Clic!Dev, ‘Tate, and many more projects!

I uploaded a few photos to Flickr…click below to view my ‘SXSW 2008′ set.

Met plenty of cool people, too.

Leaving tomorrow for Austin, TX. I will be SXSW’ing thru Wednesday 12th.
If you wish to get together for a real-life chat or what not, send me an email: sxsw2008 [at] voilaweb [dot] com

Cheers!

Sphere: Related Content

Here it is in all its glory. From Microsoft’s Press Page.
If you do a search for “microsoft yahoo” on Flickr, you will find a lot of interesting images; no idea whether this represents the opinion of only a few vocal people or if indeed Flickr users are, as a group, quite nonplussed.
A suggestion: if people are this much peeved, why not organize a massive exodus from Flickr, reducing its nominal value to zero? Now that would be grassroots…

Board of Directors
Yahoo! Inc.
701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
Attention: Roy Bostock, Chairman
Attention: Jerry Yang, Chief Executive Officer
Dear Members of the Board:
I am writing on behalf of the Board of Directors of Microsoft to make a proposal for a business combination of Microsoft and Yahoo!. Under our proposal, Microsoft would acquire all of the outstanding shares of Yahoo! common stock for per share consideration of $31 based on Microsoft’s closing share price on January 31, 2008, payable in the form of $31 in cash or 0.9509 of a share of Microsoft common stock. Microsoft would provide each Yahoo! shareholder with the ability to choose whether to receive the consideration in cash or Microsoft common stock, subject to pro-ration so that in the aggregate one-half of the Yahoo! common shares will be exchanged for shares of Microsoft common stock and one-half of the Yahoo! common shares will be converted into the right to receive cash. Our proposal is not subject to any financing condition.
Our proposal represents a 62% premium above the closing price of Yahoo! common stock of $19.18 on January 31, 2008. The implied premium for the operating assets of the company clearly is considerably greater when adjusted for the minority, non-controlled assets and cash. By whatever financial measure you use - EBITDA, free cash flow, operating cash flow, net income, or analyst target prices - this proposal represents a compelling value realization event for your shareholders.
We believe that Microsoft common stock represents a very attractive investment opportunity for Yahoo!’s shareholders. Microsoft has generated revenue growth of 15%, earnings growth of 26%, and a return on equity of 35% on average for the last three years. Microsoft’s share price has generated shareholder returns of 8% during the last one year period and 28% during the last three year period, significantly outperforming the S&P 500. It is our view that Microsoft has significant potential upside given the continued solid growth in our core businesses, the recent launch of Windows Vista, and other strategic initiatives.
Microsoft’s consistent belief has been that the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo! clearly represents the best way to deliver maximum value to our respective shareholders, as well as create a more efficient and competitive company that would provide greater value and service to our customers. In late 2006 and early 2007, we jointly explored a broad range of ways in which our two companies might work together. These discussions were based on a vision that the online businesses of Microsoft and Yahoo! should be aligned in some way to create a more effective competitor in the online marketplace. We discussed a number of alternatives ranging from commercial partnerships to a merger proposal, which you rejected. While a commercial partnership may have made sense at one time, Microsoft believes that the only alternative now is the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo! that we are proposing.
In February 2007, I received a letter from your Chairman indicating the view of the Yahoo! Board that “now is not the right time from the perspective of our shareholders to enter into discussions regarding an acquisition transaction.” According to that letter, the principal reason for this view was the Yahoo! Board’s confidence in the “potential upside” if management successfully executed on a reformulated strategy based on certain operational initiatives, such as Project Panama, and a significant organizational realignment. A year has gone by, and the competitive situation has not improved.
While online advertising growth continues, there are significant benefits of scale in advertising platform economics, in capital costs for search index build-out, and in research and development, making this a time of industry consolidation and convergence. Today, the market is increasingly dominated by one player who is consolidating its dominance through acquisition. Together, Microsoft and Yahoo! can offer a credible alternative for consumers, advertisers, and publishers. Synergies of this combination fall into four areas:
Scale economics: This combination enables synergies related to scale economics of the advertising platform where today there is only one competitor at scale. This includes synergies across both search and non-search related advertising that will strengthen the value proposition to both advertisers and publishers. Additionally, the combination allows us to consolidate capital spending.
Expanded R&D capacity: The combined talent of our engineering resources can be focused on R&D priorities such as a single search index and single advertising platform. Together we can unleash new levels of innovation, delivering enhanced user experiences, breakthroughs in search, and new advertising platform capabilities. Many of these breakthroughs are a function of an engineering scale that today neither of our companies has on its own.
Operational efficiencies: Eliminating redundant infrastructure and duplicative operating costs will improve the financial performance of the combined entity.
Emerging user experiences: Our combined ability to focus engineering resources that drive innovation in emerging scenarios such as video, mobile services, online commerce, social media, and social platforms is greatly enhanced.
We would value the opportunity to further discuss with you how to optimize the integration of our respective businesses to create a leading global technology company with exceptional display and search advertising capabilities. You should also be aware that we intend to offer significant retention packages to your engineers, key leaders and employees across all disciplines.
We have dedicated considerable time and resources to an analysis of a potential transaction and are confident that the combination will receive all necessary regulatory approvals. We look forward to discussing this with you, and both our internal legal team and outside counsel are available to meet with your counsel at their earliest convenience.
Our proposal is subject to the negotiation of a definitive merger agreement and our having the opportunity to conduct certain limited and confirmatory due diligence. In addition, because a portion of the aggregate merger consideration would consist of Microsoft common stock, we would provide Yahoo! the opportunity to conduct appropriate limited due diligence with respect to Microsoft. We are prepared to deliver a draft merger agreement to you and begin discussions immediately.
In light of the significance of this proposal to your shareholders and ours, as well as the potential for selective disclosures, our intention is to publicly release the text of this letter tomorrow morning.
Due to the importance of these discussions and the value represented by our proposal, we expect the Yahoo! Board to engage in a full review of our proposal. My leadership team and I would be happy to make ourselves available to meet with you and your Board at your earliest convenience. Depending on the nature of your response, Microsoft reserves the right to pursue all necessary steps to ensure that Yahoo!’s shareholders are provided with the opportunity to realize the value inherent in our proposal.
We believe this proposal represents a unique opportunity to create significant value for Yahoo!’s shareholders and employees, and the combined company will be better positioned to provide an enhanced value proposition to users and advertisers. We hope that you and your Board share our enthusiasm, and we look forward to a prompt and favorable reply.
Sincerely yours,
/s/ Steven A. Ballmer
Steven A. Ballmer
Chief Executive Officer
Microsoft Corporation

Sphere: Related Content

Yesterday, Alex and I went to the Convention Center and had a look. We had never been to any NextFest or anything with the word wired in its name -not even the Denmark wired nipples Fest- so you bet that we were pretty curious.

Cool

One of the first things we saw. Pretty cool projection on a smoke screen!

Modern ‘Tubular Bells’; use whatever limbs you feel like using, and interrupting the laser beams will play music.

It would seem that multitouch technology is about to become very popular.

Gaming

The X and Y dimensions of the holodeck: walk in any direction for as long as you wish, the ball takes care of the virtual miles for you.

Ingenious idea: it’s a platform game, and the background and player’s avatar are projected; however, the player created the various platforms him/herself using pieces of paper.
Robots

Zeno. Like Aibo, only it can throw tantrums. And his brains reside in your PC. Oh, and he’s ready to save the world.

So? Which is which?

The crowds interact with an android. This one doesn’t seem ready to take on the world.

20 seconds later, the android got very angry and laser beams came out of its eyes, thus disintegrating the fool who had been flashing gang signs at it.

An interesting concept. Industrial robots playings ‘DJ’. Of course, their scratching was purely mechanical and random, causing a high level of yawning among the audience.

This guy actually exclaimed: “The robot is pwning me!”. Turning her back to us: his sister is my guess.

Actually Useful

d30 actually hardens upon impact. As a biker, I totally want one of these jackets.

I do not know if these molecules have a phD, but they sure are tough - but, as we can see from the picture before this one, they also have a sensitive side that enjoys long walks on the beach and romanian poetry. And petting.

I do not see myself spending the money on this system, but I can imagine professional sommeliers welcoming the innovation.

The user interface lives in the physical world, but the display is entirely simulated.

Green Future

A wind tower. I wonder how much energy a tower this side can deliver.

Yes, the whole front of the car, including lights, turn signals and bumper are stickers.

And the car is a two-sitter. Well, a one-sitter really. Actually I wonder if there’s any room left to seat down.

This one is hardcore green. These are solar panels. It’s a bit like the secret child of the Batmobile and a bathtub.

I guess this is what they would call the ’sedan’ model.

650 miles in one day. Triumph of human ingenuity and muscle. At least this vehicle will motivate the masses to get off their asses and exercise.

Aw, crud. Forget I said anything.

WTF?

And now, the exhibits that left me wondering who let these guys in.

Quick! Reach for your cell phone and send a witty message to these guys and you will see it displayed in a speech bubble. Oh, my, I think I just wet myself. I cannot wait to see their business plan.

This one was kind of entertaining but, again, what’s the point? If you make a call with your cell phone, the red LEDs will blink madly.

This door was especially designed for people who have no hands AND all the time in the world. It almost works, too.

Two things -at least- very wrong with this product: I do not see the point of having a plastic ball scaling my body  at all times, and its name: BodyBug? Really? Have you thought this through?

Better than the creep who lives down your street: the surprise portable creep. He lives in your clothes! When you expect it the least, anyone can text you a ‘virtual hug’ and the garment will do its best to choke the life out of you.

I think these pictures speak for themselves: it’s your own motorized guillotine! The first picture shows the no doubt immensely accurate handlebar,  the second one shows the massive engine belt and the last one is here to help you imagine how kick-ass it’s going to be when you stand up - or are ejected due to jerky controls.

Actually, from what I’ve seen this car-boat hybrid works pretty well and hauls ass. Respect. It’s only made it in this section to celebrate the accompanying blurb: did you know that it can be used on any body of water without sustaining too much damage?

Well, that’s it for this year.

Sphere: Related Content