Transcript

Friday April 18, 2008

Microsoft Acquires Travel Search Engine Farecast

Microsoft has acquired travel search startup Farecast for a reported $115 million. Farecast is an online travel search engine providing information on the cheapest tickets available along with information on whether airfares prices will rise or fall on domestic and international routes with its airfare prediction technology, claiming a 70 percent confidence level, to better help users plan for trips. Microsoft and Farecast have worked together in the last year, in which some of Farecast's technology were made available on Microsoft's own MSN travel site.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/359537_farecast18.html
http://www.farecast.com/blog/2008/04/microsoft-acquires-farecast/
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/microsoft/2004357294_farecast18.html
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/18/microsoft-flies-off-with-farecast/
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i5IWq37kY0fWMfyfw3jYKnaCzBKgD903U2900
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/17/microsoft-acquires-farecast-for-115m/

Google Android Developers Challenge Draws 1,788 Entries

According to Google, developers from over 70 countries have submitted 1,778 entries to the Google Android Developer Challenge since its announcement back in January, with last minute submissions reaching a high of 170 per hour at one point. The challenge entries cover various application areas, including games, social-networking, utilities, productivity and developer tools, according to a Google blog entry, with a goal of the challenge to elevate interest in the Android platform, which is a software package for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and some key applications. Over 100 judges will determine 50 semifinalists by next month, who will be awarded $25,000 each to fund further development. They will then compete for ten $275,000 awards, and ten $100,000 awards. The winners will be announced on July 21.

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/144806/android_developers_competition_draws_1788_entries.html
http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2008/04/android-developers-have-risen-to.html

Microsoft Plans Office Subscription Service Albany

Microsoft’s Albany service, as first reported on SearchEngineWorld in March, has been under private beta testing and will officially include a subscription service offering a unified installation of an all-in-one bundle of Office Home and Student, Windows Live OneCare, Office Live Workspace and various Windows Live services. Along with security software, subscribers will benefit from the purchase of Albany by always having the latest version of Office, which Microsoft is offering as part of the package. Albany suggests that Microsoft recognizes it must differentiate Office from less costly or even free software such as Google Docs or IBM's Symphony. Microsoft hopes to launch the product commercially sometime later this year.

http://www.news.com/8301-13860_3-9921711-56.html
http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/04/18/Microsoft-confirms-testing-of-Albany-low-cost-Office-suite_1.html
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/microsoft_albany_revealed.php
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/144807/microsoft_confirms_testing_of_albany_lowcost_office_suite.html
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1345

[edited by: Vanessa_Zamora at 10:52 pm (utc) on April 18, 2008]