Indian telecommunication companies plan to focus on video content as 3G continues to expand in the second most populated country.  This is why Wipro bought the mobile TV division from Nokia.  Nokia’s Mobile Broadcast Solution is a server platform based on DVB-H.   “We wanted to focus on the consumer side of things, the mobile TV client in the devices, rather than on the business-to-business side,” stated Nokia in regards to selling.  Nokia’s Mobile Broadcast Solutions employs about 40 people that worked on software and hardward for Nokia mobile TV.

[via Reuters India]

Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ:BRCM) announced that they have made an unsolicited offer to acquire Emulex Corporation.  The offer was $9.25 per share at a total deal worth $764 million.  The $9.25 offer is worth 40% over the closing price of the stock on April 20.

Broadcom believes that “its leadership in Ethernet networking, together with Emulex’s deeper expertise in Fibre Channel storage networking, will enable the combined company to accelerate the development of converged solutions for enterprise networks.”  The deal would be in cash and securities.  Below is a portion of the press release that Broadcom released in the conflict that they had with Emulex in the past.

As you know, we have believed for some time that a combination of our two companies would benefit both companies’ shareholders and the customers we serve. With that strategic opportunity to meet the needs of the market in mind, we sought to engage you and your Board of Directors in discussions in late December regarding a potential combination of Emulex with Broadcom. We were disappointed when, in early January, you responded that the company was not for sale and abruptly cut off the possibility of further discussions. Even more troubling was the fact that merely one week after that communication, you took actions clearly designed to thwart the ability of your shareholders to receive a premium for their shares. These included adopting a “poison-pill” and amending your bylaws. It is difficult for us to understand why Emulex’s Board of Directors has not been open to consideration of a combination of our respective companies. We would much prefer to have engaged in mutual and constructive discussions with you. However this opportunity is in our view so compelling we now feel we must share our proposal publicly with your shareholders.

Broadcom filed a suit in Delaware Chancery Court against Emulex in order to seek the overturn the recently amended bylaws.

[via Barrons]

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is upping their mobile broadband network.  Currently the 3G services tops at 3.6 Mbps downlink speeds, but now the telecommunications company is using software upgrades to increase the download speed to 7.2 Mbps.  AT&T has already increased the 3G network in two test networks.  The HSPA network has capability to go up to 14.4 Mbps, but AT&T won’t max it out yet because Sprint and Verizon are preparing to roll out their next level of mobile broadband.

AT&T’s Long Term Evolution technology will be used for the 4G network which is to be rolled out in 2010.  This summer a new iPhone is being rumored to be launching so higher mobile broadband speeds will be expected.  Both Apple and AT&T has been dealing with lawsuits in relation to download speeds on the iPhone already.

[via InformationWeek]

[Horowitz]                                                                                       [Andreessen]

Marc Andreessen started a company back in 1999 with Ben Horowitz.  Andreessen was the Chairman and Horowitz was the CEO of the company.  HP bought the company out for $1.6 billion.  Andreessen started the company about a year after AOL spent $4.2 billion on Netscape, another company he founded.

Andreessen and Horowitz worked together at Netscape before starting Opsware.  Lately Andreessen and Horowitz have been investing actively in businesses together which is good practice for their fund.   This past August the both of them invested in live online streaming video company Qik.

According to a report at PEHub, the both of them are planning to launch an early stage venture capital fund.  The opening fund is expected to be around $250 million because that is what the two are shopping around for.  Initial investments would be around $500,000.  This is five times the amount that Horowitz and Andreessen normally invest out of their own pockets.

It is uncertain whether they will be able to raise that sort of investment for their venture capital company in this type of economy, but between the two they have an impressive track record so you never know.

Earlier this week VMware launched the vSphere “cloud operating system.” The new service attracted the likes of Michael Dell (Dell Inc. CEO), John Chambers (Cisco Systems CEO), Joe Tucci (EMC CEO), and Pat Gelsinger (Intel SVP) to the announcement meeting. Cisco was one of the first companies to work with VMware on the data center expansion. Intel has been a VMware partner for quite some time. And Dell plans to switch to get into the virtualized computing environment.

In conjunction with the launch of vSphere, EMC has launched a path management system software called PowerPath/VE. PowerPath is a software that finds the most optimal I/O path for data traveling through applications and storage resources.

vSphere is able to manage 64 processor cores in one server. VMware’s last system could support only 32 cores. Every day cloud computing is expanding and keeps pushing the limit.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) announced earlier this week that they are planning to cut an additional 5% of their global workforce.  In October 2008, the company had to layoff 10% of their workforce.  The announcement was frustrating for newly appointed CEO Carol Bartz to the point where she dropped the f-bomb on the conference call.

“So we had a lot of people running around telling engineers what to do, but nobody f**king doing anything,” stated Bartz.  On top of the layoffs, Bartz has to deal with decline in advertising revenues which had gone down in the company’s first quarter.

Yahoo!’s operating cash flow was $409 million in the first quarter.  The company also stated that it plans to continue unspecified non-headcount cost reductions in order for them to make investments in core operations.  The company made $1.58 billion in revenue in the first quarter which is down 13% from the year before.

[via Reuters]

Active Media released a 2GB Obama flash drive that comes preloaded with Obama’s inaugural address MP3.  Other Obama speeches are also included as an added bonus. The face of the drive has an Obama hologram on it. The drive is available at Amazon for $8.95.

Philip Markoff, now known as the “Craigslist killer” by a lot of media companies has decided to fight the charges filed against him. The charges are related to the targeting of several women that were offering erotic services through the classifieds website Craigslist.org. Markoff is a 23 year old, second year medical student at Boston University.

Markoff has also been accused of the murder of Julissa Brisman (pictured above). Brisman was found dead on April 14 in a Boston hotel. She was bashed in the head three times and shot three times.

“This was a brutal, vicious crime – savage – and it shows Philip Markoff is a man who is willing to take advantage of women, to hurt them, to beat them, to rob them,” stated Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley. “He probably thought he was going to get away with it. He thought he was too smart for us.”

Authorities were able to find Markoff by fingerprints found on the scene. Another form of evidence worth nothing is the electronic fingerprint. The e-mail account Markoff opened one day before the murder led straight to his apartment.

“There’s an absolute certainty with electronic evidence that is quite powerful and not subject to the kind of interpretation you often get with other kinds of forensic evidence,” added Conley.

Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster wrote on the company’s blog that they plan to continue collaborating with the Attorneys General and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

What are your thoughts? Leave a comment.

[via The Australian/Boston Herald/Mahalo]