.
If the rules are changed, certain types of data could buy a ‘first class ticket’ ensuring priority access and faster speeds.

Bandwidth-hungry applications such as video conferencing are the future of the web: Google and Verizon look to be setting up a ‘premium rate’ internet to keep those applications separate.

While the current negotiations will only affect U.S. web users, any new standard could spread to other countries, especially as internet service providers will derive extra revenue by implementing a tiered system.

Read more

Google profits rise by 24% but share price drops 4%

By
Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 10:57 AM on 16th July 2010

Google’s second quarter profits rose by 24 per cent to £1.1 billion, the internet search giant reported yesterday. Revenues increased at the same rate to £4.4 billion. But stock fell by four per cent in after-hours trading as analysts had been expecting stronger results.

Rise: Google reported second quarter profits were up 24 per cent

They also expressed concern about the company’s increased operating expenses.
Ending a period of restraint, Google has been spending more freely this year as the US economy recovers. 

Read more

Google searches for a way into social networking

The latter, which gave users a ready-made circle of friends based on their
most frequent email and chat contacts in Gmail, was heavily criticised
because it revealed to the world who each user emailed the most without
prior permission. Subsequently Google apologised and disabled that
particular feature of Buzz.

There is very little known about how Google Me would work. Technology pundits
have been speculating wildly – with talk of a service which pulls together
all of the Google properties, such as YouTube, maps and profiles, into one
central hub.

Speculation aside, what is really crucial to understand, is why it is so
necessary for Google to crack social networking, the main piece of the
digital jigsaw which has so far escaped it.

Read more

China renews Google web licence

The Chinese government has been in a long-running dispute with Google

The Chinese government has renewed Google’s licence to operate in China, the internet giant has said, ending a long-running stand-off between the two.
Google gave no details of the licence renewal.
There had been speculation China would revoke the licence after Google began redirecting Chinese users to its unfiltered search site in Hong Kong.
But last month, Google said it would no longer automatically redirect users in a conciliatory move towards Beijing.
Instead, Chinese users would be sent to a “landing page”, which would send them to the Hong Kong site.
“We are very pleased that the government has renewed our ICP (internet content provider) licence and we look forward to continuing to provide web search and local products to our users in China,” Google’s lawyer David Drummond said an e-mailed statement.
On Thursday, Google boss Eric Schmidt said that he expected the Chinese government to renew the licence.
‘Cyber attack’ Google has had a long history of run-ins with the Chinese authorities, but without a licence granted by Beijing, it cannot operate in China.
“Our operations in China are completely at the discretion of the Chinese government,” Mr Schmidt has said.
In January, Google said it might pull out of China following what it called a “sophisticated” cyber attack originating from the country.
The announcement was not well received in Beijing.
The licence renewal is key to Google. Losing business in China, which already has more internet users than any other country despite relatively low penetration, could harm the company’s future growth prospects.

Five Filters featured article: Headshot - Propaganda, State Religion and the Attack On the Gaza Peace Flotilla. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Business Bullet: Markets, Ocado, Persimmon, Europe

“;
}

s+=”+google_ads[i].line1+”";
s+=”"+google_ads[i].line2+” “+google_ads[i].line3+”";
s+=”+google_ads[i].visible_url+”";
s+=”Five Filters featured article: Headshot - Propaganda, State Religion and the Attack On the Gaza Peace Flotilla. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Google to offer gay staff extra pay to allow for tax inequality with straight couples

By
Scott Warren
Last updated at 6:14 PM on 1st July 2010

INTERNET giant Google today began paying its gay staff more than  heterosexual employees in the latest example of its lavish perks culture.Lesbian and homosexual staff will get extra wages to make up for higher taxes  they have to pay.Google is already famed as an extremely benevolent employer, giving its  workforce free food, free laundry and five months’ maternity leave on full pay.
New payment: Gay Google employees will now be given extra pay to allow for a tax that is not levied on straight employeesAnd given the competitive nature of California’s Silicon Valley, where 
companies use extra perks to attract top employees, more are expected to
follow  suit, experts said.
The search engine decided it was only fair to bump up the salaries of
its gay  staff, a spokesman said.
Under U.S. law, when a firm offers health insurance as a benefit for an 
employee’s partner, it is tax-free for married couples but taxable
income for  gays.
Google will make up the difference in additional pay, on average £650 a
year.
The move was announced today and is being backdated to January 1.
The firm will also speed up infertility benefits for lesbian and
homosexual  staff and include their partners in its compassionate leave
policy.
How many of Google’s 20,600 employees will be affected by the changes
is  unclear, but the company’s internal gay group — who call themselves
Gayglers —  counts around 700 members. 
The measures only apply to the workforce in the U.S.
Personnel chief Laszlo Bock, Google’s ‘vice president for people
operations,’  said the firm decided to act when an employee pointed out
the disparity.
‘We said, “You’re right, that doesn’t seem fair,”‘ he said. He declined
to  reveal how much the changes will cost Google, which made profits of
£4 billion  last year.
The company is renowned for its innovative streak, and others usually
follow  its lead.
‘It could have a ripple effect. When you have a high-profile company
doing  anything, that tends to get into the mind of the culture, and it
can have a  more diffuse effect,’ said corporate benefits consultant
Kathleen Murray.
But Google has also earned a sinister reputation thanks to blunders by
its  controversial Street View service, which has sent ‘camera cars’ to
take  pictures along every road in Britain.
On Wednesday Claire Rowlands, 25, told how she was stunned to see a
photograph  of her three-year-old son Louis naked on Street View.
He had been snapped as he played in his grandmother’s garden in
Walkden,  Greater Manchester.
Google blurred out the registration plate of a car on the drive of the
house –  but the image of Louis, who was wearing nothing but his shoes,
was uncensored.

Share this article:

Five Filters featured article: Headshot - Propaganda, State Religion and the Attack On the Gaza Peace Flotilla. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Top ten most valuable companies in the FTSE 100: in pictures

“;
}

s+=”+google_ads[i].line1+”";
s+=”"+google_ads[i].line2+” “+google_ads[i].line3+”";
s+=”+google_ads[i].visible_url+”";
s+=”Five Filters featured article: Headshot - Propaganda, State Religion and the Attack On the Gaza Peace Flotilla. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Next Page »