Google hires the Father of the Internet

As part of its continuing campaign to sign up the biggest guns in Internet development, Google says it has hired Vinton 'Vint' Cerf who is widely credited as the Father of the Internet. It was Cerf's work in designing the TCP/IP protocols that laid the foundations of the Internet. Cerf's job title will be 'Chief Internet Evangelist', as though Google needs one of those. ...more

Adobe buys up Macromedia

Adobe is to buy Macromedia, in a deal that will create a single, dominant player in graphics and Web software. Adobe will pay $3.4bn in stock, for which it will acquire products such as FreeHand, Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Flash which are the main competitors to some of its own portfolio. ...more

EU comments suggest iPod 'monopoly' may be OK after all

Questions raised by an official at the European Commission indicates that the body could be softening on the need for competition authorities to regulate the iPod. Some critics have called for measures to force Apple to make the music it sells on its online iTunes music store compatible with MP3 music players, other than its own iPods. 'Before we jump in to regulate competition on the market it is worth asking whether competition is actually harmed,' the Commission's director general for competition, Philip Lowe, said at an antitrust conference in Munich, Germany. ...more

IBM finds 'holy grail' for processor insulation

IBM has developed a way to make microchips run up to one-third faster or use 15 per cent less power by using an exotic material that 'self-assembles' in a similar way to a seashell or snowflake. The computer services and technology company said the new process allows the wiring on a chip to be insulated with a vacuum, replacing the glass-like substances used for decades but which have become less effective as chips steadily shrink. It is the latest achievement for IBM researchers, who have announced a number of advances in recent months allowing chips to get smaller despite challenges posed by physical laws at those tiny dimensions. ...more

Orange 'prepping bid for AOL UK'

Orange, the French owned mobile telephone operator, is said to be preparing to bid for AOL's UK operation according to the Daily Telegraph. The ISP, which is owned by the Time Warner media empire, was put up for sale by the company as it seeks to reposition itself away from commodity Internet provision towards a more products and services oriented operation. AOL UK currently has 1. ...more