The Wall Street Journal reports that “International Business Machines Corp. said it agreed to buy Platform Solutions Inc. in a deal that eliminates litigation and a potential competitor for its lucrative mainframe business. IBM didn’t disclose what it is paying for Platform, a venture-capital backed, Sunnyvale, Calif., company with about 30 employees and ambitious plans to sell powerful computers that run the same software that runs on IBM’s Z-system mainframe computer, which can cost upward of $1 million. Mainframes are used in the data centers of many of the world’s largest financial institutions and government agencies. The deal comes less than three months after European Union antitrust regulators said they would question IBM about its actions in the mainframe market. The EU activity followed complaints by Platform Solutions. An IBM spokesman said the EU hasn’t started a formal investigation. Platform dropped its complaint to the EU when IBM announced the acquisition.”
The Seattle Times reveals that, according to a new study, “attitude rather than availability may be the key reason why more Americans don’t have high-speed Internet access. The findings from the Pew Internet and American Life Project challenge the argument that broadband providers need to more aggressively roll out supply to meet demand. Only 14 percent of dial-up users say they’re stuck with the older, slower connection technology because they can’t get broadband in their neighborhoods, Pew reported Wednesday. Thirty-five percent say they’re still on dial-up because broadband prices are too high, while another 19 percent say nothing would persuade them to upgrade. The remainder have other reasons or do not know.”
The Register points out that “
At ZDNet, Larry Dignan writes that “[t]he U.S. economy lost 62,000 jobs in June for the sixth straight month of employment losses with an unemployment rate of 5.5 percent, but underneath the technology sector is holding up well, according to Labor Department statistics. What a difference a downturn makes. Last economic downturn was the dot-com bubble and the tech industry was smack in the middle of the trainwreck. This time it’s the financial industry that’s in the middle of the economic unraveling. […] With that backdrop, I went through today’s employment report and checked in on the tech sector. I wasn’t expecting much, but did find that the industry was holding its own–and that counts as a victory when the unemployment rate in construction was 8.2 percent in June compared to 5.9 percent a year ago and leisure and hospitality checks in with a 8.9 percent unemployment rate compared to 7.2 percent a year ago.”
According to BBC News, “Google must divulge the viewing habits of every user who has ever watched any video on YouTube, a US court has ruled. The ruling comes as part of Google’s legal battle with Viacom over allegations of copyright infringement. […] The viewing log, which will be handed to Viacom, contains the log-in ID of users, the computer IP address (online identifier) and video clip details. While the legal battle between the two firms is being contested in the US, it is thought the ruling will apply to YouTube users and their viewing habits everywhere. Viacom, which owns MTV and Paramount Pictures, has alleged that YouTube is guilty of massive copyright infringement. The UK’s Premier League association is also seeking class action status with Viacom on the issue, alleging YouTube, which was bought by Google in 2006, has been used to watch football highlights.”