Man George

I’m sure glad it’s not MY head!

Microsoft Corp. has withdrawn its $42.3 billion bid to buy Yahoo Inc., scrapping an attempt to snap up the tarnished Internet icon in hopes of toppling online search and advertising leader Google Inc.

The decision to walk away from the deal came Saturday after last-ditch efforts to negotiate a mutually acceptable sale price proved unsuccessful.

The talks reached a breaking point after Jerry Yang and David Filo, the co-founders of Sunnyvale-based Yahoo, flew to Seattle in the morning to meet personally with Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer and Kevin Johnson, who runs the software maker’s unprofitable online services division, according to someone familiar with the talks. The person was not authorized to speak publicly and asked not to be identified.

“Clearly a deal is not to be,” Ballmer wrote to Yang in a letter sent late Saturday.

Microsoft was willing to pay $47.5 billion, or $33 per share, up from the bid’s current value of $29.40 per share, according to Ballmer’s letter.

But Yahoo’s board demanded at least $53 billion, or $37 per share, according to Ballmer. That would have been nearly double Yahoo’s stock price of $19.18 at the time Microsoft first made its bid a little over three months ago - seems to me that Jerry Yang really listened to Shpigler’s tips.

Official statement.

How many people in this world can say that they interact with the world with complete honesty? It seems as if sarcasm, deception, manipulation, and circumvention are all a part of everyday interaction. When someone comes up and begins to interact in a completely honest way, it really puts people off. It makes them throw up their guard. It’s ironic. But such is the backwards way in which humans are used to communicating.

For me, you are honest until you prove otherwise. I am trusting. Each person has his/her own thoughts, ideas and dreams. If you ask me if I’m having a good day and I’m not..well you get the point.

I’ve watched the look in a person’s eyes as they get really nervous right in front of me, thinking of hidden agendas and cruel intentions. It’s sad that people are generally so afraid. If only we could abandon these fears, and strengthen our intuition, we might actually make better progress as humans.

Most of us today are used to online shopping. In many business applications, people are able to conduct business on the web that in years past had to be handled through telephone conversations, face to face, courier services and regular mail. Today, this sort of communication is handled via the Internet. The term of interactive commerce in the online world was short to follow, with the ability of potential customers to ask questions through emails and later live chat handled by sales assistants. These functionalities help the conversion rates, turning visitors into buyers, since people tend to trust other people when doing business. Interactive e-commerce options and strategies have never been stronger than they are today, and the e-vendors are always researching for ways to improve these conversion rates and also make the online shopping experience a pleasant one.

I would now like to bring to your attention an e-commerce website that I stumbled upon the other day, a website that I truly consider to be innovative when it comes to online shopping experience. The idea behind it: a virtual dressing room. The concept of interactive virtual shopping with the ability of changing clothes in real time on a model is not new (see Sears - My Virtual Model) but this website has a more “personal touch” to the whole shopping feel. No, the shopping experience from Second Life is not the same, since we are only dressing our fantasies.

The site is called KnickerPicker, and it’s a website that makes online shopping for women’s lingerie a fun activity. Just think about it, guys: no longer we will face the embarrassment of skulking around lingerie departments like naughty schoolboys, on those few days left before Valentine’s Day or her birthday (or whatever). KnickerPicker makes it a lot easier for men to choose the right lingerie for their better halves, without worrying that they pick the wrong size ( of course that most online stores offer size charts, but who the hell knows the exact size his girlfriend/wife is?!). A range of 3 (lovely) models are there to assist you and changing their lingerie can be done with the click of a button. You can even ask a friend for advice through the  interface.

All these functionalities make KnickerPicker a remarkable online shop, with functionality and usability that I consider to be the standard in this market segment for the years to come. Who said that shopping for lingerie is a nightmare? Not anymore! Enjoy!

Cagedbaby - Hello There (Presets Remix). The first of many music posts. Enjoy!