Saturday’s Quick Tech Notes

November 8, 2008 · Filed Under Recent News · Comment 

Here are some quick notes in the world of tech:

- Remember the Panasonic/Sanyo merger? Well, it will happen, according to several recent press reports. It will cost Panasonic about $9 billion or so, and it creates Japan’s largest electronics company. They stated it was mainly because of Sanyo’s position in the rechargable batteries business for devices and cars. Does this portend more mergers in the future? Perhaps. In this economy, it makes sense.

- AT&T bought Centennial, a small rural wireless company, for $944 million on Friday. The company has about 1.1 million subscribers, about half of which are in Puerto Rico. AT&T sure seems to be in the buying mood of late, so heaven knows what their motivation is. Perhaps just expanding using the buyer’s market of the economic climate right now? The deal still has to be approved by Centennial shareholders early next year to go through (not expected to be a problem).

- Google is 10 years old, and still pretty strong in the web economy, despite some bumps in the road. CEO Eric Schmidt did an interview with the NY Times about how Google is surviving despite massive slowdowns in many sectors. Careful hiring and reigning in spending is the gist; imagine that? Read more here.

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Sunday’s Techie Notebook

November 2, 2008 · Filed Under Recent News, Technology · Comment 

Here we are with another techie Notebook for Sunday. Here are my short takes on a few things making news on this cloudy, cold morning (Northern CA, USA):

- Windows 7 has hit the BitTorrent download sites apparently. But it’s a pre-beta from ages ago, and people are saying it isn’t different enough from Vista to bother. When you download a really old build without all the changes made, this is what often happens. Various other publications with access to newer builds and minus the anti-Microsoft agenda are claiming it really is a step up usability (and stability) wise from Vista. We’ll see. I’m taking a wait and observe approach after the disappointment of Vista.

- An inside source has stated that electronics giant Panasonic is in talks to buy out and absorb Sanyo. This seems to be the direction of corporate survivial these days: Merge. It would cost around 6 billion USD for it to happen, so its not a done deal yet, but if completed, it would cause some major ripples in the electronics industry and make Panasonic the largest elec. corp in Japan in terms of sales.

- Remember that big Android security flaw we reported here a few days ago? Well, they patched it up according to this article. Reports are that the update went well and all is good in Android land.

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