Vodafone US expansion ambitions thwarted

Vodafone has withdrawn from the auction for US carrier AT&T wireless Despite much speculation that Vodafone would manage to shift its existing interest in the US telco Verizon and make a takeover bid for AT&T, the company confirmed today that it would stick with Verizon. In a statement issued today, the company said: 'Vodafone withdrew from the auction when it concluded that it was no longer in its shareholder's best interests to continue discussions.' Shares in the UK operator jumped more than 5 per cent - the highest for a year and a half - on the news, welcoming the decision. ...more

FBI nets Internet fraudsters

The FBI has announced that its investigation into Internet fraud, code named "Operation Cyber Loss" has resulted in the arrest of 90 individuals and companies. The Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC) initiated the investigation and the arrested individuals are facing a number of charges, including fraud by wire, mail fraud, money laundering and intellectual property rights violations. The extent of the frauds constitutes 56,000 victims and a combined loss of over $117 million. ...more

AMD takes the heat out of the Opteron

The AMD Opteron chip, principally aimed at high performance workstations and servers, is to get power management tools built in. AMD says the addition of the company's PowerNow! technology - currently used in its notebook offerings - is to allow for cooler running of blade servers and other high density environments where heat is an issue. The company says that not only will adding 'power on demand' technology improve the performance per watt ratio, but will also reduce the need for expensive air conditioning and ventilation in data centres. ...more

Sun applies quality control to its own workforce

Work appraisals can be stressful events at the best of times. But it seems that Sun Microsystems will be upping the ante even further - it's looking to reduce its workforce to save costs, and job cuts will be made as part of the review process.. ...more

MusicNet catches remaining majors

Online music subscription service MusicNet adds remaining major labels to its arsenal Online music subscription service MusicNet has licensed Sony's and Universal's catalogues of music, meaning that it now boasts material from all five major record labels. The MusicNet venture is owned by RealNetworks, BMG, Warner and EMI and offers music from these labels, too. Todays announcement also includes further rights regarding the music from the three partner labels, including offering users permanent downloads, and the right to burn songs to disc or transfer them to a portable device. ...more