GOOG working hard to block MSFT-YHOO deal

[NYT] Privately, Google, seeing the potential deal as a direct attack, went much further. Its chief executive, Eric E. Schmidt, placed a call to Yahoo’s chief, Jerry Yang, offering the company’s help in fending off Microsoft, possibly in the form of a partnership between the companies, people briefed on the call said.

Recruiting a big issue in MSFT-YHOO

[NYT] The battle for tech supremacy is largely a battle for talent. And so one crucial question about Microsoft’s $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo is whether a combined company could more easily attract software engineers — an increasingly precious commodity. Both companies are already fighting the perception that their most innovative days are behind them.

Would GOOG alliance make sense for YHOO?

[NYT] Regardless of the exact numbers, there are tens of billions of dollars in play that could be used to enable all sorts of financial engineering meant to keep Yahoo out of Steve Ballmer’s hands.

YHOO selling Unlimited music service to Rhapsody

[USAToday] Yahoo Music will continue to offer music videos, Internet radio and music downloads. But customers of its monthly Yahoo Music Unlimited service will be migrated to Rhapsody. No firm timetable has been set. Yahoo, which expects the deal to close by the middle of year, did not disclose terms.

Industry Standard is back - in name, online only

[CompWorld] Said Derek Butcher, the online publication's vice president and general manager: "We'll be covering the same topic area in terms of the online economy and the business of the Internet, which of course has grown quite a bit since the original Industry Standard was around. We really want to be true to the editorial integrity and professionalism and quality analysis of the original Industry Standard; we want to provide the what and the why, rather than just the what."

MSFT opens Boston research lab

[News.com] The new lab will focus initially on "core computer science, especially more algorithmically oriented areas, and the social sciences, with a particular emphasis on building connections between these two areas," Microsoft said, adding that there will also be a small team working on design issues.

iPods don't harm pacemakers: FDA

[PCW] A Food and Drug Administration-led study refutes claims that the magnetic fields produced by Apple iPods and other such portable music devices interfere with cardiac pacemakers.